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Pinghua
平话
Pinghua written inChinese characters
Native to	China,Vietnam
Ethnicity	Han,Zhuang,San Chay
Native speakers	7+ million (2016)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Pinghua
Varieties	Northern Pinghua Southern Pinghua
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: cnp – Northern csp – Southern
Glottolog	ping1245
Linguasphere	79-AAA-o
[image reference needed]
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	平話
Simplified Chinese	平话
CantoneseYale	Pìhng Wá
Hanyu Pinyin	Pínghuà
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Pínghuà Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Pìhng Wá
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	廣西平話
Simplified Chinese	广西平话
CantoneseYale	Gwóngsāi Pìhng Wá
Hanyu Pinyin	Guǎngxī Pínghuà
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guǎngxī Pínghuà Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Gwóngsāi Pìhng Wá
This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA.

Pinghua^[a] is a pair ofSinitic languages spoken mainly in parts ofGuangxi, with some speakers inHunan. Pinghua is atrade language in some areas of Guangxi, spoken as a second language by speakers ofZhuang languages. Some speakers are officially classified asZhuang, and many are genetically distinct from most otherHan Chinese.^[2] The northern subgroup is centered onGuilin and the southern subgroup aroundNanning. The Southern dialect has several notable features such as having four distinctchecked tones, and using various loanwords from theZhuang languages, such as the finalparticlewei for imperative sentences.

Historically, Pinghua is associated with the earliestHan Chinese migrants who enteredGuangxi viaHunan in the 1st millennium AD. The name is said to derive from the Pingnan Jun (平南軍, "Pacifythe South Army"), aNorthern Song-era army led byDi Qing in the 11th century.^[3]

Language surveys in Guangxi during the 1950s recorded varieties of Chinese that had been included in theYue dialect group but were different from those in Guangdong. Pinghua was designated as a separate dialect group from Yue by theChinese Academy of Social Sciences in the 1980s^[4]: 15 and since then has been treated as a separate dialect in textbooks and surveys.^[5]

Since designation as a separate dialect group, Pinghua has been the focus of increased research. In 2008 a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences of research into Chinese varieties noted an increase in research papers and surveys of Pinghua, from 7 before the 1987 publication of theLanguage Atlas of China based on the revised classification, and about 156 between then and 2004.^[6]

In the 1980s the number of speakers was listed as over 2 million;^[4]: 21 and by 2016 as 7 million.^[7]

Pinghua is generally divided into two mutually unintelligible languages:^[8]

• Northern Pinghua (Guìběi桂北平话) is spoken in northern Guangxi, around the city ofGuilin, in close proximity withSouthwest Mandarin dialects.
  • and also in a some places in Hunan, such asTongdao.
  • Younian dialect (ethnically Yao)
• Southern Pinghua (Guìnán桂南平话) is spoken in southern Guangxi, around the city ofNanning. These varieties form adialect continuum with Yue varieties spoken in that part of Guangxi (excluding enclaves ofCantonese, such as inNanning).^[9] Yu Jin subdivides this group into three types:^[10]
  • Yongjiang, spoken along theYong River around Nanning.
  • Guandao (官道; 'official road'), spoken to the east of Nanning inLaibin and the counties ofHeng andBinyang, around the road to theSouthwest Mandarin-speaking city ofLiuzhou.
  • Rongjiang, spoken along theRong River to the north of Liuzhou.

The Zheyuan people ofFuning County,Yunnan speak a form of Pinghua. They are located in Dongbo and Guichao, and they migrated fromNanning.

Nanning Pinghua has avoiceless lateral fricative[ɬ] forMiddle Chinese/s/ or/z/, for example in the numbers/ɬam/ "three" and/ɬi/ "four".^[11][12] This is unlike Standard Cantonese but like some other Yue varieties such asTaishanese.

Southern Pinghua has six contrasting tones in open syllables, and four in checked syllables,^[13] as found in neighbouring Yue varieties such as theBobai dialect.

The split of the lower entering tone is determined by the initial consonant, with the low rising contour occurring aftersonorant initials.^[14]

Genetically, Pinghua speakers have more in common with non-Han ethnic groups in southern China, as opposed to other Han groups.^[2]

• Xie Jianyou [谢建猷], et al. 2007.Studies on the Han Chinese dialects of Guangxi [广西汉语方言研究]. Nanning: Guangxi People's Publishing House [广西人民出版社].
• 《广西通志·汉语方言志》(续编)课题组 (2013). 广西通志·汉语方言志：续编．第二篇，平话. Nanning: 广西人民出版社.
• 《广西通志·汉语方言志》(续编)课题组 (2013). 广西通志·汉语方言志：续编．第五篇，桂北土话. Nanning: 广西人民出版社.
• Sousa, Hilário de (2017)."Pínghuà 平話 Dialects"(PDF). In Sybesma, Rint; Behr, Wolfgang; Gu, Yueguo; Handel, Zev; Huang, C.-T. James; Myers, James (eds.).Encyclopedia of Chinese language and linguistics. Vol. 3. Leiden: Brill. pp. 425–431.doi:10.1163/2210-7363_ecll_COM_00000332.ISBN 978-90-04-18643-9.
• Sousa, Hilário de (2015)."The Far Southern Sinitic languages as part of Mainland Southeast Asia"(PDF). In Enfield, N.J.; Comrie, Bernard (eds.).Languages of Mainland Southeast Asia: The state of the art. Pacific Linguistics. Vol. 649. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 356–439.doi:10.1515/9781501501685-009.ISBN 978-1-5015-0169-2.

Southern Pinghua test ofWikipedia atWikimedia Incubator

• Classification of Pinghua Dialects

• Varieties of Chinese
• Languages of Guangxi
• Languages of Hunan

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