Bobai dialect


Bobai is Yue Chinese dialect spoken in Bobai County, Guangxi. It was documented by the Chinese linguist Wang Li, a native speaker, and is well known for its tone system.

Tone

Bobai dialect is widely cited as having the most tones of any variety of Chinese, though in fact it only has six, the same as most Yue dialects. The reason for the claim is that Bobai makes a four-way tonal distinction in checked syllables, whereas most other Yue dialects have three: In Bobai, both the lower and upper entering tone is split, whereas in Cantonese only 7 is split; other dialects with an 8 split are neighboring Yangjiang and Pinghua, though in the latter at least 7 is not split, and 8 split along different lines.
Tone numberTone nameTone contour
1yin ping
2yang ping
3yin shang
4yang shang
5yin qu
6yang qu
7ayin ru
7byin ru
8ayang ru
8byang ru

Tones 7b and 8a occur with long vowels, 7a and 8b elsewhere.