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Beijing dialect
*** Shopping-Tip: Beijing dialect
{{IPA notice}}'''Beijing dialect''' (北京�,
pinyin: Běijīnghuà ) is the
dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of
Beijing,
China. The Beijing dialect is the basis of
Standard Mandarin, the standard official
Chinese spoken language that is used by the
People's Republic of China, the
Republic of China on
Taiwan, and
Singapore.
Although the Beijing dialect and
Standard Mandarin are extremely similar, there are some differences that make it easy for Chinese people to tell between a native of Beijing speaking homegrown Beijing dialect, and a non-native of Beijing speaking flawless Standard Mandarin.
Distribution
The term "Beijing dialect" usually refers to the dialect spoken in the urban area of Beijing only. However, linguists have given a broader definition for '''Beijing Mandarin''' (北京官è¯? BÄ›ijÄ«ng GuÄ?nhuà ) that also includes some dialects extremely akin to that of Beijing.
For example, the local speech of
Chengde, a city north of Beijing, is considered sufficiently close to Beijing dialect to be put into this category.
Standard Mandarin is also put into this category, since it is after all based on the local dialect of Beijing. Other examples include the local speech of
Hailar, China Hailar,
Inner Mongolia;
Karamay,
Xinjiang; and (increasingly)
Shenzhen,
Guangdong. Many of these cities are populated by recent
Han Chinese immigrants from diverse linguistic backgrounds or their descendants. As a result, the residents of these cities have adopted
standard Mandarin (or something very close to it) as the de facto common language.
Phonology
(The
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and
Hanyu Pinyin will be used for the rest of this section to show pronunciation.)
In
phonology, Beijing dialect and
Standard Mandarin are almost identical. See
Standard Mandarin for its phonology charts; the same charts apply to Beijing dialect.
However, there are some striking differences. Most prominently is the proliferation of
rhotic vowels. All rhotic vowels are the result of {{IPA.html">noun
suffix, except for a few words pronounced as {{IPA
/ɑɹ/}}_that do not have this suffix. In Standard Mandarin, these also occur, but nowhere near the ubiquity and frequency in which they appear in Beijing dialect.
Moreover, Beijing dialect has a few phonetic reductions that are usually considered too "slangy" for use in Standard Mandarin. For example, in fast speech, initial consonants go through
lenition if they are in an
lexical stress unstressed syllable:
pinyin zh ch sh {{IPA.html">pinyin b d g /p t k/ go through
voicing.html">phonation|voicing to become [b d g]; similar changes also occur on other consonants. Also, final /-n/ and (less frequently) {{IPA|/-Å‹/}} (-ng) can fail to close entirely, so that a
nasal vowel is pronounced instead of a
nasal consonant; for example, {{IPA|您}} nÃn ends up sounding like "nyih" (nasalized), instead of "nyeen" in
Standard Mandarin:
{| class="wikitable"
!
Pinyin !! Standard Mandarin !! typical street pronunciation in Beijing
|-
| an || {{IPA|æn}} || {{IPA|æɨ̃}}
|-
| ian || {{IPA|iɛn}} || {{IPA|iɛɨ̃}}
|-
| en || {{IPA|É™n}} || {{IPA|É™ɨ̃}}
|-
| in || {{IPA|in}} || {{IPA|iÉ™ɨ̃}}
|-
| ang || {{IPA|ɑÅ‹}} || {{IPA|ɑɯ̃}}
|-
| eng || {{IPA|ɤÅ‹}} || {{IPA|ɤɯ̃}}
|-
| ing || {{IPA|iɪÅ‹}} || {{IPA|iɤɯ̃}}
|}
The tones of Beijing dialect tend to be more exaggerated than
Standard Mandarin. In standard Mandarin, the four tones are high flat, high rising, low dipping, and falling; in Beijing dialect, the first two tones are made higher, the third one dips more prominently, and the fourth one falls more.
