Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin were proposed by Chinese linguist Li Rong as two separate branches of Mandarin in the 1980s.[2] In Li's 1985 paper, he suggested using tonal reflexes of Middle Chinesechecked tone characters as the criterion for classifying Mandarin dialects.[3] In this paper, he used the term "Beijing Mandarin" (北京官话) to refer the dialect group in which checked tone characters with a voiceless initial have dark level, light level, rising and departing tone reflexes.[3] He chose the name Beijing Mandarin as this Mandarin group is approximate to the Beijing dialect.[4]
He subsequently proposed a split of Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin in 1987, listing the following as reasons:[5][6]
The tonal value of the dark level tone is lower in Northeastern Mandarin than that in Beijing Mandarin;
Generally, the 日 initial of Middle Chinese developed into a modern non-null initial in Beijing Mandarin and a modern null initial in Northeastern Mandarin.
The 2012 edition of Language Atlas of China added one more method for distinguishing Beijing Mandarin from Northeastern Mandarin:[7]
The modern pronunciations of the 精, 知, 莊 and 章 initials of Middle Chinese are two sets of sibilants—dental and retroflex—and these two sets are not merged or confused in Beijing Mandarin.
Meanwhile, there are some scholars who regard Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin as a single division of Mandarin. Lin (1987) noticed the phonological similarity between Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin.[8] Zhang (2010) suggested that the criteria for the division of Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin as top-level Mandarin groups are inconsistent with the criterion for the division of other top-level Mandarin groups.[9]
Subdivisions
Beijing Mandarin is classified into the following subdivisions in the 2012 edition of Language Atlas of China:[10]
Jīng–Chéng (京承)
Jīngshī (京师; 京師), including the urban area and some inner suburbs of Beijing.
Huái–Chéng (怀承; 懷承), including some suburbs of Beijing, parts of Langfang, most parts of Chengde, Wuqing and Duolun.
Cháo–Fēng (朝峰), an area between the Huái–Chéng cluster and the Northeastern Mandarin, covering the cities of Chaoyang and Chifeng. This subgroup has characteristics intermediate of those of Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin.[11]
Per the 2012 edition of Atlas, these subgroups are distinguished by the following features:[1]
Jīng–Chéng subgroup has a high dark level tone, and the Cháo–Fēng subgroup a relatively low one;
Within the Jīng–Chéng subgroup, dialects in the Huái–Chéng cluster append an /n/ or /ŋ/ initial to kaikou hu characters with 影, 疑, 云 and 以 initials in Middle Chinese, while an initial is absent in the Jīngshī cluster.
Compared with the first edition (1987), the second edition (2012) of the Atlas demoted Jīngshī and Huái–Chéng subgroups to clusters of a new Jīng–Chéng subgroup. Shí–Kè (石克) or Běijiāng (北疆) subgroup (including the cities of Shihezi and Karamay), listed as a subgroup of Beijing Mandarin in the 1987 edition, is re-allocated to a Běijiāng (北疆) subgroup of Lanyin Mandarin and a Nánjiāng (南疆) subgroup of Central Plains Mandarin. The Cháo–Fēng subgroup covers a greater area in the 2012 edition.[12]
Phonological features
Initials
With regard to initials, the reflexes of kaikou hu syllables with any of the 影, 疑, 云 and 以 initials in Middle Chinese differ amongst the subgroups: a null initial is found in the Jīngshī cluster, while /n/ or /ŋ/ initials are often present in the Huái–Chéng cluster and the Cháo–Fēng subgroup.[1][13]
Dental and retroflex sibilants are distinct phonemes in Beijing Mandarin.[5] This is contrary to Northeastern Mandarin, in which the two categories are either in free variation or merged into a single type of sibilants.[5]
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (2012), Zhōngguó Yǔyán Dìtú Jí 中国语言地图集 [Language Atlas of China], vol. Hànyǔ Fāngyán Juàn 汉语方言卷 [Chinese dialects volume] (2nd ed.), Beijing: Commercial Press, ISBN9787100070546