Hui (language)
| Hui 徽 語 / 徽 语 , Huīyǔ |
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|---|---|---|
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Spoken in |
People's Republic of China | |
| speaker | 3.2 million | |
| Linguistic classification |
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| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
zh (Chinese languages) |
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| ISO 639 -2 | ( B ) chi (Chinese languages) | ( T ) zho (Chinese languages) |
| ISO 639-3 | ||
Hui ( Chinese 徽 , Pinyin Huī ), Huiyu ( 徽 語 / 徽 语 , Huīyǔ ) or Huizhouhua ( 徽州 話 / 徽州 话 , Huīzhōuhuà ) are among the Chinese languages . The exact assignment to a subfamily of the Sinitic languages is controversial. Some classify Hui as a dialect of Wu , others assign it to Gan , while it is also sometimes viewed as an independent branch of the Sinitic languages. The language has no relation to the Hui ( 回 , Huí ) ethnic group .
Hui is spoken in a relatively small geographical area compared to other Chinese dialects: around a former administrative district in Anhui Province called Huizhou (徽州 府), after which it is named, as well as in a few other areas in southern Anhui and some areas in the neighboring provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi . Despite a relatively small number of speakers, there are numerous variants in the Hui. Almost every district where Hui is spoken has its own dialect, which is difficult to understand for someone who lives only a few places away. Because of this, most Hui speakers today are bilingual or multilingual.
As with numerous other variants of the Chinese languages, in the case of the Hui it is also controversial whether it is a separate language or a dialect .
Dialects
Hui, in turn, can be divided into five dialects:
- Jixi-Shexian (绩溪 - 歙县), spoken in the former Huizhou District (徽州 府), Jixi , She , Jingde Counties, and Ningguo City , Anhui Province, and Chun'an County, Zhejiang Province ;
- Xiuning-Yixian (休宁 - 黟 县), spoken in Tunxi and Huangshan Counties , Xiuning , Yi, and Qimen Counties in Anhui Province, and Wuyuan County in Jiangxi Province ;
- Qimen-Dexing (祁门 - 德兴), spoken in Qimen and Dongzhi Counties in Anhui Province and Fuliang , Dexing and Wuyuan in Jiangxi Province ;
- Yanzhou (嚴 州), spoken in Chun'an and Jiande Counties, Zhejiang Province ;
- Jingde-Zhanda (旌德 - 占 大), spoken in Jingde , Qimen, Shitai, and Yi counties and in Ningguo City in Anhui Province .
particularities
A phonological peculiarity of the Hui is the massive elimination of end vowels (-i, -u) and the increased use of nasals :
| Characters | meaning | Hui (spoken in Tunxi) | Standard Chinese (spoken in Beijing ) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 燒 / 烧 | burn | / ɕiɔ / | / ʂɑu / | shāo |
| 柴 | firewood | / sa / | / tʂʰai / | chái |
| 綫 / 线 | line | / siːɛ / | / ɕiɛn / | xiàn |
| 張 / 张 | Sheet / page | / tɕiau / | / tʂɑŋ / | zhāng |
| 網 / 网 | network | / mau / | / wɑŋ / | wǎng |
| 檻 / 槛 | threshold | / kʰɔ / | / kʰan / | can |
Many variants of the Hui have diphthongs with a higher and longer spoken first vowel . For example, in Xiuning 話 / 话 (“language”) / uːɜ / ( / xuɑ / in standard Chinese ) and 園 / 园 (“courtyard”) / yːɛ / ( standard Chinese: / yɛn / ); in Yi, 結 / 结 means “knot” / tɕiːaʔ / ( Standard Chinese: / tɕiɛ / ) and 約 / 约 means “agreement” / iːuʔ / ( Standard Chinese: / yɛ / ). In some areas this is done in a very extreme way. For example, in Likou in Qimen County 飯 “(cooked) rice” is called / fũːmɛ̃ / ( Standard Chinese: / fan / ), where the stretched, nasalized / ũː / merges directly into the / m / .
Due to the nasalization, the last vowels of a word have mostly disappeared. Hui also uses the / -n / as a diminutive ending. For example, 索 means “rope” in Tunxi / soːn / < / soʔ / + / -n / .