Jin (; ) is a proposed group of
varieties of Chinese
Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...
spoken by roughly 63 million people in northern
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, including most of
Shanxi
Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
province, much of central
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
, and adjoining areas in
Hebei
Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...
,
Henan
Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
, and
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...
provinces. The status of Jin is disputed among linguists; some prefer to include it within
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
, but others set it apart as a closely related, but separate sister-group.
Classification
After the concept
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...
was proposed, the Jinnish dialects were universally included within it, mainly because Chinese linguists paid little attention to these dialects at the time. In order to promote Standard Mandarin in the early days of
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, linguists started to research various dialects in Shanxi, comparing these dialects with Standard Mandarin for helping the locals to learn it more quickly. During this period, a few linguists discovered some unique features of Jin Chinese that do not exist in other northern Mandarin dialects, planting the seeds for the future independence of Jin Chinese. Finally, in 1985,
Li Rong proposed that Jin should be considered a separate top-level dialect group, similar to
Yue or
Wu. His main criterion was that Jin dialects had preserved the
entering tone as a separate category, still marked with a glottal stop as in the Wu dialects, but distinct in this respect from most other Mandarin dialects. Some linguists have adopted this classification. However, others disagree that Jin should be considered a separate dialect group for these reasons:
#Use of the entering tone as a diagnostic feature is inconsistent with the way that all other Chinese dialect groups have been delineated based on the reflexes of the
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
voiced initials.
#Certain other Mandarin dialects also preserve the glottal stop, especially the
Jianghuai
Jianghuai (; pinyin: Jiānghuái) is a geographical area in China referring to the plain between the Yangtze and Huai Rivers, in the modern provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively ...
dialects, and so far, no linguist has claimed that these dialects should also be split from Mandarin.
In the ''
Language Atlas of China
The ''Language Atlas of China'' (), published in two parts in 1987 and 1989, maps the distribution of both the varieties of Chinese and minority languages of China.
It was a collaborative effort by the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the ...
'', Jin was divided into 8 subgroups:
![Jinyufen qu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Jinyufen_qu.png)
;Bingzhou (并州片)
:spoken in central
Shanxi
Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
(the ancient
Bing Province
Bingzhou, or Bing Province, was a location in ancient China. According to legend, when Yu the Great (c. 2200 BC-2100 BC) tamed the flood, he divided the land of China into the Nine Provinces. Historical texts such as the ''Rites of Zhou'', and "Tr ...
), including
Taiyuan
Taiyuan (; ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; also known as (), ()) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. ...
. Most dialects under this subgroup can distinguish the light entering tone from the dark one, with only 1 level tone. In many dialects, especially those to the south of Taiyuan, the voiced obstruents from Middle Chinese become tenuis in all 4 tones, namely
→
→
and
→
;Lüliang (呂梁片)
:spoken in western Shanxi (including
Lüliang
Lüliang or Lyuliang () is a prefecture-level city in the west of Shanxi province, People's Republic of China, bordering Shaanxi province across the Yellow River to the west, Jinzhong and the provincial capital of Taiyuan to the east, Linfen t ...
) and northern
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...
. Dialects under this subgroup can differentiate light entering tone from dark entering tone. In most dialects, the voiced obstruents from Middle Chinese become aspirated in both level and entering tones, namely
→
ʰ →
ʰand
→
ʰ
;Shangdang (上黨片)
:spoken in the area of
Changzhi
Changzhi () is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Shanxi Province, China, bordering the provinces of Hebei and Henan to the northeast and east, respectively. Historically, the city was one of the 36 administrative areas (see Administrat ...
(ancient
Shangdang Shangdang Commandery or Shangdang Prefecture (, also named Shangtang) was an administrative subdivision of ancient China from the time of the Spring and Autumn period (771–403 BCE). Consisting of a number of districts or ''Zhōu'' (, or prefec ...
) in southeastern Shanxi. Dialects under this subgroup can differentiate light entering tone from dark entering tone. The palatalization of velar consonants does not occur in some dialects.
;Wutai (五臺片)
:spoken in parts of northern Shanxi (including
Wutai County
Wutai County () is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xinzhou, in the northeast of Shanxi Province, China, bordering Hebei province to the east. It is named after Mount Wutai, which is located within its borders. It ...
) and central
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
. A few Dialects under this subgroup can differentiate light entering tone from dark entering tone, while the others cannot. The fusion of the level tone and the rising one occurred in some dialects, though some linguistics claim every dialect under this subgroup has this feature.
;Da–Bao (大包片)
:spoken in parts of northern Shanxi and central Inner Mongolia, including
Baotou
Baotou (; mn, Buɣutu qota, Бугат хот) is the largest city by urban population in Inner Mongolia, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, as of the 2020 census, its built-up (''or metro'') area made up of its 5 urban districts is h ...
.
;Zhang-Hu (張呼片)
:spoken in
Zhangjiakou
Zhangjiakou (; ; ) also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in Northern China, bordering Beijing to the southeast, Inner Mongolia to the north and west, and Shanxi to the southw ...
in northwestern
Hebei
Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...
and parts of central Inner Mongolia, including
Hohhot
Hohhot,; abbreviated zh, c=呼市, p=Hūshì, labels=no formerly known as Kweisui, is the capital of Inner Mongolia in the north of the People's Republic of China, serving as the region's administrative, economic and cultural center.''The Ne ...
