Shaozhou Tuhua (traditional: 韶州土話; simplified: 韶州土话 ''Sháozhōu Tǔhuà'' "
Shaoguan Tuhua"), or simply Tuhua, is an unclassified
Chinese variety spoken in the northern region of
Guangdong and
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
provinces, China. It is
mutually unintelligible with
Xiang,
Cantonese, and
Mandarin.
Classification
Some scholars consider it to be an extension of
Ping Chinese
Pinghua (; Yale: ''Pìhng Wá''; sometimes disambiguated as /) is a pair of Sinitic languages spoken mainly in parts of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with some speakers in Hunan province. Pinghua is a trade language in some areas of Gu ...
(''Pinghua'') in Guangxi. Others consider it to have a foundation in
Song dynasty-era
Middle Gan, mixed with Hakka, Cantonese, and
Southwestern Mandarin
Southwestern Mandarin (), also known as Upper Yangtze Mandarin (), is a Mandarin Chinese language spoken in much of Southwest China, including in Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Guizhou, most parts of Hubei, the northwestern part of Hunan, the northe ...
.
Chen (2012) notes that the Shaoguan Tuhua of Shibei (石陂, in
Zhenjiang District) shares many similarities with the
Hakka of
Qujiang District, due to intensive contact.
Dialects
Shaozhou Tuhua is also known as ''Yuebei Tuhua'' (粤北土话, "Northern Guangxi/Guangdong Tuhua"), and as ''Shīpóhuà'' (虱婆话, "Shipo dialect"), ''Shīnǎhuà'' (虱乸话, "Shina dialect"), or ''Shīpóshēng'' (虱婆声, "Shipo accent") in its own region. It is also known as ''Pingdi Yaohua'' (平地瑶话, "Lowland Yao dialect"), locally ''Piongtuojo'' or ''Piongtoajeu''; "Yao" here might be a cultural designation, as only half of the one million speakers are classified as ethnic
Yao.
[''Ming studies'', 34–35:55, University of Minnesota, 1995][
Li & Zhuang (2009) cover the following dialects of '' Shaoguan Tuhua''.]
Distribution
Tuhua is retreating before Cantonese and Hakka and is found in rural dialect islands in the northern Guangdong counties of Lechang, Renhua, Ruyuan Yao Autonomous County, Qujiang, Nanxiong, Zhenjiang, Wujiang (parts of Shaoguan prefecture-level city), and Lianzhou and Liannan Yao Autonomous County in Qingyuan prefecture-level city.
See also
* Lingling dialect
*Maojia dialect
Maojia (猫家 'Chen, Qiguang 其光(2013). ''Miao and Yao language'' 瑶语文 Beijing: China Minzu University Press.) is a mixed language in Southern China. Maojiahua is an unclassified Sinitic language that has undergone influence from ...
References
*
External links
Classification of Tuhua DialectsDivergent Chinese dialects database
(Academia Sinica
Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...
)
{{Chinese language
Chinese-based pidgins and creoles
Guangdong
Guangxi