Sichuanese Mandarin
Encyclopedia
Sichuanese Mandarin commonly known as Sichuanese, Szechuanese or Szechwanese ' onMouseout='HidePop("55504")' href="/topics/Sichuanese_Pinyin">Sichuanese Pinyin
: Si4cuan1hua4; ), is a branch of Southwestern
Mandarin, spoken mainly in Sichuan
and Chongqing
, which was part of Sichuan until 1997, and the adjacent regions of their neighboring provinces, such as Hubei
, Guizhou
, Yunnan
, Hunan
and Shaanxi
. In addition, because Sichuanese is the lingua franca
in Sichuan, Chongqing and part of Tibet
, it is also used by many Tibet
an, Yi
, Qiang and other groups as a second language.
Although Sichuanese is generally classified as a dialect of Mandarin, it is highly divergent in phonology, vocabulary, and even grammar from the standard language. Minjiang dialect
is especially difficult for speakers of other Mandarin dialects to understand. As Chengdu
is the capital of Sichuan province and an important central city, the Chengdu dialect is the most representative dialect of Southwestern Mandarin, and is used widely in Sichuan Opera
and other artistic fields of the province.
Modern Sichuanese was formed rather recently in a great wave of immigration during the Ming Dynasty
(1368–1644): many immigrants, mainly from Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi
and Guangdong
, flooded into Sichuan, bringing their languages with them. Sichuanese is spoken by about 120 million people, so if it were counted as a separate language, it would be the 10th largest language by number of speakers, just behind Japanese
.
, covering almost all of Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, except for some Tibetan
and Yi
inhabited areas. It is also spoken in border regions of Sichuan's neighboring provinces: northern Yunnan and Guizhou, southern Shaanxi and western Hubei.
Sichuanese has one of the most uniform dialects in all of Inner China
. However, it is possible to divide Sichuanese into four dialects according to the preservation or distribution of the checked tone: the Minjiang dialect
where the checked tone is preserved, the Chengdu-Chongqing dialect
where the checked tone is redistributed into the light level tone, the Renshou-Fushun dialect where the checked tone is redistributed into the departing tone, and the Ya'an-Shimian dialect where the checked tone is redistributed into the dark level tone.
The Minjiang, Ya'an-Shimian and Renshou-Fushun dialects are spoken mainly in South Sichuan and West Sichuan where people have significantly more indigenous Sichuanese descent than North Sichuan and East Sichuan. Thus, these dialects preserve many characteristics of Bashu (the language of indigenous Sichuanese), and are often referred as Old Sichuanese. Meanwhile, the Chengdu-Chongqing dialect, named after the two largest cities in Sichuan: Chengdu
and Chongqing
, are spoken mainly in North and East Sichuan. It is often referred as New Sichuanese because it keeps fewer characteristics of the Bashu Language.
by the end of the Tang Dynasty
. Sichuan has one of the most uniform dialects in all of Inner China
, evidence that the variety of Chinese spoken there formed relatively recently. In the thirteenth century, the population of Sichuan dropped precipitously, suspected to be due in part to a series of plagues and Mongol invasions. The population did not recover until it was replenished by subsequent migrations of Proto-Mandarin-speakers from Hubei
, Xiang-speakers, Gan-speakers and Hakka-speakers in the following centuries. These varieties largely supplanted the earlier varieties of Chinese in Sichuan, known as Ba-Shu Chinese
or Old Sichuanese. Like Min Chinese, Ba-Shu Chinese was different from the Middle Chinese
of the Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties, but instead a divergent dialect group independently descended from the Old Chinese
of the Han Dynasty, which formed a substratum that influenced the formation of the modern dialect group and helps to explain the distinctivity of Modern Sichuanese within the Mandarin dialect continuum
.
in Sichuanese: dark level tone, light level tone, rising tone, departing tone and entering tone (or checked tone). In some regions the checked tone of Sichuanese has been redistributed entirely into another tone, which is very different from standard Mandarin, whose checked tone has been redistributed irregularly into the other 4 tones. According to Phonology of Sichuan dialect (四川方言音系), among all the 150 Sichuanese-speaking cities and counties, 48 keep the checked tone while the other 102 have only 4 tones. Particularly, in some sub-dialects of Minjiang dialect (such as Yingjing dialect), the departing tone has developed into two different tones: a colloquial tone (which is similar to the 2nd tone as a chracteristic of Ba-Shu: ) and a literary tone (which is the same as Chengdu dialect).
The tone contours of the Sichuanese dialects are highly and quite different from those of Beijing Mandarin. In Sichuanese, the first tone (dark level tone) is a high level tone (like Beijing), the second tone (light level tone) is a low falling tone (the mirror image of Beijing), the third tone (rising tone) is a high falling tone and the fourth tone (departing tone) is a low or mid rising tone (interchanged compared to Beijing) and the fifth tone (entering tone) is mid or high if it's not merged, as shown in the chart below.
In the areas which keep the entering tone, the five tones of Sichuanese are nearly identical to the values of 5 of the 6 tones of the indigenous Southern Qiang language
.
