Question about chinese dialects
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- Sanci
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Question about chinese dialects
I have encountered a group of tourists recently and I had a chance to listen them speak.
They spoke some chinese dialect as I can conclude. I don't know what it was exectly but I'm really interested in knowing.
Ok. They used a lot of sha, shy and shu sounds, almost NONE explosive consonants, and their speach was flowing very smoothly, kinda sounded to me like a drunk person would talk - one sound flowing into another without stops.
I can't tell anything more, but maybe someone can guess what dialect or language it is? I know there's _too_ little information, but there's no harm in asking, right?
They spoke some chinese dialect as I can conclude. I don't know what it was exectly but I'm really interested in knowing.
Ok. They used a lot of sha, shy and shu sounds, almost NONE explosive consonants, and their speach was flowing very smoothly, kinda sounded to me like a drunk person would talk - one sound flowing into another without stops.
I can't tell anything more, but maybe someone can guess what dialect or language it is? I know there's _too_ little information, but there's no harm in asking, right?
Re: Question about chinese dialects
Far too little information. That description fits something akin to 3/4 chineses!
Warning: Recovering bilingual, attempting trilinguaility. Knowledge of French left behind in childhood. Currently repairing bilinguality. Repair stalled. Above content may be a touch off.
Re: Question about chinese dialects
What do you mean by explosive consonants? Do you mean aspirated stops, or what
Re: Question about chinese dialects
We could perhaps figure it out by elimination.
I'll start with the easiest one: did you hear any retroflexes and/or sounds curiously similar to an American /r/?
I'll start with the easiest one: did you hear any retroflexes and/or sounds curiously similar to an American /r/?
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- Sanci
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Re: Question about chinese dialects
Yes... I understand that, but as I said there's no harm in asking, so maybe someone has an idea, or at least could point me into right direction.Wattmann wrote:Far too little information. That description fits something akin to 3/4 chineses!
As I said I found this dialect very interesting and I would like to learn more about it, but the only way to do it is to first - understand what dialect it is
Yeah, basically stops. But now that you mentioned aspiration I don't remember hearing it, but I could be wrong here as I didn't pay much attention to aspiration at the moment. But there were almost no stops, and they were not very strong.Theta wrote:What do you mean by explosive consonants? Do you mean aspirated stops, or what
Not sure about the rest of retroflexes, but there was no /ɽ/ that's 100% certain, also I don't remember hearing /ɻ/. But there was something similar to /ɭ/.Ars Lande wrote:We could perhaps figure it out by elimination.
I'll start with the easiest one: did you hear any retroflexes and/or sounds curiously similar to an American /r/?
Also, sorry that I'm being too vague...
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- Smeric
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Re: Question about chinese dialects
Just by probability it was most likely Mandarin, Cantonese, Min Nan or Hakka...
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- Sanci
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Re: Question about chinese dialects
It was not mandarin, that's for sure, as I can easily distinguish mandarin. But for the rest... Do you know any places where I can find samples of these dialects. I tried to search youtube for some videos, but found nothing that has just normal speech, mostly songs or some bsSerafín wrote:Just by probability it was most likely Mandarin, Cantonese, Min Nan or Hakka...
Re: Question about chinese dialects
Try wikipedia.
Also, it's Youtube !
Also, it's Youtube !
Warning: Recovering bilingual, attempting trilinguaility. Knowledge of French left behind in childhood. Currently repairing bilinguality. Repair stalled. Above content may be a touch off.
Re: Question about chinese dialects
Maybe it's the northeastern dialect(s) of Mandarin.Karutoshika wrote:They used a lot of sha, shy and shu sounds, almost NONE explosive consonants, and their speach was flowing very smoothly, kinda sounded to me like a drunk person would talk - one sound flowing into another without stops.
And Cantonese, Min Nan and Hakka are probably more stop-heavy than Mandarin.
Re: Question about chinese dialects
"flowing very smoothly, kinda sounded to me like a drunk person would talk - one sound flowing into another without stops" is definitely not a description of Cantonese, anyway.
Re: Question about chinese dialects
Lots of 'sha shy shu' definitely sounds like it could be a dialect of Mandarin.
Here are some youtube clips of different dialects:
Mandarin north eastern (Dalian dialect): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph68cJgz7ek
Mandarin south western (Sichuan dialect): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8MpfN2W1JE
Mandarin central-ish (Shaanxi dialect): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njUKb95F_bg
Jin (Fengyang): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZbnSLFIqC4
Hakka: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbTmXkNX5L4
Min-nan (Fujian dialect): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULv1iCCR9vQ
Wu (Shanghai dialect): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD0yEUx-QfE
Xiang (Changsha dialect): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuKaDEzaxSY
Cantonese: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npWlZzSl ... re=related
Taishanese (dialect of Cantonese): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4kwadCilXI
Here are some youtube clips of different dialects:
Mandarin north eastern (Dalian dialect): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph68cJgz7ek
Mandarin south western (Sichuan dialect): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8MpfN2W1JE
Mandarin central-ish (Shaanxi dialect): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njUKb95F_bg
Jin (Fengyang): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZbnSLFIqC4
Hakka: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbTmXkNX5L4
Min-nan (Fujian dialect): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULv1iCCR9vQ
Wu (Shanghai dialect): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD0yEUx-QfE
Xiang (Changsha dialect): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuKaDEzaxSY
Cantonese: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npWlZzSl ... re=related
Taishanese (dialect of Cantonese): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4kwadCilXI
Re: Question about chinese dialects
I've heard Chinese tourists speak Mandarin with all kinds of accents. Standard Mandarin isn't the only one!Karutoshika wrote:It was not mandarin, that's for sure, as I can easily distinguish mandarin.Serafín wrote:Just by probability it was most likely Mandarin, Cantonese, Min Nan or Hakka...
