Xiang Chinese

Xiang
Hunanese 湘語/湘语
Shiāen'ỳ (Xiang) written in Chinese characters
Spoken in	China
Region	Central and southwestern Hunan, Sichuan, and northern Guangxi
Ethnicity	Hunanese people (Han Chinese)
Native speakers	36 million  (1984) (no recent data available)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Xiang
Dialects	Old Xiang New Xiang Chen-Xu Xiang
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hsn

Xiang Chinese
Traditional Chinese	湘語
Simplified Chinese	湘语
Xiang	Shiāen'ỳ
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Xiāng Yǔ Xiang - Romanization Shiāen'ỳ
Commonly known as
Traditional Chinese	湖南話
Simplified Chinese	湖南话
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Húnán Huà

Xiāng (Hsiang, simplified Chinese: 湘语; traditional Chinese: 湘語), also known as Hunanese (Chinese: 湖南话), is a Chinese language spoken mainly in Hunan province, but also in Sichuan and Guangxi provinces. Scholars divide it into Old Xiāng and New Xiāng. Old Xiāng dialects are of immense interest to Chinese dialectologists and historical phonologists because they, along with dialects of Wu Chinese, still exhibit the three-way distinction of Middle Chinese obstruents, preserving the voiced stops, fricatives and affricates. However, Xiāng has been heavily influenced by Mandarin, which adjoins three of the four sides of the Xiāng speaking territory. New Xiāng, which has lost the voiced obstruents, is to a certain extent intelligible to speakers of Southwestern Mandarin.

Classification

According to Norman (1988), Xiāng belongs to the central group of Chinese.

Geographic distribution

Xiāng is spoken by over 36 million people in China, primarily in the central and southwestern parts of the Hunan province, in about 20 counties of Sichuan province, the four counties of Quánzhōu (全州), Guànyáng (灌陽), Zīyuán (資源) and Xīngān (興安) in northern Guangxi province, and parts of Guangdong province. It is abutted by Mandarin speaking areas to the north, west and south, and by Gàn in the eastern parts of Hunan and Jiangxi. Xiāng is also in contact with the Tujia and Hmong languages in the northwest.

Dialects

Dialect map of Hunan.
New Xiang is orange, Old Xiang yellow, and Chen-Xu Xiang red.
Non-Xiang languages are (clockwise from top right) Gan (purple), Kejia (pink along the right), Hunan Tuhua (dark green), Southwestern Mandarin (dark green, light blue, medium blue, light green on the left), and Waxianghua (dark blue)

As mentioned above, linguists distinguish two subdivisions of Xiāng, namely the Old Xiāng and New Xiāng. Old Xiāng, the variety less influenced by Mandarin, is spoken to the south and New Xiāng to the north.

According to Bao & Chen (2005), three main dialect groups have been identified, amongst other unclassified dialects:

• Chángyì sub-group (長益片) including 32 cities and counties (orange)
  • Chángshā city (長沙市), Chángshā (長沙), Xiāngtán city (湘潭市), Xiāngtán (湘潭), Zhūzhōu city (株州市), Zhūzhōu (株州), Píngjiāng (平江), Liúyáng (瀏陽), Níngxiāng (寧鄉), Wàngchéng (望城), Xiāngyīn (湘陰), Yìyáng city (益陽市), Yìyáng (益陽), Táojiāng (桃江), Yuánjiāng (沅江), Mìluó (汨羅), Yuèyáng city (岳陽市), Yuèyáng (岳陽), Nánxiàn (南縣), Ānxiāng (安鄉), Ānhuà (安化), Héngyáng (衡陽市), Héngyángyáng (衡陽陽), Héngnán (衡南), Héngdōng (衡東), Héngshān (衡山), Shàodōng (邵東), Xīnshào (新邵), Qiányáng (黔陽), Hóngjiāng city (洪江市), Huìtóng (會同), Suíníng (綏寧)

• Lóushào sub-group (婁邵片) including 21 cities and counties (yellow)
  • Hunan province(湖南省): Lóudǐ city (婁底市), Xiāngxiāng (湘鄉), Shuāngfēng (雙峰), Liányuán (漣源), Lěngshuǐjiāng city (冷水江市), Xīnhuà (新化), Ānhuà (安化), Shàoyáng city (邵陽市), Shàoyáng (邵陽), Dòngkǒu (洞口), Lōnghuí (隆回), Wǔgāng (武岡), Qídōng (祁東), Qíyáng (祁陽), Chéngbù (城步), Xīnníng (新寧) and Máyáng (麻陽).
  • Guangxi province (廣西省): Quánzhōu (全州), Guànyáng (灌陽), Zīyuán (資源) and Xīng'ān (興安)

• Jíxù subgroup (吉漵片) including 8 cities and counties (red)
  • Jíshǒu (吉首), Bǎojìng (保靖), Huāyuán (花垣), Gǔzhàng (古丈), Lúqī (瀘溪), Chénxī(辰溪), Xùpǔ (漵浦), Yuánlíng (沅陵)

See also

• Changsha dialect
• Shuangfeng dialect
• List of Chinese dialects

Bibliography

• Bào, hòuxīng & Chén, huī. (2005). "Xiāngyǔ de fēnqū" (The divisions of Xiang languages). Fāngyán: 261-270. (鮑厚星, 陳暉. 2005. "湘語的分區".方言: 261-270)

• Norman, Jerry. [1988] (2002). Chinese. Cambridge, England: CUP ISBN 0-521-29653-6
• Wu, Yunji. (2005). A Synchronic and diachronic study of the grammar of the Chinese Xiang dialects. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-018366-8
• Yuán, jiāhuá (1989). Hànyǔ fāngyán gàiyào [An introduction to Chinese dialects]. Beijing, China: Wénzì gǎigé chūbǎnshè. (袁家驊. 1989. 漢語方言概要. 北京:文字改革出版社.)

External links

• Xiang Romanization