开封话

Kaifeng Mandarin

Sinitic (Mandarin, Zhongyuan — Zheng-Cao)

FamilySinitic (Mandarin, Zhongyuan — Zheng-Cao) Speakers~5M (Kaifeng city + prefecture) ScriptHan characters (Simplified) CountriesChina (Henan: Kaifeng) Official inNo (regional; Putonghua is official) ISO 639-3cmn Glottocodezhon1235

Kaifeng Mandarin (开封话) is a Zheng-Cao subgroup variety of Zhongyuan (Central Plains) Mandarin spoken by ~5M people in and around Kaifeng, Henan. Kaifeng was the capital of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) — the largest city in the world at the time — and its speech preserves an important early-Mandarin stratum: the historical Middle Chinese entering tone (rusheng) has merged into yinping ˨˦ for voiceless initials (unlike Beijing, where rusheng dispersed across all four tones), and the 4-tone system (yinping ˨˦, yangping ˦˨, shangsheng ˥˧, qusheng ˧˩˨) is shared in broad outline with Zhengzhou and other Zhongyuan dialects. Like other Henan varieties it preserves the /tsʰ/-/tʂʰ/ distinction less rigidly than Standard Mandarin and has a productive diminutive 儿 -er suffix (轻声 light tone).

Where it is spoken

31 core words in Kaifeng Mandarin

Water

/ʂuei˥˧/

Fire

/xuo˥˧/

Sun

日头

/ʐəɻ˧˩˨tʰou˦˨/

Moon

月亮

/yɛ˦˨liaŋ˧˩˨/

Star

/ɕiŋ˨˦/

Mother

/ma˨˦/

Father

/tiɛ˨˦/

I

/uo˥/

You

/ni˥/

Name

/miŋ˦˨/

Eye

/iɛn˥˧/

Hand

/ʂou˥˧/

Heart

/ɕin˨˦/

Love

/ai˧˩˨/

Tree

/ʂu˧˩˨/

House

/u˨˦/

Dog

/kou˥˧/

Cat

/mau˨˦/

Eat

/tʂʰʅ˨˦/

Drink

/xɤ˨˦/

One

/i˨˦/

Two

/ɚ˧˩˨/

Hello

你好

/ni˥˧xau˥˧/

Thank you

谢谢

/ɕiɛ˧˩˨ɕiɛ/

Good

/xau˥˧/

Cuckoo

布谷鸟

/pu˧˩˨ku˨˦niau˥˥/

Computer

电脑

/tiɛn˧˩˨nau˥˧/

Sushi

寿司

/ʂou˧˩˨sz̩˨˦/

Sources

Words compared

Compared with related Sinitic (Mandarin, Zhongyuan — Zheng-Cao) languages

Meaning Kaifeng MandarinZhongyuan MandarinJinan MandarinKunming MandarinXi'an MandarinLanyin MandarinChengdu Mandarin
Water /ʂuei˥˧/ /suei˥˥/ /ʂwei˥˥/ /suei˥˧/ /fei˥˧/ /sui˥˧/ /suei˥˧/
Fire /xuo˥˧/ /xuo˥˧/ /xuo˥˥/ /xo˥˧/ /xuo˥˧/ /xo˥˧/ /xo˥˧/
Sun 日头 /ʐəɻ˧˩˨tʰou˦˨/ 太阳 /tʰai˨˩iaŋ˨˩˧/ 太阳 /tʰai˨˩.iaŋ˦˨/ 太阳 /tʰæ˨˩˨iaŋ˧˩/ 日头 /ʐɿ˥˥tʰou˨˦/ 日头 /ʐɨ˨˦tʰəu˨˦/ 太阳 /tʰai˨˩˧iaŋ˨˩/
Moon 月亮 /yɛ˦˨liaŋ˧˩˨/ 月亮 /yɛ˨˦liaŋ/ 月亮 /yɛ˨˩.liaŋ˨˩/ 月亮 /ye˧˩liaŋ˨˩˨/ 月亮 /ye˥˥liaŋ˨˩/ 月亮 /yɛ˦˦ljaŋ/ 月亮 /ye˨˩lia̠ŋ˨˩˧/
Star /ɕiŋ˨˦/ /ɕiŋ˨˦/ /ɕiŋ˨˩˧/ /ɕĩ˦/ /ɕiŋ˨˩/ /ɕiŋ˧˩/ /ɕin˦˥/
Mother /ma˨˦/ 妈妈 /ma˨˦ma/ /niaŋ˦˨/ /ma˦˦/ /ma˨˩/ /ma˧˧/ 妈妈 /ma˥ma/
Father /tiɛ˨˦/ 爸爸 /pa˨˩˧pa/ /tiɛ˨˩˧/ /tie˦˦/ /pa˥˥/ /pa˥˧/ 爸爸 /pa˨˩˧pa/
I /uo˥/ /uo˥˧/ /uə˥˥/ /ŋo˥˧/ /ŋɤ˥˧/ /vɤ˥˧/ /ŋo˥˧/
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Han readings compared

