Sichuan is located in the southwest and should belong to the southern language family. Why is Southwest Mandarin generally classified as a northern language family?

Sichuan is close to the south of Huaihe River in Qinling Mountains, and it is greatly influenced by the south geographically. Sichuan dialect belongs to the branch of southwest mandarin, that is, the southwest sub-dialect of northern language family. So some people think that Sichuan dialect belongs to the northern language family.

If you have friends from Sichuan around you, you will feel that even if you don't understand all the Sichuanese spoken by your friends, nine times out of ten there is no problem. For northerners who can't understand southerners, Sichuan is located in the southwest, but Sichuan dialect seems to be understood all over the country. This is the problem.

What is the root cause of the formation of southwest Sichuan Mandarin? Many scholars believe that this is related to the four population movements.

The first migration took place in 3 16 BC. Due to the destruction of Shu by Qin, a large number of Central Plains people moved to Sichuan to exchange needed materials with local Bashu people. At that time, Sichuan was a place of exile. Some governors who lost power and influence, such as Lv Buwei, were exiled here, bringing a large number of northern dialects and customs.

The second population migration took place during the Three Kingdoms and the Jin Dynasty. At that time, there were years of war and famine in Longxi area, and a large number of refugees took refuge in Shu. The history books say that there are "100,000 people". As a result, Sichuan merged with the northern nationalities again, and the dialect changed again. At this time, Han Shu dialect is very similar to the dialect of the Central Plains.

The third migration took place in the Tang Dynasty, which was the peak of China's cultural development. Sichuan held three large-scale imperial examinations, which made many scholars enter Sichuan on a large scale. For example, Four Masters in the Early Tang Dynasty, Du Fu and Gao Shi all left precious Mo Bao in Sichuan, which promoted the communication between the Central Plains language and Sichuan language to some extent.

The fourth population migration is the famous "Huguang filling Sichuan". A large number of immigrants entered the land of Bashu in the Qing Dynasty, and the current Sichuan dialect is basically determined in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. It marks the formation of Sichuan dialect.