重庆话

Chongqing Mandarin

Sinitic (Mandarin, Southwestern / Cheng-Yu cluster)

FamilySinitic (Mandarin, Southwestern / Cheng-Yu cluster) Speakers~30M (Chongqing municipality and adjacent eastern Sichuan basin) ScriptSimplified Chinese CountriesChina (Chongqing direct-administered municipality) Official inNo (regional vernacular; Standard Mandarin official) ISO 639-3cmn Glottocodesich1238

Chongqing Mandarin (重庆话) is the urban Southwestern Mandarin of Chongqing direct-administered municipality and eastern Sichuan basin, with about 30 million speakers across the metropolitan region. Like its Chengdu sister variety it belongs to the Cheng-Yu cluster of Upper Yangtze Mandarin and lacks the Beijing retroflex series — 知/章 merges with 精 as alveolar /ts tsʰ s/, and the four tones are realised as T1 ˥, T2 ˨˩, T3 ˦˨, T4 ˨˩˧ (Liang 1982). Chongqing speech is famous for its assertive, sing-song prosody, the discourse particle 嘛 (ma), and the iconic intensifier 巴适 (basi) "comfortable, just right" — and serves as the linguistic backbone of much modern Chinese stand-up comedy and the "hot-pot culture" media of the 2010s-2020s.

Where it is spoken

20 core words in Chongqing Mandarin

Water

/suei˦˨/

Fire

/xo˦˨/

Sun

太阳

/tʰai˨˩˧.iaŋ˨˩/

Moon

月亮

/yo˨˩˧.lian˨˩˧/

Mother

/ma˥/

Father

老汉

/lau˦˨.xan˨˩˧/

Eat

/tsʰʅ˥/

Drink

/xo˥/

Love

/ŋai˨˩˧/

Heart

/ɕin˥/

Tree

/su˨˩˧/

House

房子

/faŋ˨˩.tsɿ˥/

Dog

/kəu˦˨/

Cat

/mau˨˩/

Hand

/səu˦˨/

Eye

眼睛

/ŋian˦˨.tɕin˥/

Hello

你好

/ni˦˨.xau˦˨/

Thank you

谢谢

/ɕie˨˩˧.ɕie˨˩˧/

One

/i˥/

Good

/xau˦˨/

Sources

Words compared

Compared with related Sinitic (Mandarin, Southwestern / Cheng-Yu cluster) languages

Meaning Chongqing MandarinChengdu MandarinKunming MandarinSichuan MandarinXiang (Hunan)Wuhan MandarinZhongyuan Mandarin
Water /suei˦˨/ /suei˥˧/ /suei˥˧/ /suei˨˩˧/ /ɕy˦˩/ /suei˨˩˧/ /suei˥˥/
Fire /xo˦˨/ /xo˥˧/ /xo˥˧/ /xo˨˩˧/ /xo˦˩/ /huo˨˩˧/ /xuo˨˩˧/
Sun 太阳 /tʰai˨˩˧.iaŋ˨˩/ 太阳 /tʰai˨˩˧iaŋ˨˩/ 太阳 /tʰæ˨˩˨iaŋ˧˩/ 太阳 /tʰai˥˩iaŋ˧˥/ 太阳 /tʰai˥˩ian˩˧/ 太阳 /tʰai˥˧iaŋ˨˩˧/ 太阳 /tʰai˨˩iaŋ˨˩˧/
Moon 月亮 /yo˨˩˧.lian˨˩˧/ 月亮 /ye˨˩lia̠ŋ˨˩˧/ 月亮 /ye˧˩liaŋ˨˩˨/ 月亮 /ye˨˩liaŋ˥˩/ 月亮 /ye˨˦liaŋ/ 月亮 /yɛ˨˩˧liaŋ/ 月亮 /yɛ˨˦liaŋ/
Mother /ma˥/ 妈妈 /ma˥ma/ /ma˦˦/ 妈妈 /mama/ 妈妈 /ma˧ma/ 妈妈 /ma˨˩˧ma/ 妈妈 /ma˨˦ma/
Father 老汉 /lau˦˨.xan˨˩˧/ 爸爸 /pa˨˩˧pa/ /tie˦˦/ 爸爸 /papa/ 爸爸 /pa˥˧pa/ 爸爸 /pa˨˩˧pa/ 爸爸 /pa˨˩˧pa/
Eat /tsʰʅ˥/ /tsʰɿ˨˩/ /tsʰʅ˦˦/ /tsʰɨ˧˥/ /t͡ɕʰi˨˦/ /tʂʰʅ˥˥/ /tʂʰʅ˨˦/
Drink /xo˥/ /xo˨˩/ /xo˦˦/ /xo˧˥/ /xo˨˦/ /xo˥˥/ /xɤ˨˦/
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Han readings compared

