Post-Classical Chinese, based on dialects very similar to the language now spoken in North China, probably owes its origin to the Buddhist storytelling tradition; the tales appeared in translations from Sanskrit during the Tang dynasty (618 907).
The pronunciation of Modern Standard Chinese is based on the Beijing dialect, which is of the Northern, or Mandarin, type.
Standard Mandarin, a variety of Mandarin based on the Beijing dialect, is the official national language of China and is used as a lingua franca in the country between people of different linguistic backgrounds.
Even a standard language that was originally based on one local dialect changes, however, as elements of other dialects infiltrate into it over the years.
Nevertheless, the most thorough example of linguistic force exerted by a single dominating civilization belongs to ancient times: in the Hellenistic era, almost all ancient Greek dialects were replaced by the so-called Koine, based on the dialect of Athens.
Although Italian has a standard literary form, based on the dialect of Florence, the common speech is dialectal or a local variant of Standard Italian.
In the mid-19th century a literary Renaissance, led by the Félibrige and based on the dialect of the Arles-Avignon region, lent new lustre to Occitan, and a modern standard dialect was established.
Western Armenian (formerly known as "Armenian of Turkey") was based on the dialect of the Armenian community of Istanbul, and Eastern Armenian (formerly known as "Armenian of Russia") was based on the dialects of Yerevan Armeniaandand Tbilisi (Georgia).
Even for a Chinese Mandarin reader (Mandarin is based on Beijing dialect), Yan's extensive quotations and footnotes at the end of every chapter present a serious challenge.
The name Provençal originally referred to the Occitan dialects of the Provence region and is used also to refer to the standardized medieval literary language and still-vigorous literary movement based on the dialect of Provence.
