The pronunciation characteristics of Ningxia dialect

It should be said that both southern and northern dialects retain elements of ancient Chinese, but relatively speaking, the southern dialects, especially the Cantonese dialect, retain more.

1. Tone.

The Cantonese dialect retains the complete tones of ancient Chinese, thus preserving the complete pronunciation characteristics.

Chinese intonation is the most significant feature of the Chinese language. Medieval Chinese (Tang Dynasty) has 8 tones: Yin Ping, Yang Ping, Yin Shang, Yang Shang, Yin Qu, Yang Qu, Yin Ru, Yang Ru.

The Cantonese dialect has 9 tones, retaining the ancient Chinese "Ping Shang Qu Ru" (Ping Shang Qu Ru), which is divided into Yin and Yang, and only differentiates the Ru tone into "Zhong Ru".

Mandarin has only 4 tones. The dialects in various parts of the north basically do not have the entry tone (the Jin dialect retains part of the entry tone), and the entry tone of the Xiang dialect has mutated, retaining only phonemes. The Wu dialect retains the entry tone relatively completely, but the endings of the entry tone originally had three distinctions: g-k-h. However, the Wu dialect has all been changed to glottal stops, and the differences in the rhyme endings of the entry tone cannot be distinguished. The Cantonese dialect not only retains phonemes, but also completes the three distinctions between rhymes and endings. This is the most difficult place for foreigners to learn Cantonese dialect.

2. In terms of initials and vowels.

Just give a few examples:

"微MU" is pronounced M, and socks - mah means yang. In Mandarin, it is pronounced wà. You can see that the note of this word is "mo", which is obviously inconsistent with "wa", and "wi" is pronounced as "mā", which is consistent with the pronunciation of Cantonese dialect.

The rhymes of "anti" and "fan" are different. The former is an and the latter is am.

3. Vocabulary.

The Cantonese dialect retains a large number of the original meanings of ancient Chinese words. For example: eat, drink, stand, Mandarin uses "eat, drink, stand". In fact, in ancient Chinese, eat means stuttering; drink means shout loudly; stand means coming from Mongolian, which came into existence much later.

There are many monosyllabic words in Cantonese dialect, which is also one of the characteristics of ancient Chinese.

4. Grammar.

The postposition of adverbials in Cantonese dialect is a habit of ancient Chinese. Such as "You go first" (You go first).

China is a country with a large population with multiple ethnic groups, languages ??and dialects. According to the famous linguist Mr. Zhou Youguang, my country's 56 ethnic groups have more than 80 languages ??and regional dialects that cannot speak to each other, belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family (such as Chinese, Tibetan, Jingpo, Yi, Miao). languages, Zhuang, etc.), Altaic languages ??(such as Mongolian, Uyghur, Kazakh, etc.), Austronesian languages ??(such as Alpine languages), South Asian languages ??(such as Wa, etc.), Indo-European languages ??(such as Russian, Tajik) wait). Among them, the largest number of people speak Chinese. In addition to the Han people, there are also the Manchu and Hui people. Most of the She people, Tujia people and other ethnic minorities also use Chinese. Chinese is the most spoken language in the world.

So, how many dialects are there in Chinese? Broadly speaking, modern Chinese can be divided into 7 major dialects:

The first is the northern dialect (mandarin in a broad sense), which is circulated in The vast areas of the Central Plains, Northeast, Northwest and Southwest of my country.

Northern dialects can be further divided into 4 major sub-dialects:

1. North China Northeast sub-dialect (Northern dialect in a narrow sense): covering Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, eastern Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Shandong, Henan and other provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities;

2. Northwest sub-dialect (Northwestern Mandarin): covering Shanxi, western Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang and other provinces and autonomous regions ;

3. Southwest sub-dialect (Southwestern Mandarin): covering Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, most of Hubei, northwest Hunan, northwest Guangxi and other provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities;

< p>4. Jianghuai sub-dialect (Xiajiang Mandarin): covers both sides of the Yangtze River in Anhui Province, most of Jiangbei, Marujiang, Nanjing and Zhenjiang in Jiangsu Province.

The second is the Wu dialect, that is, the Jiangnan and Zhejiang dialects, which are distributed in the Jiangnan area of ??Jiangsu Province, Shanghai City and most of Zhejiang Province. Jiangsu and Zhejiang dialects are mainly represented by Shanghainese.

The third is Gan dialect, that is, Jiangxi dialect, which is distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Gan River in Jiangxi Province, northwest Fujian Province, eastern Hunan Province, and southeastern Hubei Province. Jiangxi dialect is mainly represented by Nanchang dialect.

The fourth is the Xiang dialect, that is, Hunan dialect, which is distributed in most of Hunan Province. Hunan dialect is mainly represented by Changsha dialect (in the old days, Shuangfeng dialect was the representative).

The fifth is Hakka dialect, also called Hakka dialect and Hakka dialect.

The Hakka dialect is relatively scattered and concentrated in the northeastern part of Guangdong Province, the northwest part of Fujian Province, the areas bordering Jiangxi Province and Hubei, Guangdong, and Fujian, as well as Sichuan, Guangxi, and Taiwan. Many Chinese in Southeast Asian countries speak Hakka. Hakka dialect is mainly represented by Meizhou dialect.

