Tong–Tai ( zh, c=通泰), also known as Tai–Ru ( zh, c=泰如), is a group of

Lower Yangtze Mandarin Lower Yangtze Mandarin () is one of the most divergent and least mutually-intelligible of the Mandarin language varieties, as it neighbours the Wu, Hui, and Gan groups of Sinitic languages. It is also known as Jiang–Huai Mandarin (), nam ...

dialects spoken in the east-central part of

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

province in the prefecture-level cities of

Nantong Nantong is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province, China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth. Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north; Taizhou to the west; Suzhou, Wux ...

(formerly Tongzhou) and Taizhou. The alternative name refers to the county-level city of

Rugao Rugao () is a county-level city under the administration of Nantong, Jiangsu province, China, located in the Yangtze River Delta on the northern (left) bank of the river. History In 411, the western part of then Hailing ( Taizhou) was separated ...

within Nantong. This region includes the areas which are to the north of

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

and to the east of Grand Canal. There are about 11.37 million speakers there (in 2004) and this region occupies about 15,000 square kilometers. This region can also be divided further into three districts: the west, the middle and the east. The west part includes Taizhou,

Jiangyan Jiangyan District () is one of the three urban districts of the city of Taizhou, Jiangsu province. It was a county-level city until December 2012. Jiangyan is known for being the birthplace of the former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist ...

, west of

Hai'an Hai'an () is a county-level city under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Nantong, in eastern Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provi ...

, west of

Dongtai Dongtai () is a coastal county-level city under the administration of Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China. It has a population of roughly 1,170,000 estimated for 2007. Out of the total population, about 260,000 live in the Dongtai urban core, others ...

Dafeng Dafeng District () is a coastal district in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China. Located on the Jiangsu North Plain with a coastline of , Dafeng was historically one of the largest salt-making areas in China and now is famed for its well preserved ...

, Xinghua, east of

Jiangdu Jiangdu ( zh, s=江都区, p=Jiāngdū Qū, l=; historically known as Kiangtu) is one of three districts of Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, China. The district spans an area of , and as of November 1, 2020, has 926,577 inhabitants. Formerly a county, ...

. The middle part includes

Rudong Rudong County () is under the administration of Nantong, Jiangsu province, China, and lies on the Yellow Sea coast. It administers 14 towns and five districts. The 14 towns are Juegang, Matang, Fengli, Caobu, Chahe, Shuangdian, Xindian, Hekou, ...

Taixing Taixing () is a county-level city under the administration of Taizhou, Jiangsu province, China. It is located in the Yangtze River Delta, bordering the prefecture-level cities of Nantong to the east, Changzhou to the southwest, and Zhenjiang to th ...

, east of

and southwest of

Jingjiang Jingjiang () is a county-level city under the administration of Taizhou, Jiangsu province, China. It is located on the northern (left) bank of the Yangtze River, and is the southernmost part of Taizhou City, bordering Nantong to the northeast, Suz ...

. The east part includes downtown of

and southwest of Tongzhou. These vernaculars are distinguished by the difference in

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...

s. However these districts used to be the region of the Wu culture, so there are many features of

Wu Chinese , region = Shanghai, Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, parts of Anhui and Jiangxi provinces; overseas and migrant communities , ethnicity = Wu , speakers = million , date = 2021 , ref = e27 , fa ...

in these vernaculars, especially the vernacular in the middle part, known as middle Tong-Tai dialect. It is closely bounded on the Changzhou part in the Wu region.

Phonology

The

variety will be taken as representative.

Consonants

Vowels

r-colored ɜ: ɜ˞ tongue position for �is slightly higher than the standard � but lower than �is slightly lower than the standard � sounds close to � �is higher than the standard �close to � Tones Dark level 阴平21 Light level 阳平35 (Light)Rising 上声（阳上）55 Light departing 阳去213 Dark departing 阴去42 Light entering 阳入55ʔ Dark entering 阴入42ʔ

Dialects

Rugao dialect

The Rugaohua dialect of Jianghuai does not follow the T3 sandhi rule which most other Mandarin dialects follow. Linguists speculate that changes to pitch countours over time also removed the original motivation for T3 sandhi in the Beijing dialect underlying modern

Standard Mandarin Standard Chinese ( zh, s=现代标准汉语, t=現代標準漢語, p=Xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ, l=modern standard Han speech) is a modern Standard language, standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the Republic of ...

(putonghua), but the sandhi was retained. When Chinese people were subjected to listening to various dialects such as Northern Mandarin (Yantai dialect), Standard Mandarin (Putonghua), and Jianghuai Mandarin (Rugao dialect of Jiangsu), "cross dialectal" differences appeared in their reactions.

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Dialects

Rugao dialect

References

Further reading