The following is the initial consonant inventory of Sichuanese, transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet, and under every IPA symbol in the inventory below there is the standard orthography of that sound in Sichuanese Pinyin
and a Chinese character
using that initial:
The following is the syllable rime inventory of Sichuanese, transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet, and under every IPA symbol in the inventory below there is the standard orthography of that sound in Sichuanese Pinyin and a Chinese character using that syllable rime:
, the stop consonant
s for checked-tone syllables in Middle Chinese
have developed into tense vowels
to create a phonemical contrast, and in several cities and counties the tense vowels are followed by a glottal stop
to emphasize the contrast. Meanwhile, the checked tone has disappeared in other Sichuanese dialects. The following table shows the tense vowels of Minjiang dialect's three sub-dialects, spoken in Luzhou
, Qionglai and Leshan
, and a comparison with other Sichuanese dialects is also presented.
or Hokkien
. In Sichuanese, colloquial readings tend to resemble Ba-Shu Chinese
(Middle Sichuanese) or Southern Proto-Mandarin
, while literary readings tend to resemble modern standard Mandarin. For example, in Yaoling Dialect the colloquial reading of "" (means "things") is [væʔ], which is very similar to its prounciation of Ba-Shu Chinese in Song Dynasty
(960 - 1279). Meanwhile its literary reading, [voʔ], is relatively similar to the standard Mandarin pronunciation [u]. The table below shows some examples of the chinese charactors with both literary and colloquial readings in Sichuanese.
on which Standard Chinese
is based; indeed Sichuanese shares more vocabulary with the Xiang and Gan varieties of Chinese, even though Sichuanese is usually classified as a dialect of Mandarin.
The vocabulary of Sichuanese has three main origins: Bashu (or Ancient Sichuanese), Middle Chinese
and the languages of the immigrants, including Proto-Mandarin
from Hubei
, Xiang, Gan and Hakka, which were brought to Sichuan during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Recently, many loanwords have been introduced to Sichuanese from standard Mandarin and English
. Meanwhile, new Sichuanese words are developing in large cities, such as Chengdu and Chongqing, which then spread at a dramatic speed through Sichuan. "雄起" (xiong2qi3) (meaning "to cheer someone on") is a typical example of a novel Sichuanese word, equivalent to "加油" (jiāyóu) in standard Mandarin. The table below presents some common words in Sichuanese and their standard equivalents.
In terms of vocabulary, Sichuanese has the second closest relationship with Xiang. The two languages share a large number of exclusively unique words. This is mainly because many Xiang-speaking immigrants from Hunan moved to Sichuan during the great wave of immigration during the Ming
and Qing
Dynasties, so Xiang does not have such a close relationship with other southwestern varieties of Chinese, such as those spoken in Yunnan
, Guangxi
or Hubei
. For example, in both Sichuanese and Xiang the verb "to squat" is "跍" (gu1) but "蹲" (dūn) in standard Mandarin, the noun "kitchen" is "灶屋" (zao4vu2) but "厨房" (chúfáng) in standard, and the adjective "thick" is "酽" (nyian4) but "浓" (nóng) in standard. Furthermore, the Sichuanese vocabulary also contains words from Old Xiang and Middle Xiang, such as "謱謰" (sloppy), "革" (old) and "崽" (son)
, television
and many public places. Furthermore, the use of Sichuanese as a teaching medium is not permitted in the curriculum, which results in the reduce of fluency among young people in Sichuanese-speaking areas in post-80s and 90s. The Sichuanese spoken by them is greatly affected by the national language.
Sichuanese Pinyin
Sichuanese Pinyin , is a romanization system specifically designed for the Chengdu dialect of Sichuanese. It is mostly used in selected Sichuanese dictionaries, such as the Sichuan Dialect Dictionary, Sichuan Dialect's Vocabulary Explanation , and the Chengdu Dialect Dictionary...
: Si4cuan1hua4; ), is a branch of Southwestern
Southwestern Mandarin
Southwestern Mandarin , also known as Upper Yangtze Mandarin , is a primary branch of Mandarin Chinese spoken by Han Chinese people throughout many regions of central and southwestern China, such as Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Guizhou, most parts of Hubei, the western part of Hunan, the northern...
Mandarin, spoken mainly in Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
and Chongqing
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
, which was part of Sichuan until 1997, and the adjacent regions of their neighboring provinces, such as Hubei
Hubei
' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...
, Guizhou
Guizhou
' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the southwestern part of the country. Its provincial capital city is Guiyang.- History :...
, Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
, Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
and Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...
. In addition, because Sichuanese is the lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
in Sichuan, Chongqing and part of Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, it is also used by many Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
an, Yi
Yi people
The Yi or Lolo people are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering 8 million, they are the seventh largest of the 55 ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China...
, Qiang and other groups as a second language.
Although Sichuanese is generally classified as a dialect of Mandarin, it is highly divergent in phonology, vocabulary, and even grammar from the standard language. Minjiang dialect
Minjiang dialect
Minjiang dialect , is a branch of Sichuanese, spoken mainly in the Minjiang River valley or along the Yangtze River in the southern and western parts of the Sichuan Basin...
is especially difficult for speakers of other Mandarin dialects to understand. As Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
is the capital of Sichuan province and an important central city, the Chengdu dialect is the most representative dialect of Southwestern Mandarin, and is used widely in Sichuan Opera
Sichuan opera
Sichuanese opera is a type of Chinese opera originating in China's Sichuan province around 1700. Today's Sichuan opera is a relatively recent synthesis of 5 historic melodic styles...
and other artistic fields of the province.
