Yan Dialect in Cixi (Weili Dialect)

Yan Dialect, also called "Wai Li Dialect" by some people, is said to have been handed down by Fujian officers and soldiers who guarded this place during Qi Jiguang's anti-Japanese war in the Ming Dynasty. In this way, not only outsiders are "confused", but even most local residents don't know what they are talking about.

Well, Yan Hua has been passed down from mouth to mouth for more than 600 years. But now, with the changes of the times, the context of this language is gradually disappearing, and fewer and fewer people can speak this language, which makes some local elderly people worry. Lin Yin, Zhou Ningda and Wang Ganyue are some of them. They think it is not easy for Yan dialect to spread for so long, and it is impossible to disappear like this. We must do a good job in protection and inheritance.

Yanhua was handed down from the anti-Japanese battlefield.

"Eating lunch is called sharpening, eating dinner is called sharpening, and sitting on the bench is called blocking ..." In Zhou Ningda's home in Weidong Village, Guanhaiwei Town, the reporter listened to "harsh words" just like listening to a foreign language, and he couldn't understand them at all. "When I was a child, the daily language spoken by my parents at home was slang, and many old people around me also spoke slang, so I could basically understand and speak." Zhou Ningda said.

A more accurate textual research is that Guan's Min dialect originated in the Ming Dynasty, when the court sent Qi Jiguang to lead Fujian soldiers to fight against the Japanese pirates along the coast of Zhejiang, and these Fujian soldiers brought their hometown "Minnan dialect" here. In order to defend the frontier and ensure the long-term stability of the local area, Fujian soldiers have settled here for generations, and the language has been passed down for hundreds of years. Under the influence of intermarriage with local people and changes in the surrounding environment, this unique language, Min Dialect, has been formed.

Yan dialect is a variant of Minnan dialect, which has also been confirmed. The 84-year-old Zhou told reporters that a few years ago, a Fujian language delegation came to Guanhaiwei to inspect the Fujian dialect. Zhou is a good local dialect speaker, known as. "Fujian people say the name of an item in Minnan dialect, and I say it in Minnan dialect. Let's compare it again and find that the pronunciation is similar and can match. "

The language environment of "Yan dialect" is gradually disappearing.

In different historical periods, strict words have played different roles. According to historical records, because the pronunciation of Yan dialect doesn't involve the meaning of words, outsiders can't reveal its secrets, so it became a tool for the contact information of the Third Five Teams during the Anti-Japanese War, and also became a code word for Yu Qiaqing, a businessman from Ningbo, to conduct securities trading in Shili Foreign Exchange. In the middle of last century, many local people talked in Yan dialect, but in the 1980s, not many people could say such words, and now only a few elderly people can speak a little more.

Lin Yin, 78, who runs a photo studio in Guanhaiwei Old Street, told reporters that the language environment of Yan dialect is gradually disappearing. "Like the South Gate, no one will say it, only the North Gate and the West Gate will say it." Yan dialect in the south gate has disappeared because there are more immigrants here, and it is relatively open to other doors, gradually integrating with the outside world, and fewer and fewer people can speak it.

From a macro perspective, Yan dialect is a special phenomenon formed in history. If we don't rescue the records as soon as possible, these 70-and 80-year-old people will die, and I'm afraid there will be no trace.

Intentional protection of heritage is in trouble.

Language is a tool for people to communicate, and its continuation covers the history and culture of this side, which plays an important role in studying the prosperity of local people. Today, with the gradual decline of "strict words", some enthusiastic old people in Guanhaiwei Town feel the urgency of protecting strict words.

In the interview, the reporter heard that Wang Ganyue of Weibei Village Community Medical Service Station began to collect Yan dialect many years ago and planned to compile a dictionary. However, when the reporter came to interview, Wang Ganyue told the reporter with regret that the plan to compile Yan Dialect Dictionary was temporarily stranded. "Guan Hai Wei Yan dialect is on the verge of extinction, so I think it's best to keep it, collect Yan dialect, compile a dictionary and annotate it in vernacular, but in practice, I find it difficult to mark the pronunciation, and some pronunciations are simply not marked." Wang Ganyue said that transliteration of Yan dialect is very difficult, and there is nothing he can do after racking his brains. The work of compiling a dictionary has also been put on hold. "I'm really sorry, but my personal ability is limited."

Lin Yin, Zhou Ningda and Wang Ganyue hope that Yan Dialect, which has been circulating for more than 600 years, can be protected and passed on. "This was handed down from generation to generation by Qi Jiguang during the Japanese invasion of China, and it can also be said to be an intangible heritage. I hope that the relevant departments can explore and keep it. "

The reporter also interviewed the relevant person in charge of the Cultural Section of the Municipal Cultural Bureau. They said that it is necessary to study and verify whether it can be declared as a municipal intangible cultural heritage. The reporter learned that at present, the representative list of intangible cultural heritage in our city involves folk literature, folk music, traditional drama, folk art and folk customs. , no dialect item is selected.