Changzhou dialect

Changzhounese is centered around the city of Changzhou and is spoken throughout the prefecture. It is notable as being one of the last places one hears Wu when traveling west from the mouth of the Yangtze before it gives way to the Southern Mandarin dialects in Zhenjiang and Nanjing prefectures. Within the prefecture, there are also small but noticeable distinctions in pronunciation between the city center and the more rural surroundings which can be easily detected by native speakers. It is likely that as most residents have remained in the same village for many generations and have been locally educated these variations have managed to persist. As one travels closer to Wuxi, the dialect begins to be closer to that spoken in neighboring Wuxi, the dialect of Wu that is most closely related to the Changzhou dialect. Speakers from the eastern Changzhou villages have little difficulty conversing fluently with those from the western end of Wuxi Prefecture. In addition to the surrounding areas of Jiangsu Province, the Changzhou dialect is also emerging as a spoken dialect in Shanghai, and overseas in New York City in the United States. == Development ==

Influence of Lin'an Mandarin on Wu Dialect The Lin'an Mandarin (Hangzhou Mandarin) has had an important influence on the Wu dialect area. The Nandu of the Song dynasty had an important influence on the dialects of Zhejiang, especially along the Qiantang River and its upper reaches. Mr. Zhao described the Changzhou dialect system three times. The distinction between "gentle talk" and "street talk" appeared earlier. It is not clear when the differentiation began, because the earliest relevant record seen so far is Mr. Zhao's "Research on Modern Wu Dialects". Presumably, this distinction already existed in the Qing dynasty - Mr. Zhao was talking about gentry since he was a child. "Gently talk" and "street talk" use different groups of people. Gentry is also called squire's dialect, squire's talk, etc. As the name suggests, it was the words spoken by the gentlemen in the countryside at that time. In the late period of Chinese feudal society, especially in the Qing dynasty, Changzhou enjoyed the reputation of "the important support of Wujin and the famous capital of Bayi", with convenient commerce and trade, leading economy, prosperous humanities, and prosperous academics. When people arrived in Changzhou, they became a wealthy family in Changzhou and an urban upstart with a rural accent. When Mr. Zhao Yuanren's great-grandfather moved his family to Qingguo Lane, his descendants settled here. Qingguo Lane is another place where officials and gentry gather in Changzhou. The squires who live in these places all say something called "gentle talk". The source of gentry talk is probably the crepe crepe passed down from generation to generation by the families of officials and giants. The urbanized country tone later gradually became a symbol of distinguishing identity. The street talk is the authentic Changzhou accent, the accent of the local ordinary citizens, and the accent of most people in the city. The main difference between gentle talk and street talk is the tone of voice. The difference between gentle talk and street talk is concentrated on one point - the difference in monograms. There are 7 tones in Changzhou dialect. According to Mr. Zhao Yuanren’s investigation and description, the differences in the tones of Changzhou dialects between gentry and street talk are as follows: First, the yin rise value is different. The gentry yin rise value is 55; The upward adjustment value is 35, the difference is subtle but sensitive; second, the second voice is the upper voice, the street talk should be the (yin) upper voice of 35, the gentleman's talk is the text reading (yin) of the upper voice of 55, and the vernacular should be the yangping of 73. ==Phonetics and phonology==

Initials Finals Note2: • The original tables Tones Like a number of other Wu dialects, the Changzhou dialect is considered to have seven tones. However, since the tone split dating from Middle Chinese still depends on the voicing of the initial consonant, these constitute just three phonemic tones. The seven tonic allophones were divided according to register by the Chinese-American linguist and Changzhou native Yuen Ren Chao. The high register includes the first, third, fourth and sixth tone with the second, fifth and seventh tone in the low register. Tone sandhi Sandhi in Wu dialects is complex compared to Mandarin, though Changzhou sandhi is not nearly as complex as that of the Suzhou dialect of Wu. In the case of pairs of syllables have the stress on the second syllable, the only notable changes are the second syllable changing from (523) to (52) in the case of the fourth tone, or from (13) to (11) with the second tone. ==Examples==

Four-Character Idioms The common idioms in Changzhou dialect are: phrases with fixed structure and overall semantics, which are passed down orally by the people of Changzhou and used in the Changzhou dialect area. The idioms in the dialect have a strong dialect color. Only those who have lived in a certain dialect area for a long time can use it freely, like a fish in water; otherwise, they do not understand its meaning, or seem to understand it. 挨肩擦背(Shoulder to Shoulder): crowded 壁跟壁落(Walls and Walls): every corner 别咧卜落(Don't be fooled): one after another, non-stop 七搭八搭(Compatible with each other): describe the speech as being out of focus 测测默默(Quietly): silently 搭七搭八(Take seven and eight): casually strike up a conversation with people, and the relationship is ambiguous 搭头搭脑(Head-to-head and head-to-head): total before and after 得溜滚圆(Gotta be round): very round 滴沥笃落(Drip drop): the sound of light rain, also refers to the flow of water is not smooth 暗忽隆冬(Darkness and Midwinter): Dark, not bright ...... == Influence ==

The influence of Changzhou dialect on Changzhou mandarin is mainly concentrated in the following two aspects. First, both Yangping and Qusheng in Mandarin tend to be yin people's voices. The end point or starting point of the tone change of Mandarin Yangping (tone value 35) and Qusheng (iJt value 51) is 5, while the tone value of Changzhou Yinren tone is 5. These three tones are easily confused in speech flow. Due to the influence of the dialect habits, Changzhou people are very easy to pronounce the Yinren yin in the dialect with the pronunciation of the Mandarin, so there is a phenomenon that some Mandarin yangping and Qusheng characters are pronounced as yin jinxuan, such as "that is即, but却, "shu束" are very easy to be pronounced as yin people's voices. Second, the sound of Mandarin tends to be Yangping. The tone value of Mandarin is 214, and the tone value of Changzhou dialect is 213. The two tone types are very similar. At the same time, the characters in the Yangping tone of Changzhou dialect are basically Yangping tone in Mandarin, which makes it easy for Changzhou people to compare it with Changzhou dialect. The upper tone of Mandarin, which is very similar to the Yangping tone, is related to the Yangping tone of Mandarin. The influence of Changzhou dialect on the pronunciation of Changzhou Mandarin belongs to a special linguistic phenomenon produced by the contact and fusion of dialect and national common language. ==See also==