How are dialects formed?

According to the classification of Atlas of Chinese Language (Longman Publishing House, 1988), modern Chinese dialects are divided into ten dialects, namely, Mandarin, Jin dialect, Wu dialect, Hui dialect, Min dialect, Cantonese, Xiang dialect, Gan dialect, Hakka dialect and Pinghua. Among them, the status of Jin dialect and Pinghua in dialect system is still controversial. Opponents believe that Jin dialect is a sub-dialect of Mandarin and Pinghua is a sub-dialect of Cantonese. Let me briefly talk about how the major dialects of Chinese are formed.

1). Wu language

According to historical records? 6? 1 family, Zhou's eldest son Taibo and his second son Ran Xian went south to Wuxi, Jiangsu and Suzhou. This is the first batch of northern Han Chinese who immigrated to Wudi as recorded in the history books. They brought with them China people from the Weishui River valley 3,000 years ago. As an independent dialect, Wu dialect has been clearly recorded in the documents of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, such as Shi Shuo Xin Yu and Yan Family Instructions. Geographically, Wu dialect developed from north to south, first formed in Suzhou and Wuxi, then spread to Ningshaoping Plain and Hangjiahu Plain in northern Zhejiang, and then entered central, southern and southwestern Zhejiang. There have been three great waves of northern Han people migrating to Wu-speaking areas in history: the first time was during the Three Kingdoms period, when the development and management of Jiangnan in Sun Wu era attracted a large number of northern immigrants; The second time was at the turn of the Jin Dynasty. Northerners not only fled because of the war, but also moved to Nanning Town, and crossed Qiantang River to go deep into eastern Zhejiang. The third time was at the turn of the Song Dynasty. Northern immigrants not only created Hangzhou dialect island in later generations, but also continued to move southward in large numbers and settled in Wenzhou area in southern Zhejiang. The dialects brought by the immigrants from the north in the past dynasties merged with the dialects of the original residents in Wu dialect area, and gradually formed the modern Wu dialect.

2). Xiang dialect

Chu language has been mentioned many times by philosophers in the pre-Qin period, Yang Xiong in the Han Dynasty, Xu Shen in the Han Dynasty, and Guo Pu in the Dialect Annotation in the Jin Dynasty. Jingchu, Nanchu, Dongchu, Jingru, Jiangxiang and Jiuxi in Jiangxiang use Chu language. These places are equivalent to today's Hunan and Hubei. Chu dialect is very prominent in Chinese dialects before Jin Dynasty. According to the relevant records in the bold and contemptuous article of Shi Shuo Xin Yu, for the northerners at that time, the intelligibility of Chu dialect was very poor, which sounded like a bird song and was difficult to understand. The earliest source of the ancient Xiang dialect should be the ancient Chu dialect, but due to the influence of the northern dialect brought by the immigrants in the past dynasties, especially in the middle Tang Dynasty, Changsha's modern Xiang dialect is close to Mandarin, and the southern Xiang dialect should retain the characteristics of the older Xiang dialect.

3) Gan dialect and Hakka dialect

The core areas of Gan dialect and Hakka dialect are in Jiangxi and its neighboring eastern Fujian and northern Guangdong. Up to now, Jiangxi has not appeared as an independent dialect place name in Dialect written by Yang Xiong in Han Dynasty, Shuowen Jiezi written by Xu Shen in Han Dynasty and Dialect Annotation written by Guo Pu in Jin Dynasty. Their places include Southern Chu or Wu Yueyang in Chu Ci, Wu Chu in Shuowen Jiezi and Dialect Annotation. It can be seen that the characteristics of its local independent dialects are not significant. Ancient Jiangxi was geographically called "the tail of aconite and Chu". Before the formation of Gan dialect and Hakka dialect, ancient Gan dialect may be a mixed dialect with the characteristics of Wu dialect and Xiang dialect. In the early Tang Dynasty, a large number of northern immigrants entered Poyang Lake Plain in northern Jiangxi. The dialects of these immigrants came into contact with the ancient Jiangxi dialect, forming the most primitive Gan dialect. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, northern immigrants arrived, and from northern Jiangxi to central Jiangxi and southern Jiangxi, Gan dialect was further developed. Hakkas from the north first settled in the Gan dialect area, and moved westward to western Fujian and northern Guangdong during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The original Gan dialect they used was integrated with the indigenous dialects in southeastern Jiangxi, western Fujian and northern Guangdong, forming the Hakka dialect in Yuan and Ming Dynasties.

4). Guangzhou people

According to Huainanzi, Qin crossed the border a little, and sent 500,000 troops. The more peaceful it was, Guilin, Nanhai and Xiang Jun were set up to emigrate people and mix the mixed land. At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ma Yuan went to South Vietnam, but his foot soldiers increased. According to Zi Zhi Tong Jian, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shi Xie was a toe-crossing satrap, and his brother lived in Guangdong, and many of them joined in China. In the Song Dynasty, due to the invasion of Liao and Jin in the north, a large number of Han people took refuge in Guangdong. These new immigrants are called customers. According to the records of Yuanfeng Nine Domains in the Northern Song Dynasty, Hakka accounts for 39% of Guangdong's total population. It seems that it is the northern dialect brought by immigrants in the Song Dynasty that finally laid the foundation of modern Cantonese. In the Song Dynasty, Zhu's Zhuzi School 138 said: "There are many false voices in all directions, but the voices spoken by people in Guangdong and China are still good." This shows that the Cantonese pronunciation in the Song Dynasty was more in line with the standard pronunciation of the Central Plains at that time. Chen Li, a phonologist in the Qing Dynasty, said in "The Phonology of Guangzhou": "Guangzhou dialect conforms to Sui and Tang Zhiyun, and some people are not as good as others, and the rest of Guangzhou people are also. Please say it briefly. " He pointed out that there are five characteristics of Guangzhou pronunciation that are consistent with the rhyme-cutting sound, such as all four tones are clear and muddy, and the salty rhyme is not mixed with the mountain sound. That's right. It seems that it is the northern dialect brought by immigrants in the Song Dynasty that finally laid the foundation of modern Cantonese.