A Statistical Analysis on the Functional Changes of Dialect and Mandarin Chinese: A Diachronic Perspective

Abstract

The diachronic description method and statistical analysis are combined to detect time-varying growth and decline trends in Nanchang citizens’ verbal function from 2021 to 2022 and 2006 to 2007. Data reveal that the trends are significantly correlated with time, making the conclusion reliable. Mandarin is becoming more popular among Nanchang residents, and Nanchang dialect is used at an essentially fixed ratio, whereas the pragmatic proficiency degradation has gradually slowed, with the language attitude becoming increasingly affable. It is indicated that Nanchang citizens have generally acquired bilingual competence. Mandarin dominates daily communication, while the dialect is deteriorating at a decreasing rate.