Chang–Du Gan

Chang–Du or Chang–Jing, sometimes called Nanchang or Nanchangese^[1] (simplified Chinese: 南昌话; traditional Chinese: 南昌話; pinyin: Nánchānghuà) after its principal dialect, is one of the Gan Chinese languages. It is named after Nanchang and Duchang County, and is spoken in those areas as well as in Xinjian, Anyi, Yongxiu, De'an, Xingzi, Hukou, and bordering regions in Jiangxi and in Pingjiang County, Hunan.

Chang–Du
Nanchang, Chang–Jing, Nanchangese
南昌话
Native to	China
Region	Northwestern Jiangxi
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Gan Chang–Du
Writing system	Chinese characters
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
ISO 639-6	cagj
Glottolog	chan1317
Linguasphere	79-AAA-fad
Map of Gan languages; Chang–Du-speaking region in light green.
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Phonology

The Nanchang dialect has 19 syllable onsets or initials (including the zero initial), 65 finals and 7 tones.^[2]

Initials

In each cell below, the first line indicates IPA transcription, the second indicates pinyin.

		Bilabial	Dental/ Alveolar	(Alveolo-) palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m m 麻		ɲ gn 魚	ŋ ng 牙
Plosive	plain	p b 巴	t d 打		k g 加
	aspirated	pʰ p 怕	tʰ t 讀		kʰ k 卡
Affricate	plain		ts dz 渣	tɕ j 脊
	aspirated		tsʰ tz 茶	tɕʰ q 喫
Fricative		ɸ f 花	s s 紗	ɕ x 寫		h h 蝦
Lateral			l l 啦

Finals

The finals of the Nanchang dialect are:^[3]

	-					-i		-u			-n				-ŋ			-t				-k
-	a 扯	ɔ 何	ɛ 許	ɹ̩ 柿	ə 儒	ai 敗	əi 噯	au 抱	ɛu 茂	əu 周	an 闲	ɔn 漢	ɛn 痕	ən 分	aŋ 正	ɔŋ 裝	uŋ 共	at 八	ɔt 撥	ɛt 北	ət 不	ak 百	ɔk 剝	uk 鹿
-i-	ja 惹		jɛ 佢	i 眉					jɛu 廟	iu 酒			jɛn 淹	in 隱	jaŋ 井	jɔŋ 獎	juŋ 供			jɛt 革	it 乙	jak 脊	jɔk 腳	juk 菊
-u-	wa 話	wɔ 禾	wɛ 哇	u 母		wai 懷	ui 委				wan 灣	wɔn 換		un 滾	waŋ 梗	wɔŋ 廣		wat 滑	wɔt 活	wɛt 國	ut 勿	wak 摑	wɔk 擴
-y-			ɥɛ 瘸	y 豬								ɥɔn 軟		yn 笋					ɥɔt 絕		yt 戍

Consonantal codas

Syllabic nasals	m̩ 姆	n̩ 汝	ŋ̩ 五

consonantal finals	-p	-t	-k	-m	-n	-ng
IPA	[-p]	[-t]	[-k]	[-m]	[-n]	[-ŋ]
Example	十	八	百	咸	限	横

• The codas in italic are at present only reserved in several Gan dialects.

Tone

Like other Chinese varieties, tones in Gan make phonemic distinctions. There are five phonemic tones in Gan, which are reduced to two 'entering tones' before stop consonants. In the traditional classification, these are considered separately:

tones of Gan

Tone number	Tone name	Pitch numbers	IPA transcription (on a)
1	upper level	(42)	a˦˨ or â
2	lower level	(24)	a˨˦ or ǎ
3	rising	(213)	a˨˩˧ or á̀́
4	upper departing	(55)	a˥ or á
5	lower departing	(21)	a˨˩ or à
6	upper entering	(5)	ak˥ or ák
7	lower entering	(21)	ak˨˩ or àk

The 6th and 7th tones are the same as the 4th and 5th tones, except that the syllable ends in a stop consonant, /t/ or /k/.

Example

A poem of Meng Haoran (“Men Hau-len” in Gan):

春曉　孟浩然		Cun Hieu – Men Hau-len
春眠不覺曉，		cun mien bhut gok hieu,
處處聞啼鳥。		cu cu mun ti tieu.
夜來風雨聲，		ya loi fung ui sang,
花落知多少？		fa lok zi do seu?

References

1. "Fangyan Friday #5: Nanchang Dialect".
2. Yan (2006), p. 150.
3. Yan (2006), pp. 150–151, based on Hanyu Fangyin Zihui.

• Běijīng Dàxué Zhōngguó yǔyán wénxuéxì yǔyánxué jiàoyánshì (1989). Hànyǔ fāngyīn zìhuì. Běijīng: Wénzì gǎigé chūbǎnshè. (北京大學中國語言文學系語言學教研室. 1989. 漢語方音字匯. 北京: 文字改革出版社)
• Norman, Jerry. [1988] (2002). Chinese. Cambridge, England: CUP ISBN 0-521-29653-6
• 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

• Cantonese and other dialects (in Chinese)
• Classification of Gan Dialects from Glossika