The sixth is the Cantonese dialect, also known as Cantonese, Cantonese, Cantonese, and vernacular, which is distributed in most of Guangdong Province, the southeastern part of the Guangxi Autonomous Region, as well as Hong Kong, Macao, and Chinese communities in North America. Cantonese dialect is mainly represented by Cantonese.

The seventh is the Min dialect, that is, the Min language, which is widely distributed, including most of Fujian Province, the Chaoshan area in the east of Guangdong Province, and the Leizhou Peninsula, Hainan Province, most of Taiwan Province, and southern Zhejiang Province in the west. . The Min dialect is widely spoken in Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. There are great differences within the Fujian dialects. Generally speaking, the southern Fujian films are represented by Xiamen dialect, the eastern Fujian films are represented by Fuzhou dialect, the northern Fujian films are represented by Jianou dialect, the central Fujian films are represented by Yong'an dialect, and the Putian Xianyou dialect The film is represented by Futian dialect.

Among the seven major dialects, Northern dialect is the most widely distributed, accounting for about 70% of the country's area; it is also spoken by the largest number of people, accounting for about 70% of the Chinese population. The other six major dialects The total speaking population only accounts for about 30% of the Chinese-speaking population. The six major dialects except the northern dialects are all southern dialects. The internal differences among northern dialects are small, and the main difference is in pronunciation. The main difference in pronunciation is the different tone value of each tone. Tone value is one of the decisive factors in the appearance of each local dialect, and therefore it is also one of the main indicators to distinguish the differences between northern dialects.

Northern Dialect

Northern Dialect is the northern dialect in a broad sense, formerly known as "Mandarin". It is the dialect with the widest area and the largest population of speakers in Chinese.

The northern dialect area includes the Han residential areas in the provinces north of the Yangtze River, the areas along the Yangtze River above Zhenjiang and below Jiujiang to the south of the Yangtze River, the Han areas in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou provinces, and most of Hubei (except the Xianning area in the southeast) , the northwest corner of Guangxi

and the northwest corner of Hunan. It accounts for about three-quarters of the Chinese-speaking areas in the country, and more than 70% of the Han population (data from 1981). In addition, in areas where other Chinese dialects are spoken, there are still a few "dialect islands" that speak northern dialects. This is all caused by historical reasons. Known northern dialect islands include "Mandarin" in Nanping (Chengguan), Fujian, and "Military dialect" in Ya County, Hainan Island.

The northern dialect is represented by Beijing dialect, which has strong internal consistency. The three northeastern provinces and the three southwest provinces are thousands of kilometers apart in a straight line. Because the languages ??they use belong to the same northern dialect system, there is no difficulty for Han people to communicate with each other. It is rare in the world to have such a large population, a wide geographical area and such a consistent language.

Northern dialects are divided into the following four sub-dialects:

(1) North China dialect, that is, northern dialect in a narrow sense, also known as "Northern Mandarin"

North China Dialects can be further subdivided into six dialect groups according to their pronunciation characteristics:

1. Hebei dialect: most areas of Hebei Province.

2. Northeast dialect: the three northeastern provinces and eastern Inner Mongolia.

3. Shandong dialect: central region of Shandong Province.

4. Jiaodong dialect: Jiaodong Peninsula and Liaodong Peninsula.

5. Henan dialect: spoken in most areas of Henan Province.

6. Huaibei dialect: spoken in the Huaibei region of Anhui and Jiangsu provinces and parts of western and southern Shandong.

(2) Northwest dialect

Northwest dialect can be further divided into three dialect groups:

1. Shanxi dialect: Shanxi Province and the western edge of Hebei, Hetao area in Inner Mongolia, northern Shaanxi and northern Henan.

2. Guanzhong dialect: central and southern Shaanxi and eastern Gansu.

3. Ninggan dialect: Ningxia and Gansu Hexi Corridor.

(3) Southwest dialect, also known as "Southwestern Mandarin"

Southwest dialect can be further divided into four dialect groups:

1. Sichuan-Guihua: Sichuan and Guizhou.

2. Hubei dialect: central and western Hubei.

3. Yunnan dialect: Yunnan Province.

4. Guibei dialect: Han-inhabited area in northern Guangxi, including Guilin and Liuzhou cities, Pingle, Lipu, Yangshuo, Yongfu,

Luzhai, Lingui and other counties, as well as Parts of He County and Fuzhong County, and certain counties in the areas where Zhuang people live in western Guangxi, such as Yishan, Laibin, Liujiang, Liucheng, etc.

(4) Jianghuai dialect, also known as "Xiajiang Mandarin"

Jianghuai dialect can be further divided into three dialect groups:

1. Huainan dialect: Most areas of Anhui and northern Jiangsu.

2. Wannan dialect: the border area between southern Anhui and Zhejiang.

3. Nan Diao: the coastal area along the northern coast of Jiangsu.

The northern dialect has a vast territory and a large population. In addition to the above-mentioned sub-dialects, there are also some places with special pronunciation.

It is difficult to classify them into which sub-dialect at the moment. For example, the "Chu" dialect in Hubei and eastern Hubei is certainly very different from the "Southwestern dialect" represented by Hankou, and it is difficult to group it with the "Jianghuai dialect" in the east. Another example is the dialect of She County in southern Anhui. It is worth studying whether it should be classified as Jianghuai dialect.