Languages of China are the languages that are spoken by China's 56 recognized ethnic groups. The predominant language in China, which is divided into dialects, is known as Hanyu (simplified Chinese: 汉语; traditional Chinese: 漢語; pinyin: Hànyǔ).[citation needed] and its study is considered a distinct academic discipline in China.[3] Hanyu, or Han language, spans eight primary dialects, is diverse morphologically and phonetically, and the dialects may be mutually unintelligible to each other. The languages most studied and supported by the state include Chinese or Han language, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur and Zhuang. China has 292 living languages according to Ethnologue