Chang-Du Gan


Chang-Du or Chang-Jing, sometimes called Nanchang after its principal dialect, is one of the Gan Chinese languages. It is named after Nanchang and Duchang County, and is spoken in those areas as well as in Xinjian, Anyi, Yongxiu, De'an, Xingzi, Hukou, and bordering regions in Jiangxi and in Pingjiang County, Hunan.

Phonology

The Nanchang dialect has 19 syllable onsets or initials, 65 finals and 5 tones.

Initials

In each cell below, the first line indicates IPA transcription, the second indicates pinyin.

Finals

The finals of the Nanchang dialect are:

Consonantal codas

consonantal finals-p-t-k-m-n-ng
IPA''
Example

Like other Chinese varieties, tones in Gan make phonemic distinctions. There are five phonemic tones in Gan, which are reduced to two 'entering tones' before stop consonants. In the traditional classification, these are considered separately:
Tone numberTone namePitch numbersIPA transcription
1upper level or
2lower level or
3rising or
4upper departing or
5lower departing or
6upper entering or
7lower entering or

The 6th and 7th tones are the same as the 4th and 5th tones, except that the syllable ends in a stop consonant, or.

Example

A poem of Meng Haoran :