Character Chongqing MandarinChengdu MandarinSichuan MandarinWuhan MandarinGui-Liu MandarinKunming MandarinXiang (Hunan)
yi²¹ /i˨˩/ yi²¹ /i˨˩/ yi²¹ /i˨˩/ yi²¹³ /i˨˩˧/ yi³¹ /i˧˩/ yi³¹ /i˧˩/ i²⁴ /i˨˦/
er²¹⁴ /ɚ˨˩˦/ er²¹³ /ɚ˨˩˧/ er²¹³ /ɚ˨˩˧/ er³⁵ /ɚ˧˥/ er²⁴ /ɚ˨˦/ er²¹² /ɚ˨˩˨/ er²¹ /ɚ˨˩/
san⁵⁵ /san˥˥/ san⁵⁵ /san˥˥/ san⁵⁵ /san˥˥/ san⁵⁵ /san˥˥/ san⁴⁴ /san˦˦/ san⁴⁴ /sã˦˦/ san³³ /san˧˧/
si²¹⁴ /sɿ˨˩˦/ si²¹³ /sɿ˨˩˧/ si²¹³ /sɿ˨˩˧/ si³⁵ /sɿ˧˥/ si²⁴ /sɿ˨˦/ si²¹² /sɿ˨˩˨/ si⁴⁵ /sɿ˦˥/
wu⁴² /u˦˨/ wu⁵³ /u˥˧/ wu⁵³ /u˥˧/ wu⁴² /u˦˨/ wu⁵³ /u˥˧/ wu⁵³ /u˥˧/ u⁴¹ /u˦˩/
liu²¹ /liəu˨˩/ nu²¹ /nu˨˩/ neu²¹ /nəu˨˩/ nou²¹³ /nəu˨˩˧/ lou³¹ /lou˧˩/ liu³¹ /liu˧˩/ leu²⁴ /ləu˨˦/
qi²¹ /tɕʰi˨˩/ qi²¹ /tɕʰi˨˩/ qi²¹ /tɕʰi˨˩/ qi²¹³ /tɕʰi˨˩˧/ ci³¹ /tsʰi˧˩/ qi³¹ /tɕʰi˧˩/ qi²⁴ /tɕʰi˨˦/
ba²¹ /pa˨˩/ ba²¹ /pa˨˩/ ba²¹ /pa˨˩/ ba²¹³ /pa˨˩˧/ ba³¹ /pa˧˩/ ba³¹ /pa˧˩/ pa²⁴ /pa˨˦/
jiu⁴² /tɕiəu˦˨/ jiu⁵³ /tɕiəu˥˧/ jiu⁵³ /tɕiəu˥˧/ jiu⁴² /tɕiəu˦˨/ jiu⁵³ /tɕiou˥˧/ jiu⁵³ /tɕiou˥˧/ jieu⁴¹ /tɕiəu˦˩/
si²¹ /sɿ˨˩/ si²¹ /sɿ˨˩/ si²¹ /sɿ˨˩/ si²¹³ /sɿ˨˩˧/ si³¹ /sɿ˧˩/ si³¹ /sɿ˧˩/ si²⁴ /sɿ˨˦/
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