Character Kaifeng MandarinZhongyuan MandarinTianjin MandarinKunming MandarinJinan MandarinSichuan MandarinChengdu Mandarin
yi²⁴ /i˨˦/ yi²⁴ /i˨˦/ yi²¹ /i˨˩/ yi³¹ /i˧˩/ yi²¹³ /i˨˩˧/ yi²¹ /i˨˩/ yi²¹ /i˨˩/
er³¹² /ɚ˧˩˨/ er³¹² /ɚ˧˩˨/ er⁵³ /ɚ˥˧/ er²¹² /ɚ˨˩˨/ er²¹ /ɚ˨˩/ er²¹³ /ɚ˨˩˧/ er²¹³ /ɚ˨˩˧/
san²⁴ /san˨˦/ san²⁴ /san˨˦/ san²¹ /sɑn˨˩/ san⁴⁴ /sã˦˦/ san²¹³ /sã˨˩˧/ san⁵⁵ /san˥˥/ san⁵⁵ /san˥˥/
si³¹² /sɿ˧˩˨/ si²⁴ /sɿ˨˦/ si⁵³ /sɿ˥˧/ si²¹² /sɿ˨˩˨/ si²¹ /sɿ˨˩/ si²¹³ /sɿ˨˩˧/ si²¹³ /sɿ˨˩˧/
wu⁵³ /u˥˧/ wu⁵³ /u˥˧/ wu¹³ /u˩˧/ wu⁵³ /u˥˧/ wu⁵⁵ /u˥˥/ wu⁵³ /u˥˧/ wu⁵³ /u˥˧/
liu²⁴ /liəu˨˦/ liu²⁴ /liu˨˦/ liu⁵³ /liou˥˧/ liu³¹ /liu˧˩/ lou²¹ /lou˨˩/ neu²¹ /nəu˨˩/ nu²¹ /nu˨˩/
qi²⁴ /tɕʰi˨˦/ qi²⁴ /tɕʰi˨˦/ qi²¹ /tɕʰi˨˩/ qi³¹ /tɕʰi˧˩/ qi²¹³ /tɕʰi˨˩˧/ qi²¹ /tɕʰi˨˩/ qi²¹ /tɕʰi˨˩/
ba²⁴ /pa˨˦/ ba²⁴ /pa˨˦/ ba²¹ /pa˨˩/ ba³¹ /pa˧˩/ ba²¹³ /pa˨˩˧/ ba²¹ /pa˨˩/ ba²¹ /pa˨˩/
jiu⁵³ /tɕiəu˥˧/ jiu⁵³ /tɕiəu˥˧/ jiu¹³ /tɕiou˩˧/ jiu⁵³ /tɕiou˥˧/ jiu⁵⁵ /tɕiou˥˥/ jiu⁵³ /tɕiəu˥˧/ jiu⁵³ /tɕiəu˥˧/
shi⁴² /ʂʐ̩˦˨/ shi⁴² /ʂʐ̩˦˨/ shi⁴⁵ /ʂʐ̩˦˥/ si³¹ /sɿ˧˩/ shi⁴² /ʂʐ̩˦˨/ si²¹ /sɿ˨˩/ si²¹ /sɿ˨˩/
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