What does vernacular mean? Is it Mandarin?

Judging from the relationship between them, Putonghua belongs to the standard and classic vernacular.

One: Generally speaking, vernacular Chinese refers to the written expression that is closer to the language of daily life than classical Chinese. Broadly speaking, there are two meanings:

1: Compared with classical Chinese, it is close to everyday language. It is obviously different from classical Chinese words in vocabulary, syntax and charm. It is the language used by ordinary people in conversation. The ancient vernacular Chinese has hardly changed much from the modern vernacular Chinese in the May 4th Movement to the modern Chinese, but modern people have organized themselves with western grammar and added a lot of vocabulary.

Before the May 4th Movement in China, Chinese was divided into classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese. In pronunciation, it can be divided into pronunciation and white voice; In terms of style (including vocabulary and grammar), it can be divided into classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese. The vernacular Chinese is actually a folk dialect, which is opposite to the pronunciation (such as Guang Yun Yin and Hongwu Zheng Yun). Compared with classical Chinese, vernacular Chinese is a written expression close to the language of daily life, which is obviously different from classical Chinese in terms of vocabulary, syntax and charm.

2. As defined by the United Nations, the Sino-Tibetan language family belongs to the Chinese language family. Vernacular is the common name of Cantonese. Cantonese speakers living in Guangdong and Guangxi call Cantonese the vernacular. Before the Qing Dynasty, Guangdong and Guangxi were called East Guangdong and West Guangdong, which means Guangdong and Guangxi in Cantonese. Hong Kong and Macao residents and overseas Chinese will also call vernacular Cantonese.

Second, the definition of Putonghua: the standard language of modern Chinese.

Mandarin is a modern Chinese standard based on northern dialect, Beijing pronunciation and typical modern vernacular. "As the official language of China, Mandarin is widely used in Chinese mainland and Cantonese is widely used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. In addition, Chinese dialects such as Wu dialect, Min dialect, Hakka dialect, Gan dialect, Xiang dialect, Puxian dialect and Pinghua dialect, as carriers of advanced culture and folk wisdom in this area, still have extensive influence and strong vitality.