HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Kunming dialect () is a dialect of Southwestern Mandarin Chinese.
Luo Changpei Luo Changpei (; 9 August 1899 – 13 December 1958) was a Chinese linguist. He made important contributions to the study of historical Chinese phonology. He was also a pioneer of the modern studies of Chinese dialects and of non-Chinese language ...
describes it as having "simple phonemes, elegant vocabulary, and clear grammar."


Beginnings

The beginnings of the Kunming dialect are closely linked with the migration of the
Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...
to Yunnan. The differences between "old" Kunming dialect and the "new" dialect began in the 1940s. In the aftermath of the
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
, large numbers of refugees from the north of China and the
Jiangnan Jiangnan is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including the southern part of its delta. The region encompasses the city of Shanghai, the southern part of Jiangsu ...
region fled to Kunming, with profound effects for the politics, economy and culture of the city. This large influx of outsiders also had an influence on the local dialect, which slowly developed into the "new" Kunming dialect.


Learning

The tones, pronunciation, and lexicon are distinct between Northern Mandarin and Kunming dialect. (the University of Michigan)


References

Kunming Mandarin Chinese Dialects by location {{St-lang-stub