The history of Xiang dialect

Chu dialect, which was popular in Chu area in the pre-Qin period, is the oldest source of Xiang dialect. The specific features of ancient Chu language can't be verified today, but it is the earliest language used by Han people in Hunan and Xiangshui Valley. The word "Chuyan" first appeared in Zuo Zhuan, indicating that Chuyan was formed at least at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period and was a branch of Huaxia dialect, which was different from Xia Yan in the Central Plains at that time. Chu rose from the source of Hanshui River, and has been active in Jianghan Plain for a long time, establishing its capital as Ying (now western Hubei). During the Warring States period, with the prosperity of Chu, the ancient Chu language conquered Yangyue, a branch of Baiyue nationality, and a large number of immigrants entered Hunan. Although the Chinese nation was born in Chu and the Central Plains, at least in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Chu language in the Central Plains was very different from the Huaxia language, and the Chu language at that time was also different from Qi language and Yue language. Book of Rites: Chen is still the voice of Chu people ... Chu people call Chen Heling in a similar voice, and so do human voices.

In the article Free Rhyme and the Features of Ancient Chu Language written by Mr. Dong Tonghe and Mr. Gao Benhan, according to the differences in rhymes between Lao Zi and The Book of Songs and the similarities in rhymes between Lao Zi and The Songs of Chu, he summed up the characteristics of four ancient Chu languages. One of them is Zhennong and Tong Ya (in/i? ), and Dongyang Tong (O? /a？ ), You Chuan (J? /? W), Hou Yutong gambles (a/o). Mr. Dong said that "from Laozi to Qu Song, and then to the works of Chu Ci writers in the early Western Han Dynasty, the use cases of really cultivating and mastering leaves are gradually increasing". In addition, there are many characteristics in vocabulary. Explaining the name of Yin, the commander-in-chief of Chu, Zuo Zhuan Gong Xuan Four Years said: "Chu people call him a milk valley and a tiger, so it is called a bucket valley." This shows that the ancient Chu language is not only very different from the Central Plains Chinese in pronunciation, but also has many unique places in vocabulary. For example, the words "xi" and "Mou" in The Songs of Chu can be regarded as the grammatical features of ancient Chu language. In On Mencius Teng Wengong, Mencius mocked Chu people for talking like birds, suggesting that there are great differences between the Central Plains language and Chu language. Most experts believe that the ancient Chu dialect, including Hubei, Hunan and the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, can be said to be the predecessor of today's Xiang dialect in a certain sense. After Qin unified China, counties were divided into Changsha County and Qianzhong County, and the scope of Changsha County also profoundly influenced the territory of modern Xiang dialect today, which undoubtedly played a very important role in the dissemination, development and maintenance of its internal consistency. Nanchu language is a mixture of ancient Chu language and minority languages, and it is the earliest source of ancient Xiang language. Southern Chu dialect first appeared in Dialect written by Yang Xiong in the Western Han Dynasty (hereinafter referred to as Dialect), often accompanied by "Jiang, Xiang". "Southern Chu and Jiangxiang" was regarded as a dialect group or dialect group in ancient times. It is a direct line or branch of Chu dialect and a close relative of Wu dialect. Biography of Historical Records of Huo Zhi said: "Hengshan, Jiujiang, Zhang Yu and Changsha in the south of the Yangtze River are all southern Chu." Southern Chu probably includes most of Hunan and Jiangxi today and parts of Hubei, Guangdong and Guangxi. Some words in Nanchu dialect have been absorbed into Chinese homophones, while others have been retained in Xiang dialect, such as "Calling children at the junction of Xiang and Yuan", which is still used in spoken Xiang dialect today. Nanchu dialect can be said to be a language formed by Guchu dialect and Hunan native integration of language in Qin and Han Dynasties. It should be said that in the stage of Nanchu dialect, the development of Xiang dialect has basically taken shape. If we want to name an ancient Xiang dialect from the perspective of modern Xiang dialect, we can call Nanchu dialect "ancient Xiang dialect". During the Han dynasty, Hunan was still dominated by ethnic minorities, which was very powerful.

The middle and lower reaches of Xiangjiang River with Changsha as the center. Therefore, ancient Xiang dialect and minority languages have existed for a long time and have been spreading to non-Chinese-speaking areas through small-scale immigration. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the vast hinterland of Hunan was still the residence or undeveloped native land of the ancient Miao and Yao nationalities, and there may be some scattered Han immigrants. When Wang Mang established the new dynasty, Changsha was renamed Huaman County, indicating that even in Changsha at that time, Miao and Yao minorities were very strong. During the wars in the north, Hunan accepted immigrants again and again, and the population increased sharply. From the second year of Yuan Dynasty to the fifth year of Yonghe, the population of Changsha County increased from 230,000 to 6,543.8+0.5 million, and the population of Lingling County increased from 6,543.8+0.4 million to 6,543.8+0.5 million. It is this wave of immigrants that makes the ancient Xiang dialect spread. Chu language in Tang Dynasty has certain independence and its own characteristics are obvious. Tang people often refer to Wu State and Chu State together, saying that "I admire the land of Wu State and praise Chu Ci", "The customs of Wu State are wild, which is also the sound of Chu", and also use words such as "savage", "improper", "the official style is proud, the dialect is vulgar" and "the tide is full of apes and birds singing Jiangjin" to describe Chu Ci. It can be seen that in the eyes of Tang people, At the same time, a large number of immigrants from the Central Plains flooded into Hunan in the Tang Dynasty, which impacted Hunan's language characteristics. Before the Five Dynasties, Hunan people were mostly immigrants from the northern Central Plains. Immigrants brought a considerable number of ancient Chinese words, which were preserved in some Hunan dialects. For example, the word "Zou" in Loushuang in the old Xiang dialect means "Zou" in modern Chinese, and "Zou" means running fast. Others, such as Chen, mean "playing" and Changyi means "pulling weeds".