Modern Sichuanese was formed rather recently in a great wave of immigration during the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
(1368–1644): many immigrants, mainly from Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi
Jiangxi
' is a southern province in the People's Republic of China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to...
and Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
, flooded into Sichuan, bringing their languages with them. Sichuanese is spoken by about 120 million people, so if it were counted as a separate language, it would be the 10th largest language by number of speakers, just behind Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
.
Geographic distribution and dialects
Sichuanese is mainly spoken in and around the Sichuan BasinSichuan basin
The Sichuan Basin is a lowland region in southwestern China. Despite its historical name, it is not only synonymous to Sichuan province, comprising its central and eastern portions as well as part of Chongqing Municipality...
, covering almost all of Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, except for some Tibetan
Tibetan people
The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...
and Yi
Yi people
The Yi or Lolo people are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering 8 million, they are the seventh largest of the 55 ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China...
inhabited areas. It is also spoken in border regions of Sichuan's neighboring provinces: northern Yunnan and Guizhou, southern Shaanxi and western Hubei.
Sichuanese has one of the most uniform dialects in all of Inner China
China proper
China proper or Eighteen Provinces was a term used by Western writers on the Qing Dynasty to express a distinction between the core and frontier regions of China. There is no fixed extent for China proper, as many administrative, cultural, and linguistic shifts have occurred in Chinese history...
. However, it is possible to divide Sichuanese into four dialects according to the preservation or distribution of the checked tone: the Minjiang dialect
Minjiang dialect
Minjiang dialect , is a branch of Sichuanese, spoken mainly in the Minjiang River valley or along the Yangtze River in the southern and western parts of the Sichuan Basin...
where the checked tone is preserved, the Chengdu-Chongqing dialect
Chengdu-Chongqing dialect
Chengdu-Chongqing dialect , named after the two largest cities in Sichuan: Chengdu and Chongqing, is the most widely-used branch of Sichuanese with about 90 million speakers...
where the checked tone is redistributed into the light level tone, the Renshou-Fushun dialect where the checked tone is redistributed into the departing tone, and the Ya'an-Shimian dialect where the checked tone is redistributed into the dark level tone.
The Minjiang, Ya'an-Shimian and Renshou-Fushun dialects are spoken mainly in South Sichuan and West Sichuan where people have significantly more indigenous Sichuanese descent than North Sichuan and East Sichuan. Thus, these dialects preserve many characteristics of Bashu (the language of indigenous Sichuanese), and are often referred as Old Sichuanese. Meanwhile, the Chengdu-Chongqing dialect, named after the two largest cities in Sichuan: Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
and Chongqing
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
, are spoken mainly in North and East Sichuan. It is often referred as New Sichuanese because it keeps fewer characteristics of the Bashu Language.
| Dialects of Sichuanese | Name | Characteristics | Spoken areas |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chengdu–Chongqing dialect | entering tone distributed into light level tone | North and East Sichuan, the northeastern part of Chengdu Plain Chengdu Plain The Chengdu Plain , known as Cuanxi Bazi in Sichuanese, is an alluvial plain located in the western part of Sichuan Basin in Sichuan, China. Chengdu is located on it.... , several cities or counties in southwestern Sichuan (Panzhihua Panzhihua Panzhihua is a prefecture-level city located in the far south of Sichuan province of Southwest China, on the confluence of the Jinsha and Yalong Rivers. It has an administrative area of , and a total population of 1,100,800 as of 2007. It is the only city in China having a name of a flower, and... , Dechang, Yanyuan, Huili and Ningnan), Southern Shaanxi and Western Hubei |
|
| Minjiang dialect Minjiang dialect Minjiang dialect , is a branch of Sichuanese, spoken mainly in the Minjiang River valley or along the Yangtze River in the southern and western parts of the Sichuan Basin... |
entering tone preserved | 44 cities or counties in Minjiang River valley or along the Yangtze River Yangtze River The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the... in South and West Sichuan, Xichang Xichang Xichang is a city in and the seat of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, in the south of Sichuan province, People's Republic of China. In 2004 it had a population of 126,700.-Geography:... , Xichong Xichong County Xichong County is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of Nanchong city.... , Yanting, Shehong Shehong Shehong County is a county in central Sichuan province of China, belonging to Suining city.The county seat is Taihe , located at 30.86°N, 105.38°E... , northern Yunnan and northern Guizhou |
|
| Renshou–Fushun dialect | entering tone distributed into departing tone | 8 cities or counties in Tuo River Tuo River Tuo River is a river in Sichuan province of China. It is one of the major tributaries of the upper Yangtze River and its length is about 655 km. Tuo river is originates from the northwest edge of Sichuan basin and runs through places like Jintang, Jianyang, Ziyang, Zizhong, Neijiang before it... valley (Renshou, Jingyan, Weiyuan Weiyuan County, Sichuan Weiyuan County is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of Neijiang city.... , Zigong Zigong Zigong , ancient name Ziliujing and Gongjing, is a prefecture-level city and the third largest city in Sichuan Province, in southwest China.-Geography:... , Rongxian Rong County, Sichuan Rongxian County is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of Zigong city.-Geography:The county has a total area of 1,609 km².-Population:As of 2008, the county had a population of 700,000.... , Fushun Fushun Fushun is a city in Liaoning, China, about 45 km east from Shenyang, with a population about 2,138 090 inhabitants at the 2010 census and an area of 11,271 km2, including 713 km2 of the city proper. Fushun is situated on the Hun He . It was formerly called Fouchouen in French... , Neijiang Neijiang Neijiang is a prefecture-level city in the Southeast of Sichuan Province, in southwest of China, with a population of about 4,200,000. It is located on the Tuo River and is a transportation and food-processing center... and Longchang), Junlian and Mianning Mianning County Mianning County is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture.... |
|
| Ya'an–Shimian dialect | entering tone distributed into dark level tone | Ya'an Ya'an Ya'an is a prefecture-level city in the western part of Sichuan province of Southwest China, located just below the Tibetan Plateau.-History:... (prefecture-level city) in West Sichuan |
History
Like many of the southern provinces in China, Sichuan was fully sinicizedSinicization
Sinicization, Sinicisation or Sinification, is the linguistic assimilation or cultural assimilation of terms and concepts of the language and culture of China...
