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Pinghua (;
Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
: ''Pìhng Wá''; sometimes disambiguated as /) is a pair of
Sinitic languages The Sinitic languages (漢語族/汉语族), often synonymous with "Chinese languages", are a language group, group of East Asian analytic languages that constitute the major branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan language family. ...
spoken mainly in parts of the
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ( ...
, with some speakers in
Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangx ...
province. Pinghua is a
trade language A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
in some areas of Guangxi, where it is spoken as a second language by speakers of
Zhuang languages The Zhuang languages (; autonym: , pre-1982: , Sawndip: 話僮, from ''vah'', 'language' and ''Cuengh'', 'Zhuang'; ) are any of more than a dozen Tai languages spoken by the Zhuang people of Southern China in the province of Guangxi and adj ...
. Some speakers of Pinghua are officially classified as Zhuang, and many are genetically distinct from most other
Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive v ...
. The northern subgroup of Pinghua is centered on
Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the nort ...
and the southern subgroup around
Nanning Nanning (; ; za, Namzningz) is the capital and largest city by population of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South o ...
. Southern Pinghua has several notable features such as having four distinct
checked tone A checked tone, commonly known by the Chinese calque entering tone, is one of the four syllable types in the phonology of Middle Chinese. Although usually translated as "tone", a checked tone is not a tone in the phonetic sense but rather a sy ...
s, and using various loanwords from the
Zhuang languages The Zhuang languages (; autonym: , pre-1982: , Sawndip: 話僮, from ''vah'', 'language' and ''Cuengh'', 'Zhuang'; ) are any of more than a dozen Tai languages spoken by the Zhuang people of Southern China in the province of Guangxi and adj ...
, such as the final
particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from ...
''
wei Wei or WEI may refer to: States * Wey (state) (衛, 1040–209 BC), Wei in pinyin, but spelled Wey to distinguish from the bigger Wei of the Warring States * Wei (state) (魏, 403–225 BC), one of the seven major states of the Warring States per ...
'' for imperative sentences.


History and classification

Language surveys in Guangxi during the 1950s recorded varieties of Chinese that had been included in the Yue dialect group but were different from those in Guangdong. Pinghua was designated as a separate dialect group from Yue by the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...
in the 1980s and since then has been treated as a separate dialect in textbooks and surveys. Since designation as a separate dialect group, Pinghua has been the focus of increased research. In 2008 a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences of research into Chinese varieties noted an increase in research papers and surveys of Pinghua, from 7 before the 1987 publication of the '' Language Atlas of China'' based on the revised classification, and about 156 between then and 2004. In the 1980s the number of speakers was listed as over 2 million; and by 2016 as 7 million. Pinghua is divided into two mutually unintelligible languages: * The Northern Pinghua (''Guìběi'' ) is spoken in northern Guangxi, around the city of
Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the nort ...
, in close proximity with
Southwest Mandarin Southwestern Mandarin (), also known as Upper Yangtze Mandarin (), is a Mandarin Chinese language spoken in much of Southwest China, including in Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Guizhou, most parts of Hubei, the northwestern part of Hunan, the northe ...
dialects. **and also in a some places in Hunan, such as
Tongdao Tongdao (the full name: "''Tongdao Dong Autonomous County''", ; usually referred to as "''Tongdao County''", ) is an autonomous county of Dong people in Hunan Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Huaihua ...
. **
Younian dialect The Younian language or Younian dialect () is a Pinghua dialect of northern Guangxi, China. It is spoken by ethnic Red Yao people in Longsheng County, Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; postal map romanization, alternatively ...
(ethnically Yao) * The Southern Pinghua (''Guìnán'' ) is spoken in southern Guangxi, around the city of
Nanning Nanning (; ; za, Namzningz) is the capital and largest city by population of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South o ...
. These varieties form a
dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...
with Yue varieties spoken in that part of Guangxi (excluding enclaves of
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...
, such as in
Nanning Nanning (; ; za, Namzningz) is the capital and largest city by population of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South o ...
). Yu Jin subdivides this group into three types: ** Yongjiang, spoken along the Yong River around Nanning. ** Guandao (官道 "official road"), spoken to the east of Nanning in
Laibin Laibin (, Zhuang: Laizbinh) is a prefecture-level city in the central part of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. History Laibin is an ancient town with more than 2000 years of history. The area was settled in prehistoric times, more t ...
and the counties of Heng and Binyang, around the road to the
Southwest Mandarin Southwestern Mandarin (), also known as Upper Yangtze Mandarin (), is a Mandarin Chinese language spoken in much of Southwest China, including in Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Guizhou, most parts of Hubei, the northwestern part of Hunan, the northe ...
-speaking city of
Liuzhou Liuzhou (; , IPA Pronunciation:) is a prefecture-level city in north-central Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. The prefecture's population was 3,758,700 in 2010, including 1,436,599 in the built-up area made of 4 urban ...
. ** Rongjiang, spoken along the Rong River to the north of Liuzhou.


Phonology

Nanning Nanning (; ; za, Namzningz) is the capital and largest city by population of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South o ...
Pinghua has a voiceless lateral fricative for
Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
or , for example in the numbers "three" and "four". This is unlike Standard Cantonese but like some other Yue varieties such as
Taishanese Taishanese (), alternatively romanized in Cantonese as Toishanese or Toisanese, in local dialect as Hoisanese or Hoisan-wa, is a dialect of Yue Chinese native to Taishan, Guangdong. Although it is related to Cantonese, Taishanese has littl ...
.


Tones

Southern Pinghua has six contrasting tones in open syllables, and four in checked syllables, as found in neighbouring Yue varieties such as the Bobai dialect. The split of the lower entering tone is determined by the initial consonant, with the low rising contour occurring after
sonorant In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant or resonant is a speech sound that is produced with continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; these are the manners of articulation that are most often voiced in the world's languages. Vowels ar ...
initials.


Anthropological

Genetically, Pinghua speakers have more in common with non-Han ethnic minorities in southern China than with other Han groups.


References


Further reading

*Xie Jianyou ��建猷 et al. 2007. ''Studies on the Han Chinese dialects of Guangxi'' ��西汉语方言研究 Nanning: Guangxi People's Publishing House ��西人民出版社 *《广西通志·汉语方言志》(续编)课题组 (2013). 广西通志·汉语方言志:续编.第二篇,平话. Nanning: 广西人民出版社. *《广西通志·汉语方言志》(续编)课题组 (2013). 广西通志·汉语方言志:续编.第五篇,桂北土话. Nanning: 广西人民出版社. * *


External links


Classification of Pinghua Dialects
{{Guangxi topics Varieties of Chinese Languages of China Culture in Guangxi