Pinghua

Classification

Language surveys in Guangxi during the 1950s recorded varieties of Chinese that had been included in the Yue dialect group but were different from those in Guangdong. Pinghua was designated as a separate dialect group from Yue by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in the 1980s and since then has been treated as a separate dialect in textbooks and surveys.

Since designation as a separate dialect group, Pinghua has been the focus of increased research. In 2008 a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences of research into Chinese varieties noted an increase in research papers and surveys of Pinghua, from 7 before the 1987 publication of the Language Atlas of China based on the revised classification, and about 156 between then and 2004.

In the 1980s the number of speakers was listed as over 2 million; and by 2016 as 7 million.

Dialects

Pinghua is generally divided into two mutually unintelligible languages:

• Northern Pinghua (Guìběi 桂北平话) is spoken in northern Guangxi, around the city of Guilin, in close proximity with Southwest Mandarin dialects.
  • and also in a some places in Hunan, such as Tongdao.
  • Younian dialect (ethnically Yao)
• Southern Pinghua (Guìnán 桂南平话) is spoken in southern Guangxi, around the city of Nanning. These varieties form a dialect continuum with Yue varieties spoken in that part of Guangxi (excluding enclaves of Cantonese, such as in Nanning). Yu Jin subdivides this group into three types:
  • Yongjiang, spoken along the Yong River around Nanning.
  • Guandao (官道; 'official road'), spoken to the east of Nanning in Laibin and the counties of Heng and Binyang, around the road to the Southwest Mandarin-speaking city of Liuzhou.
  • Rongjiang, spoken along the Rong River to the north of Liuzhou.

The Zheyuan people of Funing County, Yunnan speak a form of Pinghua. They are located in Dongbo and Guichao, and they migrated from Nanning.

Phonology

Nanning Pinghua has a voiceless lateral fricative for Middle Chinese or , for example in the numbers "three" and "four". This is unlike Standard Cantonese but like some other Yue varieties such as Taishanese.

Tones

Southern Pinghua has six contrasting tones in open syllables, and four in checked syllables, as found in neighbouring Yue varieties such as the Bobai dialect.

The split of the lower entering tone is determined by the initial consonant, with the low rising contour occurring after sonorant initials.

Genetic profile

Genetically, Pinghua speakers have more in common with non-Han ethnic groups in southern China, as opposed to other Han groups.