Sichuanese dialects

Sichuanese
Szechwanese
四川话
PronunciationChengdu [sz˨˩˧tsʰwan˦˥xwa˨˩˧] Chongqing [sz˨˩˦tsʰwan˥xwa˨˩˦]
Native toChina
RegionSichuan, Chongqing and their neighboring provinces
EthnicitySichuanese people
Dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3(a proposal to use scm was rejected in 2018[1])
GlottologNone
Sichuanese in Greater China
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Sichuanese or Szechwanese (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; Sichuanese Pinyin: Si4cuan1hua4; pinyin: Sìchuānhuà; Wade–Giles: Szŭ4-ch'uan1-hua4), also called Sichuanese/Szechwanese Mandarin (simplified Chinese: 四川官话; traditional Chinese: 四川官話; pinyin: Sìchuān Guānhuà), is a branch of Southwestern Mandarin spoken mainly in Sichuan and Chongqing, which was part of Sichuan Province until 1997, and the adjacent regions of their neighboring provinces, such as Hubei, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan and Shaanxi. Although "Sichuanese" is often synonymous with the Chengdu-Chongqing dialect, there is still a great amount of diversity among the Sichuanese dialects, some of which are mutually unintelligible with each other. In addition, because Sichuanese is the lingua franca in Sichuan, Chongqing and part of Tibet, it is also used by many Tibetan, Yi, Qiang and other ethnic minority groups as a second language.[2][3][4]

Sichuanese is more similar to Standard Chinese than southeastern Chinese varieties but is still quite divergent in phonology, vocabulary, and even grammar.[2] The Minjiang dialect is especially difficult for speakers of other Mandarin dialects to understand.[5][6][7][8] Sichuanese can be further divided into a number of dialects: Chengdu–Chongqing, Minjiang, Renshou–Fushun, and Ya'an–Shimian. The dialect of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province and an important central city, is the most representative dialect of Southwestern Mandarin and is used widely in Sichuan opera and other art forms of the region.

Modern Sichuanese evolved due to 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.[9] The influence of Sichuanese has resulted in a distinct form of Standard Chinese that is often confused with "real" Sichuanese. Sichuanese, spoken by about 120 million people, would rank tenth among languages by number of speakers (just behind Japanese) if counted as a separate language.

  1. ^ "Change Request Documentation: 2017-025". SIL International.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference 《四川方言与巴蜀文化》 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ 严奇岩 (April 2007). 《移民与四川人"打乡谈"》. 成都大学学报(社科版).
  4. ^ 田畅(2009-07-29),《在四川灾区支教的300多个日夜》,鞍山日报
  5. ^ 李彬、涂鸣华 (2007). 《百年中国新闻人(上册)》. 福建人民出版社. p. 563. ISBN 978-7-211-05482-4.
  6. ^ 吴丹, 梁晓明 (Nov 23, 2005). 四川交通:"窗口"飞来普通话. 中国交通报.
  7. ^ 张国盛, 余勇 (Jun 1, 2009). 大学生村官恶补四川方言 现在能用流利四川话和村民交流. 北京晨报.
  8. ^ 走进大山的志愿者. 四川青年报. Jul 18, 2009.
  9. ^ 彭金祥(March 2006),《四川方音在宋代以后的发展》,乐山师范学院学报

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