by the end of the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
. Sichuan has one of the most uniform dialects in all of Inner China
China proper
China proper or Eighteen Provinces was a term used by Western writers on the Qing Dynasty to express a distinction between the core and frontier regions of China. There is no fixed extent for China proper, as many administrative, cultural, and linguistic shifts have occurred in Chinese history...
, evidence that the variety of Chinese spoken there formed relatively recently. In the thirteenth century, the population of Sichuan dropped precipitously, suspected to be due in part to a series of plagues and Mongol invasions. The population did not recover until it was replenished by subsequent migrations of Proto-Mandarin-speakers from Hubei
Hubei
' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...
, Xiang-speakers, Gan-speakers and Hakka-speakers in the following centuries. These varieties largely supplanted the earlier varieties of Chinese in Sichuan, known as Ba-Shu Chinese
Ba-Shu Chinese
Ba-Shu Chinese or Old Sichuanese , is an extinct Sinitic language spoken in what is now Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality of China. This language was first attested during the Western Han dynasty and represents one of the first splits from Old Chinese or Early Middle Chinese...
or Old Sichuanese. Like Min Chinese, Ba-Shu Chinese was different from the Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese , also called Ancient Chinese by the linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken during Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties...
of the Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties, but instead a divergent dialect group independently descended from the Old Chinese
Old Chinese
The earliest known written records of the Chinese language were found at a site near modern Anyang identified as Yin, the last capital of the Shang dynasty, and date from about 1200 BC....
of the Han Dynasty, which formed a substratum that influenced the formation of the modern dialect group and helps to explain the distinctivity of Modern Sichuanese within the Mandarin dialect continuum
Dialect continuum
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...
.
Tones
There are five phonemic tonesTone (linguistics)
Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...
in Sichuanese: dark level tone, light level tone, rising tone, departing tone and entering tone (or checked tone). In some regions the checked tone of Sichuanese has been redistributed entirely into another tone, which is very different from standard Mandarin, whose checked tone has been redistributed irregularly into the other 4 tones. According to Phonology of Sichuan dialect (四川方言音系), among all the 150 Sichuanese-speaking cities and counties, 48 keep the checked tone while the other 102 have only 4 tones. Particularly, in some sub-dialects of Minjiang dialect (such as Yingjing dialect), the departing tone has developed into two different tones: a colloquial tone (which is similar to the 2nd tone as a chracteristic of Ba-Shu: ) and a literary tone (which is the same as Chengdu dialect).
The tone contours of the Sichuanese dialects are highly and quite different from those of Beijing Mandarin. In Sichuanese, the first tone (dark level tone) is a high level tone (like Beijing), the second tone (light level tone) is a low falling tone (the mirror image of Beijing), the third tone (rising tone) is a high falling tone and the fourth tone (departing tone) is a low or mid rising tone (interchanged compared to Beijing) and the fifth tone (entering tone) is mid or high if it's not merged, as shown in the chart below.
| Sub-dialects | 1st tone | 2nd tone | 3rd tone | 4th tone | 5th tone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chengdu Chengdu Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status... |
˥ 55 | ˨˩ 21 | ˥˧ 53 | ˨˩˧ 213 | distributed into the 2nd ˨˩ |
| Chongqing Chongqing Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the... |
˥ 55 | ˨˩ 21 | ˦˨ 42 | ˨˩˦ 214 | distributed into the 2nd ˨˩ |
| Leshan Leshan dialect The Sichuanese dialect of the city of Leshan is a variety of Minjiang, which preserves old southern features lost in other Sichuanese dialects and is very different from the dialects of most other cities in the province of Sichuan, which are more typically Mandarin.... |
˥ 55 | ˨˩ 21 | ˥˨ 52 | ˨˨˦ 224 | ˧ 3 (checked) |
| Yingjing | ˥ 45 | ˩˨˩ 121 | ˥˧ 53 | ˩ 11 (colloquial) ˨˩˧ 213 (literary) | ˧ 33 |
| Luzhou Luzhou -History:The history of Luzhou dates back to Xia and Shang Dynasties. Luzhou became a prefecture level city in 1983.-History of Luzhou:... |
˥ 55 | ˨˩ 21 | ˦˨ 42 | ˩˧ 13 | ˧ 33 |
| Ya'an Ya'an Ya'an is a prefecture-level city in the western part of Sichuan province of Southwest China, located just below the Tibetan Plateau.-History:... |
˥ 55 | ˨˩ 21 | ˦˨ 42 | ˩˦ 14 | distributed into the 1st ˥ |
| Zigong Zigong Zigong , ancient name Ziliujing and Gongjing, is a prefecture-level city and the third largest city in Sichuan Province, in southwest China.-Geography:... |
˥ 55 | ˧˩ 31 | ˥˧ 53 | ˨˦ 24 | distributed into the 4th ˨˦ |
In the areas which keep the entering tone, the five tones of Sichuanese are nearly identical to the values of 5 of the 6 tones of the indigenous Southern Qiang language
Southern Qiang language
Southern Qiang is a Qiangic language of the Tibeto-Burman language family spoken by approximately 81,300 people along the Minjiang river in Sichuan Province, China.Unlike its close relative Northern Qiang, Southern Qiang is a tonal language....
