Tong-Tai Dialect also named as Tai-Ru Dialect(Chinese

Chinese character

Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

: 泰如方言）is a particular dialect of Jianghuai Mandarin spoken in the middle-east of Jiangsu

Jiangsu

' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...

 province. Tong stands for Tongzhou(Chinese

Chinese character

Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

: 通州), Ru stands for Rugao

Rugao

Rugao is a city of Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China, located in the Golden Triangle region in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It is one of the historical and cultural city of Jiangsu province....

/Rudong(Chinese

Chinese character

Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

: 如皋/如东) and Tai stands for Taizhou

Taizhou

Taizhou may refer to two prefecture-level cities of the People's Republic of China:*Taizhou, Jiangsu *Taizhou, Zhejiang...

(Chinese

Chinese character

Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

: 泰州). This region includes the areas which are to the north of 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...

 and to the east of Grand Canal

Grand Canal

Grand Canal can refer to multiple waterways:* Grand Canal in eastern China* Grand Canal in Venice, Italy* Grand Canal , between the river Shannon and Dublin in Ireland* Grand Canal d'Alsace in eastern France...

. There are about 11,37 million speakers there (year 2004) and this region takes about 15,000 square kilometers.

This region can also be divided further into 3 districts:the west, the middle and the east. The west part includes Taizhou

Taizhou

Taizhou may refer to two prefecture-level cities of the People's Republic of China:*Taizhou, Jiangsu *Taizhou, Zhejiang...

, Jiangyan

Jiangyan

Jiangyan is a city in the prefecture of Taizhou in Jiangsu province, China. Jiangyan is most famous for being the birthplace of the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China, Hu Jintao....

, west of Hai'an, west of Dongtai

Dongtai

Dongtai is a city under the jurisdiction of Yancheng, Jiangsu, in the People's Republic of China, located on the west coast of the Pacific ocean and 190 kilometers north of Shanghai. It has a population of roughly 1,170,000 estimated for 2007...

, Dafeng

Dafeng

Dafeng ' a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Yancheng which is one of 13 prefecture-level cities in Jiangsu province. Dafeng is located in Jiangsu North Plain with a coastline of 112 km. In its history, Dafeng was one of the largest salt-making areas in China and now is famed for...

, Xinghua

Xinghua

This article is about the city. For other uses, see Xinghua.Xinghua City is a county-level city in Taizhou, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China...

, east of Jiangdu

Jiangdu

Jiangdu is a county-level city in Jiangsu Province, China, under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Yangzhou. Jiangdu is the location of Yangzhou Taizhou Airport that is currently under construction and will serve Yangzhou and Taizhou when open in 2012.-References:*...

. The middle part includes Rugao

Rugao

Rugao is a city of Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China, located in the Golden Triangle region in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It is one of the historical and cultural city of Jiangsu province....

, Rudong, Taixin, east of Dongtai

Dongtai

Dongtai is a city under the jurisdiction of Yancheng, Jiangsu, in the People's Republic of China, located on the west coast of the Pacific ocean and 190 kilometers north of Shanghai. It has a population of roughly 1,170,000 estimated for 2007...

, east of Hai'an and westsouth of Jinhai. The east part includes downtown of Nantong

Nantong

Nantong is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth, Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north, Taizhou to the west, Suzhou and Shanghai to the south across the river, and...

 and westsouth of Tongzhou

Tongzhou

Tongzhou may refer to:* Tongzhou, Jiangsu, current Nantong city, a former city in Jiangsu** Tongzhou District, Nantong, in Jiangsu* Tongzhou, Hebei, current Tongzhou District in Beijing, a former city in Hebei* Tongzhou District, Beijing...

. These vernaculars are distinguished by the difference in consonant

Consonant

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...

.

However these districts used to be the region of the Wu

Wu

Wu may refer to:Places:* Wu , a region in China, associated with:** Wu Chinese, a variety of spoken Chinese spoken in the Wu region** Wu , a state in the Wu region during the Spring and Autumn Period...

 culture,so there are lots of marked bottom preservation of Wu Chinese in these vernaculars. Especially the vernacular in the middle part, known as middle Tong-Tai Dialect

Middle Tong-Tai Dialect

Middle Tong-Tai Dialect , a branch of the Tong-Tai Dialect is mainly used in the districts including Rugao, Rudong , Taixin, east of Dongtai, east of Hai'an and southwest of Jinhai. Although it is divided into the category of Jianghuai Mandarin, interchange barrier still exists between it and...

(Chinese

Chinese character

Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

: 通泰方言中区）. It is closely bounded on the Changzhou part in the Wu

Wu

Wu may refer to:Places:* Wu , a region in China, associated with:** Wu Chinese, a variety of spoken Chinese spoken in the Wu region** Wu , a state in the Wu region during the Spring and Autumn Period...

 region.

Phonology

The Nantong

Nantong

Nantong is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth, Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north, Taizhou to the west, Suzhou and Shanghai to the south across the river, and...

variety will be taken as representative.

Consonant inventrory

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
plosive	p pʰ		t tʰ	k kʰ	ʔ
nasal	m		n	ŋ
fricative		f v	s	x
lateral approximant			l

Alveolar-palatal fricative: ɕ ʑ (single consonant syllable [ʑ̩](cloth) and [m̩] maid)

Affricates: t͡s t͡sʰ t͡ɕ t͡ɕʰ

Vowels
r-colored ɜ: ɜ˞

tongue position for [ø] is slightly higher than the standard [ø], but lower than [y]

[ɛ] is slightly lower than the standard [ɛ], sounds close to [æ]

[ʌ] is higher than the standard [ʌ],close to [ɜ]

Tones

Dark level阴平21 Light level 阳平35

(light)Rising上声（阳上）55

light departing阳去213 Dark departing阴去42

light entering阳入55ʔ dark entering阴入42ʔ

Rugao dialect

The Rugaohua dialect of Jianghuai does not follow the T3 sandhi rule which most other Mandarin dialects follow, with T3 being absent from it. Linguists speculate that the Beijing dialect also eliminated T3 sandhi, but it was resurrected for modern Standard Mandarin (Putonghua).

When Chinese people were subjected to listening to various dialects such as Northern Mandarin (Yantai dialect), Standard Mandarin (Putonghua), and Jianghuai Mandarin (Rugao dialect of Jiangsu), "cross dialectal" differences appeared in their reactions.