Weihai is a Jiao-Liao

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

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 ...

spoken in and around the city of

Weihai Weihai ( zh, t=, p=Wēihǎi), formerly Weihaiwei ( zh, s=, p=Wēihǎiwèi, l=Mighty Sea Fort, first=t), is a prefecture-level city and major seaport city in the easternmost Shandong province of China. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow ...

, in eastern

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

province.

Language Variation

There are observable differences in how the dialect is spoken by younger and older generations. This is primarily due to the differences in education. The younger generation was and is educated in standard Mandarin, while the older generation is "hardly educated" due to the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

Phonology

Like other Sino-Tibetan languages and dialects, Weihai is tonal.

Tones

Mandarin, and most dialects of Mandarin, has

four tones The four tones of Chinese poetry and dialectology () are four traditional tone classes of Chinese words. They play an important role in Chinese poetry and in comparative studies of tonal development in the modern varieties of Chinese, both in ...

. In Weihai, it is unclear if the tonal inventory matches standard Mandarin exactly or if the second tone follows the same pitch contour as the first tone (35, rising). The first tone in Weihai may also follow a 31 (low falling) contour rather than a 35 (rising) contour. Dang and Fulop have found that high onset tones correlate to shorter stop releases.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weihai Dialect Mandarin Chinese Weihai