.
Initials
Initials (or syllable onsets) are initial consonants of possible syllables. There are 21 initials in the Chengdu dialect of Sichuanese (academically referred as Standard Sichuanese). Four Sichuanese initial consonants do not exist in Beijing: [z], [v], [ŋ] and [nʲ]. On the other hand, five initials in Beijing do not exist in Sichuanese: [tʂ], [tʂʰ], [ʂ], [ʐ] and [l].The following is the initial consonant inventory of Sichuanese, transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet, and under every IPA symbol in the inventory below there is the standard orthography of that sound in Sichuanese Pinyin
Sichuanese Pinyin
Sichuanese Pinyin , is a romanization system specifically designed for the Chengdu dialect of Sichuanese. It is mostly used in selected Sichuanese dictionaries, such as the Sichuan Dialect Dictionary, Sichuan Dialect's Vocabulary Explanation , and the Chengdu Dialect Dictionary...
and a Chinese character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
using that initial:
| Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... | abiodental Labiodental consonant In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.-Labiodental consonant in IPA:The labiodental consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... | Coronal Coronal consonant Coronal consonants are consonants articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Only the coronal consonants can be divided into apical , laminal , domed , or subapical , as well as a few rarer orientations, because only the front of the tongue has such... | Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... | alveopalatal Alveolo-palatal consonant In phonetics, alveolo-palatal consonants are palatalized postalveolar sounds, usually fricatives and affricates, articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the body of the tongue raised toward the palate... | Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &... |
plain | p b 贝 |
t d 得 |
k g 古 |
|||
| aspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ... |
pʰ p 配 |
tʰ t 套 |
kʰ k 可 |
||||
| Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
plain | ts z 早 |
tɕ j 价 |
||||
| aspirated | tsʰ c 草 |
tɕʰ q 巧 |
|||||
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m m 没 |
n n 路 |
nʲ ny 你 |
ŋ ng 我 |
|||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
Voiceless Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
f f 发 |
s s 速 |
ɕ x 小 |
x h 好 |
||
| voiced | v v 五 |
z r 如 |
|||||
| Zero Zero consonant A zero consonant, silent initial, or null-onset letter is a consonant-like letter that is not pronounced, but indicates that a word or syllable starts with a vowel... |
∅ 儿 |
||||||
Finals
Finals (or syllable rimes) are made from vowels and final consonants, which form the part of syllable after the initial. There are 21 finals in the Chengdu dialect of Sichuanese. Four Sichuanese syllable rimes do not exist in Beijing: [ɛ], [iai], [uɛ], and [yo]. On the other hand, three syllable rimes in Beijing do not exist in Sichuanese: [ɤ], [iŋ], and [əŋ].The following is the syllable rime inventory of Sichuanese, transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet, and under every IPA symbol in the inventory below there is the standard orthography of that sound in Sichuanese Pinyin and a Chinese character using that syllable rime:
| | -Ø | | -i or -u | | nasal finals | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ø- | ɿ i 日 |
ɚ er 二 |
a a 大 |
o o 我 |
ɛ e 黑 |
ai ai 街 |
ei ei 批 |
au ao 包 |
əu ou 走 |
an an 烦 |
ən en 樱 |
aŋ ang 帮 |
oŋ ong 亩 |
| i- | i i 一 |
ia ia 牙 |
iɛ ie 叶 |
iai iai 介 |
iau iao 标 |
iəu iu 九 |
ian ian 变 |
in in 兵 |
iaŋ iang 量 |
||||
| u- | u u 五 |
ua ua 瓜 |
uɛ ue 国 |
uai uai 乖 |
uei ui 类 |
uan uan 段 |
uən un 春 |
uaŋ uang 光 |
|||||
| y- | y ü 鱼 |
yo üo 药 |
ye üe 绝 |
yan üan 鲜 |
yn ün 泳 |
yoŋ iong 蓉 |
Tense vowels for checked tone
There's a discrepancy between Old Sichuanese and New Sichuanese in terms of finals. In the "old" Minjiang dialectMinjiang dialect
Minjiang dialect , is a branch of Sichuanese, spoken mainly in the Minjiang River valley or along the Yangtze River in the southern and western parts of the Sichuan Basin...
