Luoyang dialect explained

The Luoyang dialect is a dialect of Zhongyuan Mandarin spoken in Luoyang and nearby parts of Henan province.

The old Luoyang dialect served as one of historical standards of Chinese from the Warring States period into the Ming Dynasty, which distinguish from the modern Luoyang dialect. It is because Luoyang switched from Southern to Northern Mandarin over history. According to Lü Shuxiang (1985), "In Northern Song dynasty, the dialects at the Central Plains are still in the southern variety [of Mandarin]; the predecessor of modern Northern Mandarin began as a tiny regional dialect near Khanbaliq".^[1]

Phonology

Initials

	Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo- palatal	Velar
Nasal	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Plosive	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Affricate		pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Fricative	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Lateral		pronounced as /link/

pronounced as /link/	Labio-velar approximant
pronounced as /link/	Labio-palatal approximant
pronounced as /link/	Palatal approximant

Features

• The Middle Chinese entering tone has a different distribution in the Luoyang dialect than in Standard Mandarin. (See entering tone for more.)
• Tone contours are different from those in Standard Mandarin.
• The retroflex and alveolar fricatives are found in different distributions: retroflex fricatives in Standard are often fronted to alveolar fricatives in Luoyang.
• The distinction between pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/, lost in Standard, is maintained in Luoyang.
• The retroflex series is less retroflexed than in Standard Mandarin and slightly further forward.
• The alveolo-palatal series is slightly further back than in Standard Mandarin.
• Standard final pronounced as //œ// and pronounced as //ɑu// are often backed to pronounced as /[ɔ]/ in Luoyang. For example, (Standard pronounced as /[ɕɥœ̌]//, to learn) is pronounced as /[ɕɥɔ]/, and (Standard pronounced as /[tɕjɑù]//, horn) is pronounced as /[tɕɥɔ]/.
• Standard final pronounced as //əi// is pronounced pronounced as /[ɯ]/ or pronounced as /[i]/ in certain environments in Luoyang.
• Standard final pronounced as //n// nasalizes the preceding vowel in the Luoyang Dialect.
• The -儿 suffix is pronounced pronounced as //ɯ//.

Notes

References

Notes and References

1. Book: Lu, Shuxiang 吕叔湘 . Jìndài Hànyǔ zhǐshì dàicí . Jiang . Lansheng 江蓝生 . 1985 . Xuelin chubanshe . Shànghǎi . zh . zh:近代汉语指示代词 . Demonstrative Pronoun in Modern Chinese . 北宋的时候，中原的方言还是属于南方系；现在的北系官话的前身只是燕京一带的一个小区域的方言.