Pinghua[a] refers to various
Sinitic language varieties spoken mainly in parts of
Guangxi, with some speakers in
Hunan. Pinghua is a
trade language in some areas of Guangxi, spoken as a second language by speakers of
Zhuang languages. Some speakers are officially classified as
Zhuang, and many are genetically distinct from most other
Han Chinese.[2] The northern subgroup is centered on
Guilin and the southern subgroup around
Nanning. The Southern dialect has several notable features such as having four distinct
checked tones, and using various loanwords from the
Zhuang languages, such as the final
particlewei for imperative sentences.
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 in the 1980s[3]: 15 and since then has been treated as a separate dialect in textbooks and surveys.[4]
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.[5]
In the 1980s the number of speakers was listed as over 2 million;[3]: 21 and by 2016 as 7 million.[6]
Dialects
Pinghua is generally divided into two mutually unintelligible languages:[7]
Northern Pinghua (Guìběi桂北平话) is spoken in northern Guangxi, around the city of
Guilin, in close proximity with
Southwest Mandarin dialects.
and also in a some places in Hunan, such as
Tongdao.
Southern Pinghua (Guìnán桂南平话) is spoken in southern Guangxi, around the city of
Nanning. These varieties form a
dialect continuum with Yue varieties spoken in that part of Guangxi (excluding enclaves of
Cantonese, such as in
Nanning).[8] Yu Jin subdivides this group into three types:[9]
Yongjiang, spoken along the
Yong River around Nanning.
Guandao (官道; 'official road'), spoken to the east of Nanning in
Laibin and the counties of
Heng and
Binyang, around the road to the
Southwest Mandarin-speaking city of
Liuzhou.
Rongjiang, spoken along the
Rong River to the north of Liuzhou.
The Zheyuan people of
Funing County,
Yunnan speak a form of Pinghua. They are located in Dongbo and Guichao, and they migrated from
Nanning.
Southern Pinghua has six contrasting tones in open syllables, and four in checked syllables,[12] as found in neighbouring Yue varieties such as the
Bobai dialect.
^Chappell, Hilary; Li, Lan (2016). "Mandarin and Other Sinitic Languages". In Chan, Sin-Wai (ed.). The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Chinese Language. Oxon: Routledge. pp. 605–628.
ISBN978-1-317-38249-2.
^Kurpaska, Maria (2010). Chinese Language(s): A Look Through the Prism of "The Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects".
Walter de Gruyter. pp. 55–56, 76.
ISBN978-3-11-021914-2.
^Yu, Jin 余瑾 (2016). Guǎngxī Pínghuà yánjiū 广西平话研究 (in Chinese). Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe. p. 24.
ISBN978-7-5161-8896-5.
^Chappell, Hilary; Li, Lan (2016). "Mandarin and Other Sinitic Languages". In Chan, Sin-Wai (ed.). The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Chinese Language. Oxon: Routledge. p. 624.
ISBN978-1-317-38249-2.
^de Sousa, Hilário (2016). "Language contact in Nanning: Nanning Pinghua and Nanning Cantonese". In Chappell, Hilary M. (ed.). Diversity in Sinitic Languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 157–189.
ISBN978-0-19-872379-0. p. 162.