From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Xiāng (湘語/湘语), also known as Hunan, Hunanese, or Hsiang is a Chinese language spoken mainly in the Hunan province, but also in a few other provinces such as Sichuan and Guangxi. It is a group of languages of immense interest to Chinese dialectologists and historical phonologists because some of its languages still exhibit the three-way distinction of Middle Chinese obstruents, preserving the voiced stops, fricatives and affricates as in the modern Wu languages. However, it is surrounded by Mandarin in the north, west and south, thus showing a lot of Mandarin influences. New Xiang, which has lost the voiced obstruents, (as opposed to Old Xiang, which has preserved them) is to a certain extent intelligible to speakers of Southwestern Mandarin.

One of the most well-known native speakers of the Xiang language was Mao Zedong, who was a native of Xiangtan.

Xiāng is one of the Sinitic language families, which in turn forms part of the larger Sino-Tibetan language family. Despite being a distinct language family, the Xiang languages at large are close to the Wu languages because of the voiced obstruents and to Mandarin because of the grammatical and lexical influence it has on the Xiang languages, notably the new Xiang languages, which reminds us of a similar linguistic situation of the Hangzhou dialect.

Xiang is spoken by over 36 million people in China, primarily in the central and southwestern parts of the Hunan province, over 20 counties in Sichuan, the 4 counties of Quánzhōu (全州), Guànyáng (灌陽), Zīyuán (資源) and Xīngān (興安) in northern Guangxi and parts of Guangdong. Apart from being surrounded by Mandarin speaking areas in the north, west and south, Xiang also borders Gan in the eastern part of Hunan and Jiangxi. Geographically, Xiang is also in contact with the Tujia and Hmong languages in the northwest.

As mentioned above, linguists distinguish two sub-families within the Xiang family, namely the Old and New Xiang languages. Old Xiang, aside from having preserved the Middle Chinese obstruents, is also spoken in the southern regions and New Xiang in the north, therefore more heavily influenced by Mandarin than the Old Xiang languages.

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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Jíshǒu (吉首), Bǎojìng (保靖), Huāyuán (花垣), Gǔzhàng (古丈), Lúqī (瀘溪), Chénqī(辰溪), Xùpǔ (漵浦), Yuánlíng (沅陵)

• 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.)