Beijing Mandarin | |
---|---|
Beijingese | |
北京官話 / 北京官话 Běijīng Guānhuà | |
Pronunciation | Beijing dialect: [pèɪtɕíŋ kwánxwâ] |
Region | Beijing, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning and Tianjin |
Native speakers | 27 million (2004)[1] |
Dialects |
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
ISO 639-6 | bjgh |
cmn-bei | |
Glottolog | beij1235 Beijingic |
Linguasphere | 79-AAA-bb |
In Chinese dialectology, Beijing Mandarin (simplified Chinese: 北京官话; traditional Chinese: 北京官話; pinyin: Běijīng Guānhuà) refers to a major branch of Mandarin Chinese recognized by the Language Atlas of China, encompassing a number of dialects spoken in areas of Beijing, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, and Tianjin,[1] the most important of which is the Beijing dialect, which provides the phonological basis for Standard Chinese. Both Beijing Mandarin and its Beijing dialect are also called Beijingese.
See also: Mandarin Chinese § Classification |
Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin were proposed by Chinese linguist Li Rong as two separate branches of Mandarin in the 1980s.[2] In Li's 1985 paper, he suggested using tonal reflexes of Middle Chinese checked tone characters as the criterion for classifying Mandarin dialects.[3] In this paper, he used the term "Beijing Mandarin" (北京官话) to refer the dialect group in which checked tone characters with a voiceless initial have dark level, light level, rising and departing tone reflexes.[3] He chose the name Beijing Mandarin as this Mandarin group is approximate to the Beijing dialect.[4]
He subsequently proposed a split of Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin in 1987, listing the following as reasons:[5][6]
The 2012 edition of Language Atlas of China added one more method for distinguishing Beijing Mandarin from Northeastern Mandarin:[7]
Meanwhile, there are some scholars who regard Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin as a single division of Mandarin. Lin (1987) noticed the phonological similarity between Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin.[8] Zhang (2010) suggested that the criteria for the division of Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin as top-level Mandarin groups are inconsistent with the criterion for the division of other top-level Mandarin groups.[9]
Beijing Mandarin is classified into the following subdivisions in the 2012 edition of Language Atlas of China:[10]
Per the 2012 edition of Atlas, these subgroups are distinguished by the following features:[1]
Compared with the first edition (1987), the second edition (2012) of the Atlas demoted Jīngshī and Huái–Chéng subgroups to clusters of a new Jīng–Chéng subgroup. Shí–Kè (石克) or Běijiāng (北疆) subgroup (including the cities of Shihezi and Karamay), listed as a subgroup of Beijing Mandarin in the 1987 edition, is re-allocated to a Běijiāng (北疆) subgroup of Lanyin Mandarin and a Nánjiāng (南疆) subgroup of Central Plains Mandarin. The Cháo–Fēng subgroup covers a greater area in the 2012 edition.[12]
With regard to initials, the reflexes of kaikou hu syllables with any of the 影, 疑, 云 and 以 initials in Middle Chinese differ amongst the subgroups: a null initial is found in the Jīngshī cluster, while /n/ or /ŋ/ initials are often present in the Huái–Chéng cluster and the Cháo–Fēng subgroup.[1][13]
Initial in Middle Chinese ► | *ŋ | *ŋ | *ʔ | *ʔ | *ʔ | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subdivision | Location | 鹅 | 昂 | 爱 | 矮 | 袄 |
Jingshi | Beijing | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ |
Huai–Cheng | Chengde[14] | n | n | n | n | n |
Chao–Feng | Chifeng[15] (old-style) |
ŋ | ∅ | ∅ | ŋ | n |
Dental and retroflex sibilants are distinct phonemes in Beijing Mandarin.[5] This is contrary to Northeastern Mandarin, in which the two categories are either in free variation or merged into a single type of sibilants.[5]
In both Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin, the checked tone of Middle Chinese has completely dissolved and is distributed irregularly[16] among the remaining tones.[17] However, Beijing Mandarin has significantly fewer rising-tone characters with a checked-tone origin, compared with Northeastern Mandarin.[18]
Subdivision | Location | 戳 | 福 | 质 [19] |
---|---|---|---|---|
Beijing Mandarin | Beijing | dark level | light level | departing |
Northeastern Mandarin | Harbin | rising | rising | rising |
The Cháo–Fēng subgroup generally has a lower tonal value for the dark level tone.[1]
Subdivision | Location | Dark level | Light level | Rising | Departing | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jingshi | Beijing | ˥ (55) | ˧˥ (35) | ˨˩˦ (214) | ˥˩ (51) | [20] |
Huai–Cheng | Chengde | ˥ (55) | ˧˥ (35) | ˨˩˦ (214) | ˥˩ (51) | [20] |
Chao–Feng | Chifeng | ˦ (44) | ˧˧˥ (335) | ˨˩˧ (213) | ˥˧ (53) | [21] |
Xingcheng | ˦ (44) | ˧˥ (35) | ˨˩˧ (213) | ˥˩ (51) | [21] | |
Taiwanese | Taipei | ˦ (44) | ˧˨˧ (323) | ˧˩˨ (312) | ˥˨ (52) | [22] |
Taichung | ˦ (33) | ˧˨˨ (322) | ˧˩ (31) | ˦˨ (32) | [23] |
The Cháo–Fēng subgroup has more words in common with that of Northeastern Mandarin.[11]
this place | to envy | to deceive | to show off; to brag |
dirty | to do | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MSC | 这地方 | 嫉妒 | 骗人 | 炫耀 | 脏 | 搞 |
Chao–Feng | 这圪垯 | 眼气 | 忽悠 | 得瑟 | 埋汰 | 整 |
The intensifier 老 is also used in the Cháo–Fēng subgroup.[11]