You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Chinese. (January 2012)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the Chinese article.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 381 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Chinese Wikipedia article at [[:zh:南京話]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|zh|南京話}} to the talk page.
A number of features distinguish the Nanjing dialect from other Mandarin varieties. It maintains the glottal stop final and the entering tone,which Northern Mandarin or Southwestern Mandarin likely also had until recently. Like Northern Mandarin,it has preserved the retroflex initials of Middle Chinese. As with other Jianghuai Mandarin dialects,the Nanjing dialect has lost syllable-initial /n/,which have all become/l/. The opposite has occurred in Southwestern Mandarin,where /l/ has changed to /n/. Northern Mandarin,on the other hand,retains distinct /l/ and /n/ initials.
While Mandarin dialects typically feature two nasal finals (/n/ and /ŋ/),these have merged into one in Jianghuai Mandarin dialects.[2]
Expansion
The earliest dialect of Nanjing was an ancient Subei dialect spoken by the Subei barbarians/Huaiyi during the Eastern Jin. After the Wu Hu uprising,the Jin Emperor and many northern Chinese fled south,establishing the new capital Jiankang in what is modern day Nanjing. Further events occurred,such as Hou Jing's rebellions during the Liang dynasty,the Sui dynasty invasion of the Chen dynasty which resulted in Jiankang's destruction,Ming Taizu's relocation of Central Asia's Muslim Indo-Iranians and Muslim Mongols to Nanjing,over a 20% of the population of Nanjing was Mongolian Central Asians and Indo-Iranian foreginers from Central Asia and Muslim Mongols in Nanjing[3]from and the establishment of Nanjing as the capital of the Taiping Kingdom which resulted in a significant decrease in the city's population. These events all played a role in forming the Nanjing dialect of today.[4]
Old Nanjing dialect
Old Nanjing dialect is mostly found in old communities in Nanjing itself,and was the main form spoken in the 1930s.[5]
New Nanjing dialect is the variety most frequently spoken in Nanjing of today,and is often simply referred to as "Nanjing dialect". It has more influence from Beijing dialect.
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (November 2024)
Prominence
Some linguists have studied the influence that Nanjing Jianghuai Mandarin had on the Mandarin-basedkoiné spoken by the Ming dynasty.[6] Although it was based on the Nanjing dialect,there were important differences and the koinéexhibited non-Jianghuai characteristics. Francisco Varo,a Dominican friar living in 17th century China pointed to Nanjing as one of several places Mandarin speech paralleled that of the elites.[6]
During the 19th century,dispute arose over whether the Nanjing dialect or Beijing dialect should be preferred by Western diplomats and translators,as the prestige of the Nanjing dialect seemed to be waning.[7] Even when it was clear that the Beijing dialect had gained prominence,many sinologists and missionaries maintained their preference for the Nanjing dialect. Leipzig-based professor Georg von der Gabelentz even argued that the Nanjing dialect was preferable for scientific texts because it had fewer homophones:[8]
Only in recent times has the northern dialect, pek-kuān-hoá, in the form [spoken] in the capital, kīng-hoá, begun to strive for general acceptance, and the struggle seems to be decided in its favor. It is preferred by the officials and studied by the European diplomats. Scholarship must not follow this practise. The Peking dialect is phonetically the poorest of all dialects and therefore has the most homophones. This is why it is most unsuitable for scientific purposes.
The originally Japanese book Mandarin Compass (官話指南) was modified with Nanjing dialect's tones and published with French commentary by Jiangnan-based French missionary Henri Boucher.[9] Calvin W. Mateer attempted to compromise between Northern and Southern Mandarin in his book A Course of Mandarin Lessons, published in 1892.[8]
Study of the Nanjing dialect
Important works written about the Nanjing dialect include Syllabar des Nankingdialektes oder der correkten Aussprache sammt Vocabular by Franz Kühnert, and Die Nanking Kuanhua by K. Hemeling.[10][11][12]
The English & Chinese vocabulary in the court dialect by Samuel Wells Williams was based on the Nanjing dialect, rather than the Beijing dialect. Williams also described the differences between Nanjing and Beijing Mandarin in the same book and noted the ways in which the Peking dialect differs from the Nanjing dialect, such as the palatalization of velars before front vowels. Williams also noted that the changes were consistent so that switching between pronunciations would not be difficult.[13]
Romanization
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, romanization of Mandarin consisted of both Beijing and Nanjing pronunciations. The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal offered that romanizing for both Nanjing and Beijing dialects was beneficial. The journal explained that, for example, because 希 and 西 are pronounced the same in Beijing (pinyin:xī) but differently in Nanjing (with the latter being si), the Standard System retains the two spellings. The system similarly retains contrasts in Beijing that are missing in Nanjing, such as that between 官 (pinyin:guān) and 光 (pinyin:guāng).[14]
Chappell, Hilary (2002), "The universal syntax of semantic primes in Mandarin Chinese", in Goddard, Cliff; Wierzbicka, Anna (eds.), Meaning and Universal Grammar: Theory and Empirical Findings, vol.1, John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp.243–322, ISBN90-272-3063-3.
——— (2000b), "Late Apicalization in Nankingese", Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 28 (1): 52–66, JSTOR23754004.
Ding, Bangxin; Yu, Aiqin; Li, Fanggui (2000), Yu yan bian hua yu Han yu fang yan: Li Fanggui xian sheng ji nian lun wen ji, Zhong yang yan jiu yuan yu yan xue yan jiu suo chou bei chu.
Hé, Dà'ān (2002), 第三屆國際漢學會議論文集: 語言組. 南北是非: 漢語方言的差異與變化 (Third International Conference on Sinology: North-South non-language groups: Differences and changes in Chinese Dialects), vol.7 of 第三屆國際漢學會議論文集: 語言組., 中央硏究院語言學硏究所, ISBN957-671-936-4.
Ho, Dah-an (2003), "The characteristics of Mandarin dialects", in Thurgood, Graham; LaPolla, Randy J. (eds.), The Sino-Tibetan languages, Routledge, pp.126–130, ISBN978-0-7007-1129-1.
Kaske, Elisabeth (2008), The politics of language in Chinese education, 1895-1919, vol.82 of Sinica Leidensia, BRILL, ISBN978-90-04-16367-6.
Kurpaska, Maria (2010), Chinese Language(s): A Look Through the Prism of "The Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects", Walter de Gruyter, ISBN978-3-11-021914-2.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
