Northeastern Mandarin is the subgroup of Mandarin Chinese spoken across Northeast China, primarily in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning and parts of Inner Mongolia, with communities as far as the Chinatowns of New York City and the Russian Far East. It had an estimated 98 million speakers as of 2012. Its status as a group distinct from Beijing Mandarin remains debated among linguists; the split was first proposed by Li Rong in 1989, and many researchers still do not accept the distinction.
Facts
RegionSpoken in Northeast China, in the provinces of Liaoning (except the southern part from Dalian to Dandong, where Jiaoliao Mandarin is spoken), Jilin and Heilongjiang, and in some northern parts of Inner Mongolia. 1 Speaker CommunityAn estimated 98 million speakers as of 2012, with about 37 million in Heilongjiang, 26 million in Jilin, 28 million in Liaoning and 6 million in Inner Mongolia; also spoken since about 1800 by the Taz people of the Russian Far East and increasingly in New York City Chinatowns such as Flushing. 1 Distinguishing FeaturesIn northeastern varieties, final -ian or -uan is pronounced with an ae-like vowel rather than the standard vowel, and the Beijing r- initial (spelled r- in pinyin) is generally elided. 1 Classification
Variety Kind Sources
1. Wikipedia: Northeastern Mandarin
Wikimedia FoundationGeographical distribution section
Northeastern Mandarin varieties are spoken in the northeastern part of China, in the provinces of Liaoning (except its southern part from Dalian to Dandong where Jiaoliao Mandarin is spoken), Jilin and Heilongjiang, and in some northern parts of Inner Mongolia.
Geographical distribution and Dialects sections
The number of speakers was estimated in 1987 as 82 million, and 98 million in 2012. The latter text also estimates that there are 37 million speakers in Heilongjiang, 26 million in Jilin, 28 million in Liaoning, and 6 million in Inner Mongolia.
Phonology section
However, in northeastern Chinese, final -ian or -üan is pronounced with an [æ] rather than with [ɛ] or [e] as in the standard. The [ʐ] initial of Beijing (spelled r- in pinyin) is generally elided in northeastern varieties.
Variety kind, Northeastern Mandarin entity page
Northeastern Mandarin is the subgroup of Mandarin Chinese spoken across Northeast China, primarily in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning and parts of Inner Mongolia, with communities as far as the Chinatowns of New York City and the Russian Far East.
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