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TheTianjin dialect (simplified Chinese:天津话;traditional Chinese:天津話;pinyin:Tiānjīnhuà) is aMandarin dialect spoken in the city ofTianjin, China. It is largely comprehensible to speakers of other varieties Mandarin, especially those who also knowStandard Mandarin, though its greatest deviation from the others lies in the specific values of the tones, the waytones affect each other, and the lack ofretroflex consonants. These regional characteristics make the variety an important part of the identity of the people of Tianjin, and sharply contrasts with thevariety spoken in nearby Beijing, despite relatively similar phonology.

Tianjin dialect dialectologist Li Shih-yu (Chinese:李世瑜) compared the characteristics of the Tianjin dialect with those of surrounding varieties and believed that it was unique to its area, part of a language enclave. In 1991, he proposed a theory called the "Tianjin Dialect Island". It posited that the Tianjin dialect was not directly related to any of its surrounding varieties and instead was an independent variety. Using the level tone as a standard for analysing the Tianjin dialect, Li found that the boundary between where the Tianjin dialect is spoken and where its surrounding varieties are spoken does not coincide with the current administrative, geopolitical boundaries of the city ofTianjin. The varieties spoken in the northeast of the enclave, such as the Ninghe dialect, belong to the Jilu Mandarin language group, the varieties spoken in the northwest, such as the Wuqing dialect, belong to the Beijing Mandarin language group, whilst the varieties spoken in the southwest and southeast belong to the Jinghai language group, which itself also belongs to the Jilu Mandarin language group. The Tianjin language enclave is surrounded by Jilu Mandarin varieties and Beijing Mandarin varieties.

The Tianjin dialect is classified underJilu Mandarin, a subdivision ofMandarin Chinese dialects also spoken inHebei andShandong provinces.^[1] Despite Tianjin being a neighbor ofBeijing, its dialect sounds very different from theBeijing dialect, which is the basis forStandard Chinese.

The tones of the Tianjin dialect correspond to those of the Beijing dialect, and hence Standard Mandarin, as follows:

The differences are minor except for the first tone: Where it is high and level in Beijing, it is low and falling in Tianjin. All words with the first tone, including the name "Tianjin", are affected, giving the Tianjin dialect a downward feel to people from Beijing.^{[citation needed]}

The Tianjin dialect also includes fourtone sandhi rules, more than the Beijing dialect. They are,

1. Tone 1 + Tone 1 → Tone 3-Tone 1: 天津tiān jīn is pronounced /tǐanjīn/ (usingPinyin tone diacritics)
2. Tone 3 + Tone 3 → Tone 2-Tone 3: 水果shuǐ guǒ is pronounced /shuíguǒ/ (as in Standard)
3. Tone 4 + Tone 4 → Tone 1-Tone 4: 現在xiàn zài is pronounced /xiānzài/
4. Tone 4 + Tone 1 → Tone 2-Tone 1: 上班shàng bān is pronounced /shángbān/^[2][3]

There are some other patterns that differentiate the Tianjin dialect from the Beijing dialect. One is the pronunciation of 饿 (餓) aswò (臥) instead ofè.

Lastly, the Tianjin dialect lacks the retroflex consonants (捲舌音) prevalent in Beijing, not unlikeTaiwanese Mandarin. Thus,zh (ㄓ) becomesz (ㄗ),sh (ㄕ) becomess (ㄙ),ch (ㄔ) becomesc (ㄘ), andr (ㄖ) becomesy (一); that is,人 is pronouncedyěn instead ofrén, and讓 is pronouncedyàng (樣) instead ofràng. However, the use of the-er (儿) diminutive is common in the Tianjin dialect, as it is throughout the north and northeast. (See:Erhua.)

Speakers of other Mandarin varieties commonly stereotype the Tianjin dialect as aggressive- or confrontational-sounding. This combined with its practical absence from television broadcasts due to the promotion of Standard Mandarin has led to the dialect sometimes being perceived as less formal and serious.

Tianjin has produced numerous crosstalk artists. The traditional crosstalk repertoire encompasses over 300 pieces, many of which are performed in the local variety. Traditionally, a crosstalk piece or artist must become popular in Tianjin to achieve status even within oversea Chinese communities, although performances are primarily performed in the Beijing dialect.

• List of Chinese dialects

• Li, Qian & Chen, Yiya & Xiong, Ziyu (2019)."Tianjin Mandarin". Illustrations of the IPA.Journal of the International Phonetic Association.49 (1):109–128.doi:10.1017/S0025100317000287{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link), with supplementary sound recordings.

• Mandarin Chinese
• Culture in Tianjin
• City colloquials

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