Although it accepted a large number of immigrants, it also showed its own characteristics. From the original copy of Chu Ci unearthed in Dunhuang, it is the most obvious feature that the rhyme word [a] in middle ancient Chinese is read by Chu people as similar to the fish rhyme [uo/io], but Xiajiang does not have this feature, that is, "Xia [? Answer]: Chu people's sound family [? Uo], "Ma [ma]: Rebellion against the past [muo]. This is also an important feature of modern Xiang dialect. Other features of modern Xiang dialect also appeared in the Tang and Song Dynasties. For example, from the late Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, Hunan poets and poets used rhymes to reflect the confusion of three sets of Yang Sheng vowels (umbrella n/ three m/ sang ng) in the Middle Ages, such as "Mountain N Lan M Jane N sail M broken N". For example, as recorded in Jiangxi poet Sun Yi's Shower Collection, it is difficult for scholars in southern Jingnan to read [South] and Jing [Strange? Pronounced Jin [kien], which is very similar to modern Xiang dialect. Secondly, there are several examples in Chu Ci Yin to illustrate that the weakening and disappearance of entering vowels [-k] and [-t] may be related to the fact that most of the entering tones in Xiang dialect do not stop. Secondly, the "Guizhuo" in Xiang dialect is in the primary stage, but it has not appeared universally, and some voiced sounds still remain in Dong 'an dialect. The vowels of the four words "Fu [pau], Fu [xou], Mu [mou] and No [xou]" in Changsha dialect are not [u], but they are the most complete in Shuangfeng dialect of old Xiang dialect, which shows that the third-class word "rhyme" in Hunan dialect does not fish. baubaubaubei/b？ Upau's pattern of nearly ancient Xiang dialect has influenced the situation of modern Xiang dialect, and immigrants have profoundly influenced the layout of modern Xiang dialect. For example, northern Hunan receives the most immigrants, followed by western Hunan, which is not unrelated to the fact that northern Hunan and western Hunan have become mandarin areas today. In the Yuan Dynasty, Hubei and Hunan were affected by the war, with a large population and few people, while Jiangxi was relatively stable. Therefore, a large number of Jiangxi immigrants entered Hunan in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. At this time, Hunan people mostly came from eastern Jiangxi. For example, Liling, in the east of Hunan Province, also spoke Chu dialect in the Song Dynasty, and it became a Gan dialect area in the Ming Dynasty. Jiangxi immigrants are mainly concentrated in eastern Hunan, as well as parts of Shaoyang and Xinhua today. Jiangxi immigrants have profoundly influenced the dialect pattern in Hunan. Pingjiang, Liuyang, Liling, Youxian and the eastern border area of Hunan near Jiangxi in modern times are all classified as Gan dialect areas. In addition, Changning, Leiyang and other Gan-speaking areas in Hengyang were also brought in by immigrants. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Huxiang immigrants began to immigrate to Sichuan, and some dialect islands were formed in Sichuan, which Sichuanese called Laohuguang dialect. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, a large number of Jiangxi people also entered Hunan. At that time, immigrants mainly entered Yueyang, Changsha, Zhuzhou, Xiangtan, Hengyang and other places today. These places are the most economically developed areas in Hunan, but Changsha, Xiangtan and other places are also immigrant areas for population reconstruction (the number of immigrants reaches more than 80%), and there is no Gan dialect gathering area. Zhou Saihong thinks that perhaps it is because the local people's economy is relatively strong, and they have merged with the dialects originally used by the local people to form a new Xiang dialect. However, the influence of immigrant language permeates into phonetics, grammar and vocabulary, and Xiang dialect, especially New Xiang dialect, is closely related to Gan dialect. Some experts also believe that the new Xiang dialect in Changsha and other places is formed by the erosion of the old Xiang dialect on the Gan dialect, which is controversial.

