Five Myths about Chinese Dialects
This post was inspired by this tweet:
You do know that teochew is a dialect of mandarin right? Which is basically mandarin but with different pronunciation? 🤔🤔
— 心好累 (@ghostingcas) May 20, 2020
Myth 1 - “Chinese dialects are simply varieties of Mandarin”
- “Dialects” are cousins, not descendants, of Mandarin
- They differ not only in pronunciation, but also in grammar and vocabulary
Chinese “dialects”, such as Teochew, can be considered languages in their own right. Mandarin is simply the “dialect” that was chosen to be the modern standard for education and public life. The relationship between Mandarin and other Chinese “dialects” is not a parent-child relationship but a sibling or cousin one.
Myth 2 - “Chinese dialects should be written with Chinese characters”
- Many dialect words lack standard characters
- Phonetic romanization teaches actual pronunciation
Not all “dialect” words have a standard Chinese character. Phonetic spelling, like Hanyu Pinyin for Mandarin or Peng’im for Teochew, is still necessary to learn how to pronounce the words, even if they can be written with characters.
Myth 3 - “Some dialects are closer to Classical Chinese and are ‘purer’ than Mandarin”
- Some dialects retain sound distinctions that were lost in Mandarin
- However all modern dialects are still radically different from Classical Chinese
Some dialects preserve a few sound features (rhymes) that are found in earlier stages of Chinese but which have been lost in Mandarin, however all dialects are drastically different from classical or literary Chinese in sound, grammar, and vocabulary. Literary Chinese was a somewhat artificial language mostly used in written form.
Myth 4 - “Dialects are backward, provincial, and irrelevant to modern life”
- Language is simply a medium of communication
- As long as they help us communicate with people, dialects have value
Language is simply a medium of communication. Judgements like “backwardness”, “irrelevance” reflect one’s personal values, not the language itself.
Myth 5 - “Learning dialects will make it harder to learn Mandarin”
- Mandarin is already the dominant Chinese language
- Most young people have a better command of Mandarin than their heritage dialect
[Images: Slides with the above text]
对 汉语方言 的 五个 大 误解
误解 1 “汉语方言 只是 华语 的 异类“
其实……
- 所谓 的 方言 不是 华语 的 后裔， 反而 是 它 的 表亲
- 方言 之间 不单 有 各自 的 读音， 也有 各自 的 语法 和 词汇
误解 2 - ”汉语方言 应该 用 汉字 来 写“
其实……
- 许多 方言 词汇 缺 正体 汉字
- 罗马化 拼音 可以 转达 正确 的 方言 读音
误解 3 - “有的 方言 比较 接近 古汉语，因此 比 华语 更 纯粹”
其实……
- 有的 方言 保存 了 古汉语 的 一些 在 华语 已经 消失 的 读音 分异
- 但是 所有 的 现代 汉语方言 都 与 古汉语 有 实质性 的 差别
误解 4 - ”方言 是 落后 的、固陋 的、对 现代 生活 没有 意思“
其实……
- 方言，像 所有 语言，基本 是 沟通 的 方式
- 只要 它们 能 帮 我们 与 他人 沟通，方言 就 有 价值
误解 5 - ”学 方言 对 学 标准 华语 有 恶劣 的 影响“
其实……
- 华语 （普通话、国语）已经 是 最 普遍 的 汉语方言
- 现代 大多数 的 年轻人 把 华语 掌握 得 比 祖语 方言 还好
Posted on 2020-09-03 00:00:00 +0000