.
;Han-Xin (邯新片)
:spoken in southeastern Shanxi, southern Hebei (including
Handan
Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shando ...
) and northern
Henan
Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
(including
Xinxiang
Xinxiang ( ; postal: Sinsiang) is a prefecture-level city in northern Henan province, China.
It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to its southwest, Kaifeng to its southeast, Hebi and Anyang to its north, Jiaozuo to its west, and the pr ...
).
;Zhi-Yan (志延片)
:spoken in
Zhidan County
Zhidan () is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Yan'an, in the northwest of Shaanxi Province, China, bordering Gansu Province to the south. The county has an area of , and a population of 141,600 as of 2012. Zhidan ...
and
Yanchuan County
Yanchuan County () is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Yan'an, in the northeast of Shaanxi Province, bordering Shanxi Province across the Yellow River to the east. The county spans in area, and has a permanent po ...
in northern Shaanxi.
The
Taiyuan dialect from the Bingzhou sub-group is sometimes taken as a convenient representative of Jin because many studies of this dialect are available, but most linguists agree that the Taiyuan vocabulary is heavily influenced by Mandarin, making it unrepresentative of Jin.
The Lüliang sub-group is usually regarded as the "core" of the Jin language group as it preserves most archaic features of Jin. However, there is no consensus as to which dialect among the Lüliang sub-group is the representative dialect.
Phonology
Unlike most varieties of
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
, Jin has preserved a final
glottal stop
The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
, which is the remnant of a final
stop consonant
In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases.
The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lips ...
(, or ). This is in common with the
Early Mandarin
Old Mandarin or Early Mandarin was the speech of northern China during the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty and the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty (12th to 14th centuries). New genres of vernacular literature were based on this language, including verse, dram ...
of the
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
(c. 14th century AD) and with a number of modern southern varieties of Chinese. In Middle Chinese, syllables closed with a stop consonant had no tone. However, Chinese linguists prefer to categorize such syllables as belonging to a separate tone class, traditionally called the "
entering tone". Syllables closed with a
glottal stop
The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
in Jin are still toneless, or alternatively, Jin can be said to still maintain the entering tone. In standard Mandarin Chinese, syllables formerly ending with a glottal stop have been reassigned to one of the other tone classes in a
seemingly random fashion.
Initials
* is mainly used in finals.
* The nasal consonant sounds may vary between nasal sounds or prenasal stop sounds .
* A prenasal affricated fricative sound , is also present.
Finals
* The diphthong may also be realized as a monophthong close central vowel .
* Sounds ending in the sequence // may also be heard as [], then realized as .
* can also be heard as a labio-palatal approximant when preceding initial consonants.
* when occurring after alveolar sounds can be heard as an alveolar syllabic , and is heard as a retroflex syllabic when occurring after retroflex consonants .
Jin employs extremely complex
tone sandhi
Tone sandhi is a phonological change occurring in tonal languages, in which the tones assigned to individual words or morphemes change based on the pronunciation of adjacent words or morphemes.
It usually simplifies a bidirectional tone into a ...
, or tone changes that occur when words are put together into phrases. The tone sandhi of Jin is notable in two ways among Chinese varieties:
* Tone sandhi rules depend on the grammatical structure of the words being put together. Hence, an adjective–noun compound may go through different sets of changes compared to a verb–object compound.
* There are tones that merge when words are pronounced alone, but behave differently (and hence are differentiated) during tone sandhi.
Grammar
Jin readily employs prefixes such as , , , and (日) , in a variety of
derivational constructions. For example:
"fool around" < "ghost, devil"
In addition, there are a number of words in Jin that evolved, evidently, by splitting a mono-syllabic word into two, adding an 'l' in between (cf.
Ubbi Dubbi
Ubbi dubbi is a Language game (linguistics), language game spoken with the English language. Originating in America in the 17th century, it was popularized by the 1972–1978 Public Broadcasting Service, PBS children's show ''Zoom (1972 TV series ...
, but with /l/ instead of /b/). For example:
< "hop"
< "drag"
< "scrape"
< "street"
A similar process can in fact be found in most Mandarin dialects (e.g. kulong < kong), but it is especially common in Jin.
This may be a kind of reservation for double-initials in
Old Chinese
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
, although this is still controversial. For example, the character (pronounced in Mandarin) which appears more often as in Jin, had the pronunciation like in
Old Chinese
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
.
Vocabulary
Lexical diversity in Jin Chinese is obvious, with some words having a very distinct regionality. Usually, there are more unique words in the core dialects than in the non-core dialects and moreover, some cannot be represented in chinese characters.
Some dialects of Jin make a three-way distinction in
demonstrative
Demonstratives (abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic; their meaning depending on a particular frame ...
s. (Modern English, for example, has only a two-way distinction between "this" and "that", with "yon" being archaic.)
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
External links
Classification of the Jin DialectsDetails of the Pingyao Dialect
{{Chinese language
Languages of China
Varieties of Chinese