Some important features of modern Xiang dialect have emerged, such as turbidity entering the air (Ningxiang County Chronicle in Qing Dynasty: Hu Bai [bak] as the school [p? Ai]), the ending of entering tone disappears completely (Qingganlong Changsha County Chronicle: Ji, Yu Yueyou, Zuo Yuezuo), Zhuang Group doesn't read the tongue (if the fir is a mountain), Ai reads ei (Luxi County Chronicle: the bean is called the ear, the building is called the foot and the head is called the platform). In addition, influenced by the Ming and Qing Mandarin, there are quite a number of vernacular words in Xiang dialect, especially in Xin Xiang dialect, such as "learning tongue", "epigenetic", "keeping money", "keeping goods", "eating" and "looking forward". During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the scope of Xiang dialect was basically formed and spread through the natural geographical environment and administrative divisions of previous dynasties. For example, Quanzhou, Xing 'an and Guang 'an in Guangxi have been under the jurisdiction of Hunan for a long time since Qin and Han Dynasties, but Quanzhou, which has great influence, did not leave Changsha as the center until the Ming Dynasty, so the dialects in Quanzhou and other places still retain the characteristics of ancient Xiang dialect. In addition, Xiang dialect also entered Sichuan with the immigrants of Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the early Qing dynasty, a large number of Hunan people entered the mountainous areas of western Sichuan in order to avoid military disasters and floods. Therefore, Xiang people live far away from cities and remote mountainous areas, and the characteristics of Xiang dialect have been preserved to this day. Hanzhong, Shaanxi, because of the distribution of Hunan dialect in Ming and Qing dynasties. Take the word "bed" as an example to show the characteristics of modern Hunan dialect. Representing dialect points: Changsha Xiangtan Yiyang Anhua Meicheng Loudi Xiangxiang Chengguan Luxipu Guangxi Guanyang Sichuan Lezhi Jingzhou Chamber Shaanxi Hanyin Guizhou Qinglong Changliu Bed? Yan? nl？ za？ Answer? ua？ Answer? ua？ A As a whole, Hunan dialect has a great influence on the formation of Southwest Mandarin in the middle of Mandarin dialects, and Changyi piece of Hunan dialect has also been greatly influenced by Mandarin in the formation of Changsha, the provincial capital, so Southwest Mandarin is similar to Hunan dialect to some extent. In the early years of the Republic of China, Xiang dialect was called South China Mandarin together with Gan dialect, Jianghuai Mandarin and Southwest Mandarin. In fact, there are still many obvious differences between Changyi film and Southwest Mandarin. For example, the former completely retains the tone, while the latter is silent in most areas. Although the ancient voiced words of the former are clear now, they are still unvoiced, while the latter is the same as Beijing dialect. There is a certain degree of intercommunication between the two, which only shows that Southwest Mandarin is a "southernized" Mandarin. In fact, it is easier for people who speak New Xiang dialect to understand Southwest Mandarin, but it is not so easy for people who speak Southwest Mandarin to understand New Xiang dialect.

In some mountainous counties in southeastern Hunan, the local dialects are basically in a state of initial integration, and these people scattered in the mountains are often descendants of immigrants from the Central Plains and local aborigines, because the Mandarin brought by several southward moves has been preserved here, which is also one of the causes of southern Hunan Mandarin. Xiang dialect can be divided into new Xiang dialect and old Xiang dialect. New Xiang dialect is mainly popular in Changsha and northern Hunan, and is greatly influenced by Mandarin and Gan dialect. Old Xiang dialect is distributed in Hengyang and Xiangxiang, and is less influenced by foreign dialects. The interoperability between the old and new Xiang dialects is low. Generally speaking, Southwest Mandarin in Mandarin dialects is greatly influenced by Xiang dialect in its formation process, and New Xiang dialect is also greatly influenced by Mandarin in its formation process, so Southwest Mandarin is similar to New Xiang dialect to some extent. Therefore, some people advocate that the new Hunan dialect should be classified as mandarin. However, there are also many people who hold the objection that Xinxiang dialect has many obvious differences from Southwest Mandarin. For example, the former completely retains the tone of entering tone (the latter has no tone in most areas), while the former is unvoiced, but still not aspirated. There is a certain degree of interoperability between them, which only shows that southwest dialect is a kind of "southernization" mandarin. In fact, it is easier for people who speak New Xiang dialect to understand Southwest Mandarin, but it is quite difficult for people who speak Southwest Mandarin to understand New Xiang dialect. However, due to the mountainous southeast of Hunan, some counties are surrounded by mountains, and the local dialects are basically in a state of initial harmony. Moreover, these people scattered in the mountains are all from the Central Plains. Because of several moves to the south, some characteristics of the northern dialect have been preserved here. The old Xiang dialect lacks entering tone, and the voiced initials are well preserved in Shu phonetic characters.

Dialects in Changde, Huaihua, Chenzhou, Xiangxi and other cities in Hunan Province have basically become Huguang dialect of Southwest Mandarin, which has some connection with Xiang dialect, but it is no longer Xiang dialect. Originally, Xiang dialects were classified according to whether voiced initials were preserved or not. Xiang dialects were divided into old Xiang dialects and new Xiang dialects, namely, Heng Chang films and Lou Shao films. Hunan dialect is represented by Changsha (new) and Xiangxiang (old), and its users account for about 5% of China's population. Zhongchi Township in Ankang is a dialect island in Hunan dialect, and its original sound is complicated, which was migrated from many counties in Hunan. However, due to the settlement of many dialects and the changes of the times, the pronunciation of Hunan dialect has also changed and merged.