Differences between Chongqing, Sichuan, Hunan and Wuhan Dialects

Chongqing dialect belongs to Sichuan language family and Bashu dialect. Sichuan dialect, also known as Sichuan dialect and Bashu dialect, belongs to the southwest mandarin of Chinese. Southwest Mandarin is mainly used in Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan, most of Hubei, northwestern Hunan and northwestern Guangxi. Note: 1, roughly including Chengdu-Chongqing dialect and Chiguan dialect in Southwest Mandarin. At present, Sichuan dialect has about 65.438+20 million users. Chengdu dialect is the standard pronunciation of Sichuan opera and various folk arts, but it is not the standard dialect of Sichuan province. In fact, Sichuan dialect has never had a so-called standard pronunciation, just as Guangzhou dialect is to Cantonese, because Sichuan dialect itself is formed by the evolution and integration of immigrant dialects from all over the world.

In fact, Wuhan culture is not a pure Jingchu culture. It already has some comprehensiveness and integrity. There is a joke that may illustrate this point. This joke was told by Wuhan people. They say that just as Wuhan should be the capital, Wuhan dialect should be Mandarin. The reason is simple: China people are "Han people". "Han people" don't say "Chinese dialect". What do they say? The irony of this statement lies in simplifying "Wuhan dialect" into "Chinese dialect" and equating "Chinese dialect" with "Chinese". However, Wuhan people don't tell it as a joke, and we don't listen to it as a joke. Because Wuhan dialect really means "Mandarin". It is a northern language family with a southern accent, and there are some similarities between the northern and southern dialects, so it is easy to transition to the northern dialect (as evidenced by the proximity between Han opera and Beijing opera). Northerners can understand, and Renye Fang people can understand; Northerners are eager to learn, while southerners in Renye Fang are eager to learn. There is no obvious defect except that it is not very pleasant to hear, and there is no problem if it is defined as Putonghua. Changsha dialect is the representative of Xiang dialect in the seven major Chinese language families. Xiang dialect is popular in most areas of Hunan province, and its users account for about 5% of the total population of Han nationality, which is less than that of northern dialect (7 1%! ), Wu language family (8%), which is equivalent to Cantonese language family (5%) and exceeds the other three major language families (Fujian language family 4%, Hakka language family 4% and Jiangxi language family 3%).

Changsha dialect belongs to Xiang dialect. Readers who are familiar with the geography of China can see at a glance that the Xiang language family is just in the center of the intersection of the northern language family and the southern language family: all provinces in northwest Hunan, including northwest Hunan, are dominated by the northern language family (Guizhou, Sichuan and Hubei belong to the northern language family), while the southeast is surrounded by the Jiangxi language family, Hakka language family and Cantonese language family, separated only by the Wu language family and the Min language family. This situation has led to the interweaving of various language families in Hunan Province, and also greatly affected the characteristics of the Xiang language family itself. Take Liuyang County under the jurisdiction of Changsha as an example. The county's population is 6,543.8+0.3 million, some people speak Gan dialect, others speak Changsha dialect, and about 654.38+0.5% people speak Hakka dialect, completely achieving the so-called "ten-mile difference" (it should be noted that these are not three similar dialects, but three different major language families).

The geographical crossing and communication between language families will inevitably lead to Xiang dialect being one of the language families with the most language components of other language families, and in fact it is the easiest dialect to understand and learn except the northern language family. Friends who have studied and worked in Hunan should have some experience. After staying for three months to six months, most people can understand Changsha dialect and even imitate a few "plastic" Changsha dialects. It is much less difficult than Cantonese, Minnan, Hakka and Wu. You know, foreigners often use dictionaries, textbooks and tapes to learn the last few dialects!