Why do people in Guizhou speak Sichuan dialect?

Before answering this question, let's give you some popular science. At present, there is a great controversy among domestic linguists about the division of Chinese dialects. Some people divide Chinese into seven dialects, some into five dialects, some into six dialects, eight dialects and even nine dialects.

The related knowledge framework discussed by the author of this paper is based on the fact that Chinese is divided into seven dialects.

1. Division of seven dialects:

According to the theories of seven dialects, Chinese can be divided into seven dialects: Mandarin dialect (formerly known as Northern Dialect, later renamed Mandarin Dialect), Wu dialect, Xiang dialect, Hakka dialect, Min dialect, Cantonese dialect and Gan dialect.

Chinese is divided into seven different dialects within a large framework, and each dialect can be divided into many sub-dialects, which can be subdivided into several small pieces and dialect points.

2. Mandarin:

Mandarin dialect is the general name of some northern languages defined on the basis of Beijing dialect, that is, the generalized northern dialect (the origin of northern dialect). Among the main dialects of Chinese, Mandarin has a prominent position and influence. The northern dialect area centered on Luoyang has always been the political heart of China, so it is called "Mandarin".

The northern dialect referred to in this question is the last academic title of Mandarin dialect. Why did the northern dialect change its name to Mandarin? We can understand it by looking at a picture.

As shown in the above figure, it is obvious that the Mandarin dialect with the highest usage rate of Han nationality is widely distributed at present, and it is not strict to use northern dialect as a general term for the language system in such a wide area, so it was renamed as Mandarin dialect.

3. Southwest Mandarin and Sichuan dialect:

Mandarin dialects can be subdivided into eight sub-dialects: northeastern mandarin, BeijingMandarin, Jilu Mandarin, Jiaoliao Mandarin, Zhongyuan Mandarin, Lanyin Mandarin, Jianghuai Mandarin and Southwest Mandarin. Among them, Sichuan dialect belongs to southwest mandarin.

Southwest Mandarin is the main language popular in Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hubei, northern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, western Hunan Province, southern Shaanxi Province and Myanmar in southwest China. Some China people in Laos and Viet Nam also use it. Southwest Mandarin has an official position in the First Special Zone (Kokang) of Shan State, Myanmar, and it is one of only three branches of Chinese with official status. The main feature of Southwest Mandarin is that there is no difference in ancient entering tones, and the whole tone is reserved or mixed with other tones (rising tone, falling tone or falling tone).

In the 87th edition of Atlas of Chinese Language, the southwest mandarin is divided into 12 pieces, such as Chengyu, Guanchi, northern Guizhou, Kungui, western Yunnan, northern Hubei, Wutian, Jiang Cen, southeastern Guizhou, southern Guizhou, southern Hunan, Guiliu and Changhe. Among them, the red-irrigated film with complex phonology is divided into four small pieces: Minjiang, Renfu, Cliff and Lichuan. Western Yunnan is divided into two small areas: Yaoli and Lu Bao.

In the Atlas of Chinese Language, 09 edition, Southwest Mandarin is divided into six parts: Sichuan-Guizhou, Huguang, West Sichuan, Yunnan and Guiliu. Among them, Sichuan and Guizhou are divided into Chengdu-Chongqing, southern Shaanxi and central Guizhou. Xishu tablets are divided into three small pieces: Mingchi, Yagan and Jianggong. Western Sichuan is divided into Kangzang and Liangshan. Yunnan is divided into three parts: central Yunnan, western Yunnan and southern Yunnan. Guiliu tablets are divided into four small pieces: southern Hunan, southern Guizhou, northern Guangxi and southern Guangxi; Huguang is divided into seven parts: northern Hubei, central Hubei, western Hunan, northern Hunan, Huai Yu, eastern Guizhou and Regent. In other words, the new version of Southwest Mandarin is divided into 6 pieces and 22 pieces. Although the number of pieces decreased, the number of pieces increased.

4. The formation of Southwest Mandarin in Ming and Qing Dynasties and the large-scale migration to Southwest China;

The Ming and Qing Dynasties were an important period for large-scale migration of Han people to Southwest China. In this migration process, due to the continuous influence and integration of languages or dialects, Southwest Mandarin gradually formed and finalized.

At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Huguang area was the main battlefield where the Red Scarf Army and the Yuan Army fought with Zhu Yuanzhang. As a result, the local population has dropped sharply, and the population has become sparse from south to north and from east to west. Therefore, during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, there appeared the immigration tide of "Jiangxi filling Huguang" and "Huguang filling Sichuan" for the first time. At the same time, Yunnan, Guizhou, northern Guangxi and other places have widely set up health clinics, and a large number of immigrants have moved in.

The records of southwest rhyme books in Ming Dynasty prove that southwest mandarin has been formed. In the early days of Han immigrants to the southwest, due to different specific sources, there was a situation of "five-word hall" Therefore, some rhyming books with Mandarin pronunciation appeared in the local area, such as "Yun Lulve Yi Tong" and "Tai Lv Zhang" written by Ge, all of which were compiled to solve the problem of "correct pronunciation". The contents of these rhyming books and dictionaries in the southwest of Ming Dynasty belonged to the Mandarin system.

During the reign of Shunzhi and Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, a large number of immigrants began to immigrate to Sichuan. Like the Ming Dynasty, the origin of Sichuan immigrants in the Qing Dynasty was still dominated by Huguang, which was the second time. After the Qing Dynasty, Han people began to enter areas (mostly mountainous areas) that were previously controlled and inhabited by ethnic minorities, mainly manifested in the spread of immigrants in the region.

The migration space in Qing Dynasty was distributed by points and lines along the main roads in Ming Dynasty, and a large number of them flowed to remote mountainous areas and ethnic inhabited areas. After the mid-Qianlong period, the population of Sichuan began to migrate to the surrounding areas. Among them, some moved to remote mountainous areas in the province.

As early as the Qing Dynasty, the Southwest Mandarin continued to expand and merged with the internal diffusion immigrants. Southwest Mandarin has formed a cohesive regional language group in southwest China, and it is still expanding outward with the migration of population because of its simple phonological advantages.

5. The basis that Sichuan dialect belongs to Mandarin:

In linguistics, when we study a language, we can't judge the language family only by the geographical location of the language user. Southwest Mandarin, represented by Sichuan dialect, has many similarities with northeastern mandarin, BeijingMandarin, Jilu Mandarin, Jiaoliao Mandarin, Zhongyuan Mandarin, Lanyin Mandarin and Jianghuai Mandarin in vocabulary and grammar, and there are also some corresponding rules in pronunciation between the same languages.

On this basis, the southwest Mandarin, represented by Sichuan dialect, was incorporated into the northern dialect, and the latter was renamed Mandarin, which has been in use ever since.