Vocabulary
Beijing dialect has a lot of words that are considered slangy, and therefore occur much less or not at all in
Standard Mandarin. Non-Beijing natives often have trouble understanding what most of these mean. Many of these slangwords have the rhotic
suffix -r. Examples include:
* å€?å„¿ bèir — very, especially (referring to manner or attribute)
* 别价 biéjie — do not; usually followed by å‘€ if used as an
imperative
* æ?“ç?«å„¿ cuÅ?huÇ’r — to be angry
* é¢ å„¿äº† diÄ?rle — to leave; to run away
* 二把刀 èrbÇŽdÄ?o — a person with limited abilities
* å—¬ hè — interjection indicating surprise or doubt
* 瘊儿 hÅ?ur — to an extreme extent; used of tastes
* æŠ é—¨å„¿ kÅ?uménr — stingy, spendthrift
* 劳驾 láojia — excuse me; heard often on Beijing buses
* 溜达 liÅ«da — to stroll about; equivalent to standard Mandarin 逛街 or æ•£æ¥
* 怂 sóng / 蔫儿 niÄ?nr — no backbone, spiritless
* 消å?œ xiÄ?oting — to finally and thankfully become quiet and calm
* è¾™ zhé — way (to do something); equivalent to standard Mandarin 办法
Note that some of the
slang are considered to be ''tuhua'' (土�), or "base language", that are carryovers from an older generation and are no longer used amongst more educated individuals, for example:
* è¿„å°?å„¿ qÃxiÇŽor — since a young age
* 晕了è?œ yÅ«nlecà i — to be disoriented
Others, still, can be construed as
neologism neologistic expressions that are used amongst "trendier" crowds:
* 爽 shuÇŽng — cool *in relation to a matter*; compare with é…· (kù) *describes a person*
* 套瓷儿 tà ocÃr — to toss into the hoop; used of basketball
* å°?蜜 xiÇŽomì — special female friend *negative connotation*
Grammar
As with phonology and vocabulary, the
grammar of the colloquial Beijing dialect utilizes more colloquial expressions than does
Standard Mandarin. In general,
Standard Mandarin is influenced by
Classical Chinese, which makes it more condensed and concise; Beijing dialect is not influenced in this way, and can therefore seem more longwinded — though this is made up by the fact that Beijing dialect is spoken faster and has phonetic reductions (see Phonology section above).
An example:
Standard Mandarin:
今天会下雨，所以出门时�记得带伞。
''JÄ«ntiÄ?n huì xià yÇ”, suÇ’yÇ? chÅ«mén shà yà o jìde dà i sÇŽn.''
Beijing dialect:
今儿啊å?¯èƒ½ä¼šä¸‹é›¨ï¼Œæ‰€ä»¥å‘€ä½ 出门儿的时候å?¯ä¸€å®šå¾—è®°ç?€å¸¦ä¸Šä¼žï¼?
''JÄ«nr a kÄ›néng huì xià yÇ”, suÇ’yÇ? ya nÇ? chÅ«ménr de shÃhou kÄ› yÃdìng dÄ›i jìzhe dà ishang sÇŽn!''
After having gone through Beijing dialect's phonetic reductions:
''JÄ«nr ra kÄ›néng wèi yà yÇ”, suÇ’yÇ? ya nÇ? chÅ«ménr re ri'ou kÄ› yÃdìng nÄ›i jìre dà irang sÇŽn!''
''It might rain today, so remember to bring an umbrella when you go out.''
The Beijing dialect sentence would sound too long-winded if used in a context that requires
Standard Mandarin (e.g. in writing, or formal speech), though it sounds fine if used among Beijing locals (with Beijing phonetic reductions in place). The Standard Mandarin pronunciation sounds fine if it is used in a context that requires it (e.g. among friends from different Chinese regions), but it is too stilted and short to be able to accommodate all the phonetic reductions of Beijing pronunciation and may be rendered incomprehensible as a result.
See also
*
List of Chinese dialects
*
Mandarin slang
Category:Chinese language
Category:City colloquials
Category:Beijing culture
ja:北京語
zh:北京�
*** Shopping-Tip: Beijing dialect
