The Present Situation of Nantong Dialect

The dialect in Nantong is extremely complicated, which is related to the history that Nantong gradually changed from water to land in various periods and accepted immigrants from all over the world. Hai 'an, Rugao and Rudong dialects in the west and north belong to Jianghuai Mandarin-Tongtai Pian-Tairu Pian, which can be divided into Rudong Dialect and other regions, called Rudong Dialect and Ruhai Dialect respectively.

Nantong dialect, a dialect in Nantong city (mainly sandy dialect in the development zone), is often classified as Jianghuai Mandarin-Tongtai Film-Nantong Film, but it can't communicate with Tairu Film (so some people think it should be filmed separately). Nantong dialect can be subdivided into local films, Miao street films, suburban films, Tongru films and Jintong films according to the subtle differences in pronunciation.

There are many dialects in Tongzhou district, mainly Nantong dialect and Jinsha dialect, which can communicate with each other. A few towns speak Eastern dialect (Biling dialect belonging to Wu dialect, and three dialects are called Jiangbei dialect) and three dialects (Suhujia dialect belonging to Wu dialect), which are also called Qihai dialect or Chongming dialect. Jinsha dialect is a transitional dialect between Tongdong dialect and Nanfang dialect, and it is difficult to communicate with the other two Wu dialects. After field investigation, linguist Qian Gu believes that Jinsha dialect belongs to Nantong dialect system. It is also difficult to communicate between Shadi dialect and Tongdong dialect in Wu dialect. In addition, there are people who speak Thai dialects in sporadic areas of Xinlian Town in northwest China.

Chongming dialect is mainly spoken in most areas of Qidong, southern Haimen, eastern coastal areas of Rudong, zhangzhishan Town, Sanyu Town of Tongzhou and Nantong Development Zone (locally called Shadi dialect and Qihai dialect).

Eastern dialects are spoken in the north of Haimen in Qidong and in some areas of Dongzao Town in Erjia Town of Tongzhou. In theory, Tongdong dialect belongs to Wu dialect-reduplicative patch.

There is no authoritative discussion on the formation and development of Nantong dialect. Tongdong dialect and Qihai dialect are considered to be brought by pioneers in Jiangnan in different periods.

In the areas where the above dialects meet, it is not uncommon for a person to use the mother tongue of the other dialect in communication.

The formation of Nantong dialect, which spreads in Chongchuan District, Gangzha District and the central and western areas of Tongzhou District in Nantong today, can be traced back to the Sui and Tang Dynasties. At that time, the main population composition of Nantong was immigrants from the Wu dialect area in the south of the Yangtze River, which could be regarded as the embryonic form of Nantong dialect. With the expansion of the sandbar where the ancient Tongzhou is located and the north bank of the Yangtze River, it gradually merged with Tairu dialect, forming the embryonic form of Nantong dialect. It is controversial that modern Nantong dialect belongs to Jianghuai Mandarin \ Tongtai Film \ Nantong Film. It was once suggested that Wu dialect be divided into "dialect islands". It may have a strong Wu dialect color. Nantong dialect can communicate with Jinsha dialect, which belongs to Wu dialect, but not with other dialects in Jianghuai Mandarin area.