Zhangjiakou–Hohhot dialect

Zhangjiakou–Hohhot
Zhangjiakou–Hohhot
張呼片, 此地话
Native to	China
Region	Inner Mongolia, Zhangjiakou
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Jin Zhangjiakou–Hohhot; ; ; ;
Writing system	Chinese characters
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	huhe1234 Huhehaote
	Location of the Zhangjiakou–Hohhot dialect (yellow) spoken within China

Zhangjiakou–Hohhot (

Hebei Province in China. One of its sub-branches is Hohhot dialect (simplified Chinese: 呼和浩特话; traditional Chinese: 呼和浩特話; pinyin: Hūhéhàotèhuà), which is also locally referred as Hūshìhuà (呼市话; lit. Hu-city speech). The other sub-branch is the Zhangjiakou dialect (simplified Chinese: 张家口话; traditional Chinese: 張家口話; pinyin: Zhāngjiākǒuhuà).^[1]

There is notable dialectal variation within the two cities. People in the Jiucheng area (

Hebei dialect, Northeastern Mandarin, and elements of the Manchu language

, caused by the migration patterns to the region. It has thus created a distinct linguistic style. The two spoken forms of the Hohhot dialect are only partially intelligible to each other.

Like most Jin dialects, the Jiucheng Hohhot dialect uses the

mutually intelligible with many dialects in neighboring Shanxi. In its full-fledged form, however, it is only partially intelligible with Standard Chinese

. Arguably the most eccentric sound is the "nge" sound used to express "I". Many expressions in the dialect has crossed over itself with the Mandarin taught in schools to create "Hohhot Mandarin", or what is commonly heard on the street.

Notable features of the Hohhot dialect include:

A special intonation for yes–no questions, which is characterized by a prolonged contour at the end of the sentence.
Mandarin completive "ba" (吧) is often changed into "và" (哇) especially in suggestions.
"ya" (呀) is used at the end of a sentence to form future tense.
Renjia (人家), an expression used to refer to someone in third person, is pronounced "niá".
The word that corresponds to the Mandarin "wǒ" ("I") is pronounced "é" or "wě", which is possibly a weak form of the "nge" form. A vulgar slang term for "I' is "yé 爷 ", which is used mostly by less well-educated men, and those who want to sound tough and manly.
Notable
aspiration
of p, t, and k sounds.

The above elements are generally seen in the Jin sub-branch of the "raw" Hohhot dialect, which has its own exclusive elements:

The absence of the "zh", "ch", and "sh" sounds. They are respectively changed into "z", "c" and "s".
The Mandarin "r" is non-existent. It is replaced with a soft "z" sound.
"What", (什么 Shénma), is generally pronounced "seng", or "sheng" by local people.
Na-li, the expression for "over there" is often pronounced "na-ha-r".

Variation

The dialect spoken in

Siziwang Banner. The dialect around Tumed Left Banner, west of the city, is significantly different phonologically, but lexically similar. In Zhangjiakou, Hebei

, however, the dialect seems relatively similar and has little variation.

References

^ "Zhāngjiākǒu fāngyán" 张家口方言. Baidu (in Chinese). 2010-10-11. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-04-27.

External links

Expressions exclusive to Hohhot Dialect (in Chinese)

[1] "Zhāngjiākǒu fāngyán" 张家口方言. Baidu (in Chinese). 2010-10-11. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-04-27.

[1]