, the stop consonant
Stop consonant
In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &...
s for checked-tone syllables in Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese , also called Ancient Chinese by the linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken during Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties...
have developed into tense vowels
Tenseness
In phonology, tenseness is a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. It has also occasionally been used to describe contrasts in consonants. Unlike most distinctive features, the feature [tense] can be interpreted only relatively, that is, in...
to create a phonemical contrast, and in several cities and counties the tense vowels are followed by a glottal stop
Glottal stop
The glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
to emphasize the contrast. Meanwhile, the checked tone has disappeared in other Sichuanese dialects. The following table shows the tense vowels of Minjiang dialect's three sub-dialects, spoken in Luzhou
Luzhou
-History:The history of Luzhou dates back to Xia and Shang Dynasties. Luzhou became a prefecture level city in 1983.-History of Luzhou:...
, Qionglai and Leshan
Leshan
-Administrative divisions:-Transport:There is a passenger rail line that serves the Mianyang–Chengdu–Leshan inter-city area.The Chengdu-Leshan Highway with a total length of 160 kilometers, was finished on January 14th, 2000...
, and a comparison with other Sichuanese dialects is also presented.
| example | | Minjiang | | Ya'an-Shimian | | Chengdu-Chongqing | | Renshou-Fushun | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luzhou Luzhou -History:The history of Luzhou dates back to Xia and Shang Dynasties. Luzhou became a prefecture level city in 1983.-History of Luzhou:... |
Qionglai | Leshan Leshan -Administrative divisions:-Transport:There is a passenger rail line that serves the Mianyang–Chengdu–Leshan inter-city area.The Chengdu-Leshan Highway with a total length of 160 kilometers, was finished on January 14th, 2000... |
Luding Luding County Luding County is a part of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the Chinese Province of Sichuan. Luding County covers an area of 2,165 km² and has a population of approximately 80,000... |
Chengdu Chengdu Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status... |
Zigong Zigong Zigong , ancient name Ziliujing and Gongjing, is a prefecture-level city and the third largest city in Sichuan Province, in southwest China.-Geography:... |
|
| 搭 | æ | æ | æ | a | a | a |
| 说 | ɵ | ʊ | ʊ | o | o | o |
| 黑 | e | æ | e | ɛ | ɛ | ɛ |
| 踢 | ie | ie | ie | i | iɛ | i |
| 出 | ɵ | ʊ | ʊ | u | u | u |
| 欲 | yɵ | yʊ | yʊ | y | yo | yi |
| 湿 | ə | ə | ə | ɿ | ɿ | ɿ |
| 掐 | iæ | iɐ | iæ | ia | ia | ia |
| 刮 | uæ | uɐ | uæ | ua | ua | ua |
| 铁 | ie | ie | ie | iɛ | iɛ | iɛ |
| 获 | ɵ | uæ | æ | uɛ | uɛ | ue |
| 阅 | yɵ | ye | yʊ | yɛ | yɛ | yɛ |
| 药 | yɵ | yʊ | yʊ | yo | yo | yo |
Literary and colloquial readings
The existence of literary and colloquial readings , is a notable feature in Sichuanese and some other Sinitic varieties, such as CantoneseCantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
or Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
. In Sichuanese, colloquial readings tend to resemble Ba-Shu Chinese
Ba-Shu Chinese
Ba-Shu Chinese or Old Sichuanese , is an extinct Sinitic language spoken in what is now Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality of China. This language was first attested during the Western Han dynasty and represents one of the first splits from Old Chinese or Early Middle Chinese...
(Middle Sichuanese) or Southern Proto-Mandarin
Proto-Mandarin
Proto-Mandarin is a term that can be used to designate any earlier form of the most widely-spoken Chinese dialect, known in English as Mandarin; it's the descendant of "late Middle Chinese" in the Song Dynasty. "Early Mandarin" is the common name for the sound system described by the rhyme...
, while literary readings tend to resemble modern standard Mandarin. For example, in Yaoling Dialect the colloquial reading of "" (means "things") is [væʔ], which is very similar to its prounciation of Ba-Shu Chinese in Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
(960 - 1279). Meanwhile its literary reading, [voʔ], is relatively similar to the standard Mandarin pronunciation [u]. The table below shows some examples of the chinese charactors with both literary and colloquial readings in Sichuanese.
| Example | Colloquial Reading | Literary Reading | Meaning | Standard Mandarin Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tɛ | tsai | at | tsai | |
| tia | tʰi | lift | tʰi | |
| tɕʰie | tɕʰy | go | tɕʰy | |
| kɛ | tɕy | cut | tɕy | |
| xa | ɕia | down | ɕia | |
| xuan | xuən | across | xəŋ | |
| ŋan | ȵian | strict | ian | |
| suei | su | rat | ʂu | |
| tʰai | ta | big | ta | |
| toŋ | tsu | master | tʂu | |
Vocabulary
Only 47.8% of Sichuanese vocabulary is in common with the Beijing dialectBeijing dialect
Beijing dialect, or Pekingese , is the dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of Beijing, China. It is the phonological basis of Standard Chinese, which is used by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China , and Singapore....
on which Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
is based; indeed Sichuanese shares more vocabulary with the Xiang and Gan varieties of Chinese, even though Sichuanese is usually classified as a dialect of Mandarin.
The vocabulary of Sichuanese has three main origins: Bashu (or Ancient Sichuanese), Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese , also called Ancient Chinese by the linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken during Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties...
and the languages of the immigrants, including Proto-Mandarin
Proto-Mandarin
Proto-Mandarin is a term that can be used to designate any earlier form of the most widely-spoken Chinese dialect, known in English as Mandarin; it's the descendant of "late Middle Chinese" in the Song Dynasty. "Early Mandarin" is the common name for the sound system described by the rhyme...
from Hubei
Hubei
' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...
