Zigong dialect

The Zigong dialect (simplified Chinese: 自贡话; traditional Chinese: 自貢話; pinyin: Zìgònghuà; Wade–Giles: Tzu-kung hua) is a branch of Southwestern Mandarin, spoken mainly in Zigong, Fushun, Weiyuan, east Rongxian and some parts of Yibin, Neijiang, Longchang and other neighboring areas of Sichuan.

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Quick Facts Region, Language family ...

Zigong dialect
自贡话
Region	Zigong, Fushun, Weiyuan and their neighboring areas in Sichuan
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Mandarin Southwestern Sichuanese Renshou–Fushun Zigong dialect
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None
Zigong in Sichuan
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

At least four Chinese dialects are spoken in Zigong City: the Zigong dialect, the Rongxian dialect, Hakka and the Minjiang dialect. A majority of people in Zigong speak the Zigong dialect. However, most people in Rongxian, a county of Zigong City, speak the Rongxian dialect, whose pronunciation is quite different from that of the Zigong dialect. Besides, owing to a great number of Hakka immigrants in history, a small number of Hakka people in certain towns also remain to speak Hakka. Also, the Minjiang dialect is spoken in a few remote towns or villages bordering Luzhou, Leshan and Yibin.

History

The Zigong dialect differs from other branches of Sichuanese Mandarin. The modern Zigong dialect was formed rather recently in a great wave of immigration after the Qing dynasty.^{[citation needed]}

Immigrants played a crucial role in the formation of the new Zigong dialect. Zigong has long been known as the "Salt Capital" for its brine extraction techniques and the attendant salt-related culture. In ancient China, salt was regarded as the energy for body and valued even more highly than gold. Therefore, salt trading was always the most profitable business and salt merchants were the wealthiest people. Hence many merchants, mainly from Hubei, Henan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Guangdong, flooded into Zigong, bringing their Chinese varieties with them.

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Phonology

Summarize

Perspective

There are four phonemic tones in the Zigong dialect: dark level tone, light level tone, rising tone, and departing tone. The four tones all have different pitches vis a vis Mandarin. The ancient checked tone of Chinese has been redistributed entirely into the departing tone.

More information Tones, Pitch in the Zigong Dialect ...

Tones	Pitch in the Zigong Dialect	Pitch in Mandarin	Example
1st Tone (dark level)	44	55	方添初婚中
2nd Tone (light level)	31	35	房田除危雄
3rd Tone (ascending)	53	214	仿舔储碗晚
4th Tone (departing)	24	51	放到稻犒看
Dark departing	24 (literary) 55 (colloquial)	51	是树抱地路
Checked tone	24 (modern) 13 (traditional)		黑急各铁杂

There are 24 initials in the Zigong dialect. The Zigong dialect can clearly differentiate retroflex consonants and alveolo-palatal consonants, while most dialects of Sichuanese Mandarin can not.

There are 38 finals in the Zigong dialect.

Differences in colloquial and literary pronunciations

More information Example, Colloquial Reading ...

Example	Colloquial Reading	Literary Reading
在	在[te⁴]那旮ㄢ（kan¹）	存在[tsai⁴]
着	看着[tou³] 睡着[tʂʰo¹]了	着[tʂao²]打着[tʂo⁴]装
去	去[ʨi⁴]哪里	去[ʨʼy⁴]除
严	把门关严[ŋan²]	严[ȵian²]肃
下	等一下[xa¹]	下[ɕia⁴]午
等	等[tʰən⁴]几天	等[tən³]待
院	医院[uan⁴]	院[yan⁴]落
凭	凭[pʰen¹]着栏杆	凭[pʰin⁴]据

Words with different meanings

These words have meanings in the Zigong dialect entirely different from those in Mandarin.

More information Word, Meaning in the Zigong Dialect ...

Word	Meaning in the Zigong Dialect	Meaning in Mandarin
造孽	pitiful	Original character is "造業", a Buddhist term, meaning all the actions of the body, mouth, and mind
饮	use water or fertilizer on plants	give water to animals
跑马	nocturnal emission	ride a horse quickly; race horses
生	to be close, in love; to pass one's birthday	to give birth; to grow; life
不好	to be ill	not good
醒	to go bad (eggs)	secondary fermentation

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History

Phonology

Differences in colloquial and literary pronunciations

Words with different meanings

References

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