Tong-Tai dialect

Tong-Tai dialect
Tai-Ru
Spoken in	Jiangsu
Native speakers
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Chinese Mandarin Lower Yangtze Mandarin Tong-Tai dialect
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

Tong-Tai Dialect(Chinese: 通泰方言), also named as Tai-Ru Dialect(Chinese: 泰如方言）is a particular dialect of Jianghuai Mandarin spoken in the middle-east of Jiangsu province. Tong stands for Tongzhou(Chinese: 通州), Ru stands for Rugao/Rudong(Chinese: 如皋/如东) and Tai stands for Taizhou(Chinese: 泰州). This region includes the areas which are to the north of Yangtze River and to the east of Grand Canal. There are about 11,37 million speakers there (year 2004) and this region takes about 15,000 square kilometers.

This region can also be divided further into 3 districts:the west, the middle and the east.^[1] The west part includes Taizhou, Jiangyan, west of Hai'an, west of Dongtai, Dafeng, Xinghua, east of Jiangdu. The middle part includes Rugao, Rudong, Taixin, east of Dongtai, east of Hai'an and westsouth of Jinhai. The east part includes downtown of Nantong and westsouth of Tongzhou. These vernaculars are distinguished by the difference in consonant.

However these districts used to be the region of the Wu culture,so there are lots of marked bottom preservation of Wu Chinese in these vernaculars. Especially the vernacular in the middle part, known as middle Tong-Tai Dialect(Chinese: 通泰方言中区）. It is closely bounded on the Changzhou part in the Wu region.

Phonology

The Nantong variety will be taken as representative.

Consonant inventrory^[2]

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
plosive	p pʰ		t tʰ	k kʰ	ʔ
nasal	m		n	ŋ
fricative		f v	s	x
lateral approximant			l

Alveolar-palatal fricative: ɕ ʑ (single consonant syllable [ʑ̩](cloth) and [m̩] maid)

Affricates: t͡s t͡sʰ t͡ɕ t͡ɕʰ

Vowels

• 

^[3]File:NTIPAV.jpg

r-colored ɜ: ɜ˞

tongue position for [ø] is slightly higher than the standard [ø], but lower than [y]

[ɛ] is slightly lower than the standard [ɛ], sounds close to [æ]

[ʌ] is higher than the standard [ʌ],close to [ɜ]

Tones

Dark level阴平21 Light level 阳平35

(light)Rising上声（阳上）55

light departing阳去213 Dark departing阴去42

light entering阳入55ʔ dark entering阴入42ʔ

Subdialects

Rugao dialect

The Rugaohua dialect of Jianghuai does not follow the T3 sandhi rule which most other Mandarin dialects follow, with T3 being absent from it. Linguists speculate that the Beijing dialect also eliminated T3 sandhi, but it was resurrected for modern Standard Mandarin (Putonghua).^[4][5]

When Chinese people were subjected to listening to various dialects such as Northern Mandarin (Yantai dialect), Standard Mandarin (Putonghua), and Jianghuai Mandarin (Rugao dialect of Jiangsu), "cross dialectal" differences appeared in their reactions.^[6]

References

1. ^ 泰州方音史与通泰方言史研究 [A] 鲁国尧 - 日本) アヅアアフリ力语计数研究, 1988 年 30 期
2. ^ http://gaozhiyan.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/nantong-dialect-phonetics-inventory/
3. ^ http://mason.gmu.edu/~zgao
4. ^ Working papers in linguistics, Issue 55. Computer and Information Science Research Center, The Ohio State University. 2001. p. 26. http://books.google.com/books?ei=RkiCTq3rCafj0QHgj5GDAQ&ct=result&id=f10hAQAAMAAJ&dq=But+it+is+not+the+case+that+all+current+Mandarin+dialects+preserve+this+sandhi+rule.+For+example%2C+it+is+no+longer+in+my+dialect%2C+Rugaohua%2C+a+Jianghuai+Mandarin+dialect.+We+may+speculate+that+a+certain+generation+of+Rugaohua+speakers&q=jianghuai. Retrieved 23 September 2011. "But it is not the case that all current Mandarin dialects preserve this sandhi rule. For example, it is no longer in my dialect, Rugaohua, a Jianghuai Mandarin dialect. We may speculate that a certain generation of Rugaohua speakers"  (Indiana University)
5. ^ Keith Johnson (2001). Elizabeth V. Hume. ed. Studies on the interplay of speech perception and phonology. Ohio State University, Dept. of Linguistics. p. 26. http://books.google.com/books?ei=ukiCTsjLM6jj0QGCoLR3&ct=result&id=OKMbAQAAIAAJ&dq=But+it+is+not+the+case+that+all+current+Mandarin+dialects+preserve+this+sandhi+rule.+For+example%2C+it+is+no+longer+in+my+dialect%2C+Rugaohua%2C+a+Jianghuai+Mandarin+dialect.+We+may+speculate+that+a+certain+generation+of+Rugaohua+speakers&q=jianghuai. Retrieved 23 September 2011. "But it is not the case that all current Mandarin dialects preserve this sandhi rule. For example, it is no longer in my dialect, Rugaohua, a Jianghuai Mandarin dialect. We may speculate that a certain generation of Rugaohua speakers" 
6. ^ Dissertation abstracts international: The humanities and social sciences. University Microfilms International. 2005. http://books.google.com/books?id=8XkvAQAAIAAJ&q=Cross-dialectal+as+well+as+age+differences+were+observed+among+Chinese+listeners+in+Experiments+BJ+,+RG+and+YT+using+natural+speech+stimuli+from+Putonghua,+Rugao+(a+Jianghuai+Mandarin+dialect,+Jiangsu+Province)+and+Yantai+(a+Northern&dq=Cross-dialectal+as+well+as+age+differences+were+observed+among+Chinese+listeners+in+Experiments+BJ+,+RG+and+YT+using+natural+speech+stimuli+from+Putonghua,+Rugao+(a+Jianghuai+Mandarin+dialect,+Jiangsu+Province)+and+Yantai+(a+Northern&hl=en&ei=IYSCTsrQFKru0gGqq92eAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA. Retrieved 23 September 2011. "Cross-dialectal as well as age differences were observed among Chinese listeners in Experiments BJ , RG and YT using natural speech stimuli from Putonghua, Rugao (a Jianghuai Mandarin dialect, Jiangsu Province) and Yantai (a Northern"