, Xiang, Gan and Hakka, which were brought to Sichuan during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Recently, many loanwords have been introduced to Sichuanese from standard Mandarin and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Meanwhile, new Sichuanese words are developing in large cities, such as Chengdu and Chongqing, which then spread at a dramatic speed through Sichuan. "雄起" (xiong2qi3) (meaning "to cheer someone on") is a typical example of a novel Sichuanese word, equivalent to "加油" (jiāyóu) in standard Mandarin. The table below presents some common words in Sichuanese and their standard equivalents.
| Sichuanese | standard | meaning | Sichuanese | standard | meaning | Sichuanese | standard | meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| entirelydifferent | 躂 da2 | 跌 diē | to fall down | 耍 sua3 | 玩 wán | to play | 院 yuan4 | 绕 rào | to go around |
| 车 ce1 | 转 zhuàn | to rotate | 膀 pang3 | 碰 pòng | to touch | 膼 zua2 | 踢 tī | to kick | |
| 煪 qiu1 | 熏 xūn | to smoke | 豁 ho1 | 骗 piàn | to cheat | 挼 rua2 | 揉 róu | to knead | |
| 破 po4 | 剖 pōu | to cut open | 掌 zang3 | 扶 fú | to support | 挎 kua3 | 脱 tuō | to get undressed | |
| 晏 ngan4 | 晚 wǎn | late | 拢 nong3 | 到 dào | to arrive | 蹅 ca1 | 踩 cǎi | to step on | |
| 校 gao4 | 试 shì | to try | 痨 nao4 | 毒 dú | to poison | 滗 bi2 | 滤 lǜ | to filter | |
| 角孽 go2nie2 | 吵架 chǎojià | to quarrel | 噗鼾 pu2han4 | 呼噜 hūlu | to snore | 活路 ho2nu4 | 工作 gōngzuò | job | |
| 经佑 jin1you1 | 照顾 zhàogù | to look after | 刹角 sa2go2 | 结束 jiéshù | to end | 横顺 huan2sen1 | 反正 fǎnzhèng | anyway | |
| 行市 hang2si4 | 能干 nénggàn | capable | 背时 bei4si2 | 倒霉 dǎoméi | bad luck | 伸抖 cen1tou3 | 整齐 zhěngqí | neat | |
| 往回 wang3hui2 | 以前 yǐqián | before | 二回 er4hui2 | 以后 yǐhòu | after | 颈项 jin3hang2 | 脖子 bózi | neck | |
| 晓得 xiao3de2 | 知道 zhīdào | know | 造孽 zao4nie2 | 可怜 kělián | pitiful | 安逸 ngan1yi2 | 舒服 shūfu | comfortable | |
| 踏踏 ta2ta2 | 地方 dìfāng | place | 各人 go2ren2 | 自己 zìjǐ | self | 相应 xiang1yin1 | 便宜 piányi | cheap | |
| partiallydifferent | 拉丝 na1si1 | 拉链 lāliàn | zipper | 火炮儿 ho3per4 | 鞭炮 biānpào | fireworks | 转来 zuan3nai2 | 回来 húilái | to return |
| 院坝 yuan4ba4 | 院子 yuànzi | yard | 鼻子 bi2zi3 | 鼻涕 bítì | snot | 火闪 ho3san3 | 闪电 shǎndiàn | lightning | |
| 灰面 hui1mian4 | 面粉 miànfěn | flour | 皮面 pi2mian4 | 表面 biǎomiàn | surface | 缺缺 que2que1 | 缺口 quēkǒu | gap | |
| 抽抽 cou1cou1 | 抽屉 chōutì | drawer | 别个 bie2go4 | 别人 biérén | other people | 不了 bu2niao3 | 不止 bùzhǐ | more than | |
| 晌午 sang3vu3 | 午饭 wǔfàn | lunch | 侧边 ze2bian1 | 旁边 pángbiān | beside | 声气 sen1qi4 | 声音 shēngyīn | sound | |
| differentsequence | 鸡公 ji1gong1 | 公鸡 gōngjī | cockerel | 鸡母 ji1mu2 | 母鸡 mǔjī | hen | 气力 qi4ni2 | 力气 lìqì | strength |
| 闹热 nao4re2 | 热闹 rènào | noisy | 人客 ren2ke2 | 客人 kèrén | guest | 欢喜 huan1xi3 | 喜欢 xǐhuān | to like | |
| Sichuanese | standard | meaning | Sichuanese | standard | meaning | Sichuanese | standard | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 歪 wai1 | 凶恶 xiōng'è | rude | 巴 ba1 | 粘贴 zhāntiē | to stick | 谙 ngan2 | 以为 yĭwéi | to think |
| 奓 za1 | 张开 zhāngkāi | to splay | 饮 yin4 | 浇灌 jiāoguàn | to water | 抱 bao4 | 孵化 fūhuà | to incubate |
| 左 zo3 | 调换 diàohuàn | to switch | 马 ma3 | 欺负 qīfù | to bully | 费 fei4 | 调皮 tiáopí | naughty |
| 撵 nian3 | 追赶 zhūigǎn | to run after | 号 hao4 | 批阅 pīyuè | to correct | 咀 ju2 | 吮吸 shǔnxī | to suck |
| 搌 zan3 | 挪动 nuódòng | to move | 争 zen1 | 欠缺 qiànquē | to lack | 摸 mo1 | 磨蹭 mócèng | to dally |
| 湓 men4 | 溢出 yìchū | to overflow | 槽 cao4 | 翻动 fāndòng | to stir | 翕 xie1 | 裂开 lièkāi | to crack |
| 瓢羹儿 piao2ger1 | 勺 sháo | spoon | 估到 gu3dao3 | 逼 bī | to force | 巴适 ba1si2 | 好 hǎo | good |
| 嘎嘎 ga3ga3 | 肉 ròu | meat | 啪啦 pa1la1 | 堆 dūi | pile | 几下 ji3ha4 | 快 kuài | to hurry |
| 巴壁虎 ba1bi2fu3 | 壁虎 bìhǔ | gecko | 檐老鼠 yan2nao3su3 | 蝙蝠 biǎnfú | bat | 扯把子 ce3ba3zi3 | 撒谎 sāhuǎng | to tell a lie |
| 月母子 yue2mu3zi3 | 孕妇 yùnfù | pregnant woman | 磕膝头 ke2qi1ter2 | 膝盖 xīgài | knee | 丁丁猫儿 din1din1mer1 | 蜻蜓 qīngtíng | dragonfly |
| 雪弹子 xue2dan4zi3 | 冰雹 bīngbáo | hail | 贼娃子 zui2wa2zi3 | 小偷 xiǎotōu | thief | 冒皮皮 mao4pi2pi2 | 吹牛 chūiníu | to boast |
Relation with other Chinese dialects
