晋语

Jin (Shanxi)

Sinitic (Jin)

FamilySinitic (Jin) Speakers~63M ScriptSimplified Chinese CountriesChina (Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, parts of Hebei and Shaanxi) Official inNo (regional) Vitalitysafe ISO 639-3cjy

Jin Chinese (晋语) is a Sinitic group of ~63M speakers across Shanxi province and adjacent parts of Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and northern Shaanxi, centered on Taiyuan. It was once classified as a Mandarin sub-branch, but Li Rong's 1985 reclassification recognized it as a top-level Sinitic branch on the strength of its retention of the Middle Chinese entering-tone category (rusheng) with final glottal stop -ʔ — a feature lost in all mainstream Mandarin varieties. Jin also has elaborate connected-speech sandhi and a distinctive rhotacized fenyin (split-syllable) word formation that reduplicates roots with -l- infixes.

Where it is spoken

20 core words in Jin (Shanxi)

Water

/sueɪ˥˧/

Fire

/xuo˥˧/

Sun

日头

/ʐəʔ˥˦tʰəu˩/

Moon

月亮

/yəʔ˥˦liɔ̃˩/

Mother

妈妈

/ma˩ma/

Father

爹爹

/tie˩tie/

Eat

/t͡sʰəʔ˨/

Drink

/xəʔ˨/

Love

/ai˧/

Heart

/ɕiŋ˩/

Tree

/su˦˥/

House

/t͡ɕia˩/

Dog

/kəu˥˧/

Cat

/mau˩/

Hand

/səu˥˧/

Eye

眼睛

/niæ˨˩˧t͡ɕiŋ˩/

Hello

你好

/ni˨˩˧xau˨˩˧/

Thank you

谢谢

/ɕie˨ɕie/

One

/iəʔ˨/

Good

/xau˨˩˧/

Sources

Words compared

Compared with related Sinitic (Jin) languages

Meaning Jin (Shanxi)Chengdu MandarinHefei MandarinXi'an MandarinKunming MandarinSichuan MandarinNanjing Mandarin
Water /sueɪ˥˧/ /suei˥˧/ /ʂueɪ˨˦/ /fei˥˧/ /suei˥˧/ /suei˨˩˧/ /ʂueɪ˨˩˨/
Fire /xuo˥˧/ /xo˥˧/ /xuo˨˦/ /xuo˥˧/ /xo˥˧/ /xo˨˩˧/ /xuo˨˩˨/
Sun 日头 /ʐəʔ˥˦tʰəu˩/ 太阳 /tʰai˨˩˧iaŋ˨˩/ 日头 /ʐəʔ˦tʰəu˥˥/ 日头 /ʐɿ˥˥tʰou˨˦/ 太阳 /tʰæ˨˩˨iaŋ˧˩/ 太阳 /tʰai˥˩iaŋ˧˥/ 太阳 /tʰɛ˦iaŋ˩˧/
Moon 月亮 /yəʔ˥˦liɔ̃˩/ 月亮 /ye˨˩lia̠ŋ˨˩˧/ 月亮 /yɛʔ˦liaŋ˥˧/ 月亮 /ye˥˥liaŋ˨˩/ 月亮 /ye˧˩liaŋ˨˩˨/ 月亮 /ye˨˩liaŋ˥˩/ 月亮 /yʔ˥liaŋ˦/
Mother 妈妈 /ma˩ma/ 妈妈 /ma˥ma/ 妈妈 /ma˨˩˨ma/ /ma˨˩/ /ma˦˦/ 妈妈 /mama/ 姆妈 /m̩˧˩ma˧˩/
Father 爹爹 /tie˩tie/ 爸爸 /pa˨˩˧pa/ /tie˨˩˨/ /pa˥˥/ /tie˦˦/ 爸爸 /papa/ /tie˧˩/
Eat /t͡sʰəʔ˨/ /tsʰɿ˨˩/ /tʂʰəʔ˦/ /tʂʰɿ˨˩/ /tsʰʅ˦˦/ /tsʰɨ˧˥/ /tʂʰʅʔ˥/
Drink /xəʔ˨/ /xo˨˩/ /xəʔ˦/ /xɤ˨˩/ /xo˦˦/ /xo˧˥/ /xəʔ˥/
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Han readings compared

Compared with related Sinitic (Jin) languages

Character Jin (Shanxi)Datong JinHefei MandarinJianghuai MandarinGui-Liu MandarinKunming MandarinXi'an Mandarin
ieh² /iəʔ˨/ ieh⁴³ /iəʔ˦˧/ yiq⁴ /iʔ˦/ yiq⁵ /iəʔ˥/ yi³¹ /i˧˩/ yi³¹ /i˧˩/ yiq²¹ /i˨˩/
er⁴⁵ /ɚ˦˥/ er⁴⁵ /ɚ˦˥/ er⁵³ /ɚ˥˧/ er⁵³ /ɚ˥˧/ er²⁴ /ɚ˨˦/ er²¹² /ɚ˨˩˨/ er⁴⁴ /ɚ˦˦/
san¹¹ /sæ̃˩˩/ san³¹ /sæ̃˧˩/ san²¹ /sæ̃˨˩/ san³³ /sã˧˧/ san⁴⁴ /san˦˦/ san⁴⁴ /sã˦˦/ san²¹ /sã˨˩/
si⁴⁵ /sɿ˦˥/ si⁴⁵ /sɿ˦˥/ si⁵³ /sɿ˥˧/ si⁵¹ /sɿ˥˩/ si²⁴ /sɿ˨˦/ si²¹² /sɿ˨˩˨/ si⁴⁴ /sɿ˦˦/
u⁵³ /u˥˧/ u⁵³ /u˥˧/ wu²⁴ /u˨˦/ wu³⁵ /u˧˥/ wu⁵³ /u˥˧/ wu⁵³ /u˥˧/ wu⁵³ /u˥˧/
lueh⁵ /luəʔ˥/ lueh⁵⁴ /luəʔ˥˦/ luq⁴ /lɤʔ˦/ liuq⁵ /liuʔ˥/ lou³¹ /lou˧˩/ liu³¹ /liu˧˩/ liuq²¹ /liou˨˩/
qhieh² /tɕʰiəʔ˨/ qhieh⁴³ /tɕʰiəʔ˦˧/ ciq⁴ /tsʰəʔ˦/ ciq⁵ /tsʰiəʔ˥/ ci³¹ /tsʰi˧˩/ qi³¹ /tɕʰi˧˩/ qiq²¹ /tɕʰi˨˩/
pah² /paʔ˨/ pah⁴³ /paʔ˦˧/ baq⁴ /paʔ˦/ baq⁵ /paʔ˥/ ba³¹ /pa˧˩/ ba³¹ /pa˧˩/ baq²¹ /pa˨˩/
jieu⁵³ /tɕiəu˥˧/ jieu⁵³ /tɕiəu˥˧/ jiu²⁴ /tɕiɯ˨˦/ jiu²¹² /tɕiɤu˨˩˨/ jiu⁵³ /tɕiou˥˧/ jiu⁵³ /tɕiou˥˧/ jiu⁵³ /tɕiou˥˧/
seh⁵ /səʔ˥/ seh⁵⁴ /səʔ˥˦/ siq⁴ /səʔ˦/ sheq⁵ /ʂəʔ˥/ si³¹ /sɿ˧˩/ si³¹ /sɿ˧˩/ siq²⁴ /sʐ̩˨˦/
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