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Xiang Chinese

Xiang
Hunanese
湘語/湘语
Xiangyu.png
"Xiang Language" written in Chinese characters
Native to China
Region Central and southwestern Hunan, northern Guangxi, parts of Guizhou and Hubei provinces
Ethnicity Hunanese people (Han Chinese)
Native speakers
38 million (2007)
Dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog xian1251
Linguasphere 79-AAA-e
Idioma xiang.png
Xiang Chinese
Traditional Chinese 湘語
Simplified Chinese 湘语
Hunanese
Traditional Chinese 湖南話
Simplified Chinese 湖南话

Xiang or Hsiang (Chinese: ; pinyin: xiāng; Mandarin pronunciation: [ɕi̯ɑ́ŋ]), also known as Hunanese (English pronunciation: /ˌhnɑːˈnz/), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related varieties of Chinese, spoken mainly in Hunan province but also in northern Guangxi and parts of neighboring Guizhou and Hubei provinces. Scholars divided Xiang into five subgroups, Chang-Yi, Lou-Shao, Hengzhou, Chen-Xu and Yong-Quan. Among those, Lou-shao, also known as Old Xiang, still exhibits the three-way distinction of Middle Chinese obstruents, preserving the voiced stops, fricatives, and affricates. Xiang has also been heavily influenced by Mandarin, which adjoins three of the four sides of the Xiang speaking territory, and Gan in Jiangxi Province, from where a large population immigrated to Hunan during the Ming Dynasty.


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