If one selects the Chengdu dialect to represent Sichuanese, and compare its lexicon with other varieties of Chinese, we can try to find the relationship between Sichuanese and those dialects. Sichuanese shares the most similar vocabulary with Yunnanese, a dialect of Southwestern Mandarin spoken in the neighboring province. However, the relationship between Sichuanese and Northern Mandarin dialects, including the standard language, is weaker than the relationship between Xiang and Gan.In terms of vocabulary, Sichuanese has the second closest relationship with Xiang. The two languages share a large number of exclusively unique words. This is mainly because many Xiang-speaking immigrants from Hunan moved to Sichuan during the great wave of immigration during the Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
and Qing
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
Dynasties, so Xiang does not have such a close relationship with other southwestern varieties of Chinese, such as those spoken in Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
, Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
or Hubei
Hubei
' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...
. For example, in both Sichuanese and Xiang the verb "to squat" is "跍" (gu1) but "蹲" (dūn) in standard Mandarin, the noun "kitchen" is "灶屋" (zao4vu2) but "厨房" (chúfáng) in standard, and the adjective "thick" is "酽" (nyian4) but "浓" (nóng) in standard. Furthermore, the Sichuanese vocabulary also contains words from Old Xiang and Middle Xiang, such as "謱謰" (sloppy), "革" (old) and "崽" (son)
| Rank | Chinese dialects | Major sub-dialect | Percentage of the same vocabulary with Sichuanese |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yunnanese | Kunming Kunming dialect The Kunming dialect is an official dialect of Southwestern Mandarin Chinese. Luo Changpei describes it as having "simple phonemes, elegant vocabulary, and clear grammar. "-Beginnings:... |
58.3% |
| 2 | Xiang | Changsha Changsha dialect Changsha dialect is a dialect of Xiang Chinese, which is one of the Sinitic languages. It is spoken predominantly in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. It is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin, the official language of China.-Classification:... |
54.9% |
| 3 | Jianghuai Mandarin | Yangzhou Yangzhou Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across... |
52.7% |
| 4 | Gan | Nanchang Nanchang dialect Chang-Du dialect, sometimes called Nanchang dialect after its principal variety, is a dialect of the Gan language. It is named after Nanchang and Duchang, and is spoken in those areas as well as in Xinjian, Anyi, Yongxiu, De'an, Xingzi, Hukou, and bordering regions in Jiangxi province and in... |
49.4% |
| 5 | Northern Mandarin | Beijing Beijing dialect Beijing dialect, or Pekingese , is the dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of Beijing, China. It is the phonological basis of Standard Chinese, which is used by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China , and Singapore.... |
47.8% |
| 6 | Wu | Suzhou Suzhou dialect Suzhou dialect is a dialect of Wu, one of the subdivisions of Chinese spoken language. It is spoken in the city of Suzhou, in Jiangsu province of China, and is the traditional prestige dialect of Wu.... |
36.4% |
| 7 | Yue | Guangzhou Cantonese Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province... |
27.4% |
| 8 | Hakka | Meixian Meixian dialect Meixian dialect , also known as Meizhou is the prestige dialect of Hakka Chinese and the primary form of Hakka on Taiwan... |
27.2% |
| 9 | Min | Xiamen | 20.2% |
Crisis
Though the Sichuanese is not as endangered as some other Chinese languages, the Sichuanese's prevalence has dramatically lessened as the popularity of Standard Chinese rises. The government policy limits the use of Sichuanese in broadcastingBroadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and many public places. Furthermore, the use of Sichuanese as a teaching medium is not permitted in the curriculum, which results in the reduce of fluency among young people in Sichuanese-speaking areas in post-80s and 90s. The Sichuanese spoken by them is greatly affected by the national language.