New Xiang

New Xiang, also known as Chang-Yi (simplified Chinese: 长益片; traditional Chinese: 長益片; pinyin: Chǎng Yì piàn; lit. 'Changsha and Yiyang subgroup') is the dominant form of Xiang Chinese. It is spoken in northeastern areas of Hunan, China adjacent to areas where Southwestern Mandarin and Gan are spoken. Under their influence, it has lost some of the conservative phonological characteristics that distinguish Old Xiang. While most linguists follow Yuan Jiahua in describing New Xiang as a subgroup of Xiang Chinese,^[2] Zhou Zhenhe and You Rujie classify it as Southwestern Mandarin.^[3][4] However, New Xiang is still very difficult for Mandarin speakers to understand, particularly the old style of New Xiang.

New Xiang
Chang-Yi
长益片
Native to	People's Republic of China
Region	Hunan
Speakers	13.65 million (2012)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Xiang New Xiang
Writing system	Chinese characters
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
ISO 639-6	cayi
Glottolog	chan1316
Linguasphere	79-AAA-eaa
New Xiang is in red. It is in contact with Southwestern Mandarin to the northwest, Gan to the east, Old Xiang to the west, and Hengzhou Xiang to the south (yellow).

Dialects and regions

New Xiang-speaking cities and counties are mainly located in the northeast part of Hunan, the lower river of Xiang and Zi. The Changsha dialect is representative.^{[clarification needed]} There are three main subdialects under New Xiang.

Chang-Tan

Urban Changsha, Changsha County, Wangcheng District, Ningxiang, Liuyang*, Xiangyin, Miluo, Nanxian, Urban Zhuzhou, Zhuzhou County, Urban Xiangtan, Xiangtan County, Nanxian

Yi-Yuan

Urban Yiyang, Yuanjiang, Taojiang

Yueyang

Yueyang County, Yueyang

Suantang (酸汤) is a lect spoken by about 80,000 ethnic Miao people in Baibu (白布), Dihu (地湖), Dabaozi (大堡子), and Sanqiao (三锹) in Tianzhu, Huitong, and Jing counties of Hunan province.^[5] It is very similar to New Xiang, but it is unintelligible with Southwestern Mandarin.^[6][7]