Lianzhou dialect
| Lianzhou | |
|---|---|
| Limzau (廉州話) | |
| Pronunciation | [liːm˧ ʧɐʊ˦˥ ʋaː˨˩] |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Beihai, Qinzhou, Fangchenggang |
Native speakers | ca. 1.2 million (2021) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| ISO 639-6 | lim |
The Lianzhou or Limzau dialect (Chinese: 廉州話), also known as Hepu dialect (Chinese: 合浦話), is the most-spoken language in Beihai in Guangxi. The speakers are also included in eastern and southern Qinzhou, some south coast villages of Fangchenggang.
History
It was named by the Lianzhou Town, the capital of Hepu County, which was the central and capital city in Gulf of Tonkin of ancient China.
Some in Southern Beihai call it Rural language (Chinese: 村下話, IPA: [ʧʰʊːn˦˥ haː˨˦ ʋaː˨˩]), literally speaking, the language was most widely used in Southern Hepu (nowadays downtown Beihai) until the Cantonese and Tanka immigrants settled there from Pearl River Delta, central Guangdong with their Cantonese language spreading out in Southern Hepu and assimilating people nearby. The downtown of the city started to move southward from Lianzhou since the 19th century due to the Chefoo Convention, which made Beihai a status of treaty port. Some people in urban areas speak Beihai dialect, a Cantonese variety highly influenced by Lianzhou language as their mother tongue, and regard it as 'language spoken by the people in the city'. Then, in the middle of the 20th century, the Ministry of Education published a dictionary of Beihai dialect pronunciation which regulated usage of Beihai dialect in education, strengthening this impression. However, Beihai Cantonese speakers are still surrounded by massive Lianzhou language speakers in rural areas.
Jute-planter language (Chinese: 麻佬話, ipa: [maː˨˩ lɐʊ˨˦ ʋaː˨˩]) was a name from 'jute-planter' (Chinese: 麻佬), and is used to describe the Lianzhou-speaking people who tend to broadly plant jute. The term is widely used in East Hepu.
Status
Lianzhou dialect is mostly widely used in Beihai and is regarded as the first language and mother tongue by most of the natives. People in Hepu County and Yinhai District only speak Lianzhou language as monolinguals (only regional languages are listed, or dialects regarded by Government of China, excluding Mandarin, the national language of China). However, citizens in Haicheng, the zone of chief administration, mostly speak it as bilinguals; Lianzhou language is mainly spoken in the west and northeast, however, Pakhoi dialect is more mainstream here. The elders are mostly proficient in both languages.
List of varieties
- Western (Hepu) accent:
Spoken by the people who live in the downtown and western towns of Hepu. The natives tend to name their mother tongue as Lianzhou language (Chinese: 廉州話). - Northwestern (Hepu-Pubei) accent:
Spoken by the people who live in Eastern Hepu and Southern Pubei. The natives in Hepu tend to name their mother tongue as Jute-planter language (Chinese: 麻佬話), but the speakers in Pubei County tend to name it Low language (Chinese: 下路話, ipa: [haː˨˩ lʊː˨˩ ʋaː˨˩]) for the reason that Pubei (the name of this county literally means 'North of Hepu') used to be part of Hepu, but divorced from Hepu in the 1950s, so the people from Pubei define Hepu (including nowadays Beihai) as 'Lower land' (Chinese: 下路). - Southern (Beihai) accent:
Spoken by the people who live South of Beihai, the main district of the city. The natives tend to name their mother tongue as Rural language (Chinese: 村下話) or Hepu language (Chinese: 合浦話). - Sea otter dialect:
It was named by Lianzhou-speakers in Qinzhou and Fangchenggang, and sometimes it represents a kind of independent, special dialect or accent distinguished from the Lianzhou accent. Sea otter language (Chinese: 海獺話), as its literal name, has speakers who immigrated from Hepu (including nowadays Beihai City) to Qinzhou (including nowadays Fangchenggang City) by boats while fishing, and usually settled in the coastal land of Qinzhou. Due to their inability to talk to most of the natives inland of Qinzhou who are unable to understand their Lianzhou language, they defined themselves (or were defined by the natives of Qinzhou) as 'sea otter' (Chinese: 海獺), a creature always seen nearby the bank in Gulf of Tonkin.[1]
References
- ↑ "national identities and language in South of Guangxi (Simplified Chinese)". Archived from the original on 2021-10-31. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
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