Nanking dialect
| Nanjing dialect | |
|---|---|
| Nankingese | |
|
南京話 Nánjīnghuà |
|
| Native to | People's Republic of China |
| Region | Nanjing, Jiangsu province |
| Ethnicity | Nanjing People (Han Chinese) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
Nanjing dialect or Nanjing Mandarin is a dialect spoken in Nanjing in China. It is part of the Jianghuai group of Mandarin Chinese varieties.
A number of features distinguish the Nanjing dialect from other Mandarin varieties. It maintains the glottal stop final and the entering tone, which Northern Mandarin or Southwestern Mandarin likely also had until recently. Like Northern Mandarin, it has preserved the retroflex initials of Middle Chinese. As with other Jianghuai Mandarin dialects, Nanjing dialect has lost syllable-initial /n/, which have all become /l/. The opposite has occurred in Southwestern Mandarin. Northern Mandarin on the other hand, retains distinct /l/ and /n/ initials. Jianghuai, like Northern Mandarin, also distinguishes between /f/ and /x/ initials in all environments, while they have merged in Southwestern Mandarin before the final /u/.
While Mandarin dialects typically feature two nasal finals (/n/ and /ŋ/), these have merged into one in Jianghuai Mandarin dialects.
The earliest dialect of Nanjing was an ancient Wu dialect during the Eastern Jin. After the Wu Hu uprising, the Jin Emperor and many northern Chinese fled south, establishing the new capital Jiankang in what is modern day Nanjing. It was during this time that the ancient Wu of Nanjing was replaced by Jianghuai Mandarin. Further events occurred, such as Hou Jing's rebellions during the Liang dynasty, the Sui dynasty invasion of the Chen dynasty which resulted in Jiankang's destruction, Ming Taizu's relocation of southerners from below Yangtze to his newly established capital Nanjing, and the establishment of Nanjing as the capital of the Taiping Kingdom during the Taiping rebellion which resulted in a significant decrease in the city's population. These events all played in role in forming the Nanjing dialect of today.
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