書不盡言、言不盡意
Re: Question about chinese dialects
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Last edited by Left on Wed Jun 19, 2013 2:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Question about chinese dialects
Then you study Cantonese and find out all those unreleased stops are actually nearly impossible to hear, even if they seem obvious when speaking English. Was that [saːt̚] or [saː]? [/story of my life...]clawgrip wrote:"flowing very smoothly, kinda sounded to me like a drunk person would talk - one sound flowing into another without stops" is definitely not a description of Cantonese, anyway.
Re: Question about chinese dialects
The thing is, while I have studied very little Cantonese, a lot of my friends in high school spoke Cantonese, and in fact most of the Chinese-speaking people in Toronto spoke Cantonese...I am not familiar with the intricacies of the language, but I certainly know that it is not a smooth-sounding language, especially when compared to Mandarin Chinese, which I hear frequently in Japan. The stops being unreleased may make them hard to differentiate, but they are still quite apparent in the flow of the language.Serafín wrote:Then you study Cantonese and find out all those unreleased stops are actually nearly impossible to hear, even if they seem obvious when speaking English. Was that [saːt̚] or [saː]? [/story of my life...]clawgrip wrote:"flowing very smoothly, kinda sounded to me like a drunk person would talk - one sound flowing into another without stops" is definitely not a description of Cantonese, anyway.
Nevertheless, I know what you mean. When I studied Khmer, I had trouble differentiating the unreleased final stops as well.
Re: Question about chinese dialects
yeah canto is very VERY choppy. downright staccato at times.
aaaachetlapbutlapbatlapbutlapneiaaaaaaaaaah
aaaachetlapbutlapbatlapbutlapneiaaaaaaaaaah
<Anaxandridas> How many artists do you know get paid?
<Anaxandridas> Seriously, name five.
<Anaxandridas> Seriously, name five.
Re: Question about chinese dialects
Maybe that should be meiaaaaaaaaaah (未啊)Kereb wrote:aaaachetlapbutlapbatlapbutlapneiaaaaaaaaaah
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- Sanci
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Re: Question about chinese dialects
Oh. Thank youDavoush wrote:Lots of 'sha shy shu' definitely sounds like it could be a dialect of Mandarin.
Here are some youtube clips of different dialects:
...
Now I can tell that it was most likely Dalian dialect. All other seem totally off. But still the way they spoke were slighly different. Maybe it is just because of the topic they were discussing, so some particular words were more prevalent thus creating different feel. Of maybe they were drunk afteral
But from all links that you provided this one fits the best. I'm gonna find some more stuff to compare.
off: ROFLMAO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npWlZzSldd8 I don't know what they are talking about but it is fun
Yes, it could have been mandarin in that case. But well, I wrote what I heard, and what my impression was at that time. It could have been mandarin, yes. But not "normal" that's for sure.Asahi wrote:I know quite a number of Chinese Mainlanders who speak Mandarin extremely smoothly, almost without any breaks. It's very possible the dialect you heard was some form of Mandarin.
And mostly the reason why I decided to find out what dialect it was because I was VERY surprised at the way they spoke. It was so smooth that I never heard any chinese dialect even remotely like that. Because it is supposed to be comprised of more or less isolated word-syllables.
Re: Question about chinese dialects
North-eastern Mandarin dialects do sound a bit more 'flowing' - I think this is because there is a lot of elision going on and they use the neutral tone a lot, but really, north-eastern Mandarin isn't *that* different from Standard Mandarin, after all North-easterners are supposed to speak the closest to standard Mandarin.Karutoshika wrote: Yes, it could have been mandarin in that case. But well, I wrote what I heard, and what my impression was at that time. It could have been mandarin, yes. But not "normal" that's for sure.
And mostly the reason why I decided to find out what dialect it was because I was VERY surprised at the way they spoke. It was so smooth that I never heard any chinese dialect even remotely like that. Because it is supposed to be comprised of more or less isolated word-syllables.
Re: Question about chinese dialects
What? Most Mandarin words are polysyllabic.Karutoshika wrote:And mostly the reason why I decided to find out what dialect it was because I was VERY surprised at the way they spoke. It was so smooth that I never heard any chinese dialect even remotely like that. Because it is supposed to be comprised of more or less isolated word-syllables.
書不盡言、言不盡意