Guanzhong dialect

Guanzhong dialect (Chinese: 关中话/關中話; pinyin: Guānzhōng huà), is a dialect of Zhongyuan Mandarin spoken in Shaanxi's Guanzhong region, including the prefecture-level city of Xi'an.^[1] Since people from Xi'an are considered the prototypical Guanzhong speakers, Guanzhong dialect is sometimes referred to as Shaanxi hua 陕西话/陕西話 or Xi'an hua 西安话/西安話.

However, the dialects spoken in northern and southern Shaanxi differ from that of Guanzhong, such as the Hanzhong dialect, which is more closely related to Sichuanese Mandarin.

In general, Guanzhong dialect is classified into two sub-dialects: Xifu Dialect 西府话/西府話 'Dialect of the western prefectures', which is spoken in the west of Xi'an, in Baoji of Shaanxi Province; Tianshui, Qingyang, Pingliang, Longnan of Gansu Province; and south of Guyuan of Ningxia Province, and Dongfu Dialect 东府话/東府話 'Dialect of the eastern prefectures', spoken in Xi'an, Weinan, Tongchuan, Xianyang and Shangluo of Shaanxi Province.

Due to the prevalence of Standard Mandarin in urban areas such as Xi'an, the younger generations prefer Mandarin or Shaanxi Mandarin, which is essentially Mandarin with the tone changes typical of the Guanzhong Dialect. Due to the lexical and grammatical similarities between the Northern Mandarin dialects, attrition of these dialects is more serious. Authorities have moved in to document the local dialects to preserve them.

See also

• Qinqiang

Citations

References