Guanzhong dialect

The Guanzhong dialect (simplified Chinese: 关中话; traditional Chinese: 關中話; pinyin: Guānzhōnghuà) is a special way of speaking used in the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi Province, especially in the big city of Xi'an. Because Xi'an is the main city in this area, the Guanzhong dialect is often called Xi'anese (simplified Chinese: 陕西话; traditional Chinese: 陝西話; pinyin: Shǎnxīhuà or simplified Chinese: 西安话; traditional Chinese: 西安話; pinyin: Xī'ānhuà).

People in different parts of Shaanxi Province speak slightly different versions of this dialect. The Guanzhong dialect can be split into two main groups: the Xifu dialect, spoken in western areas like Baoji, Tianshui, and Qingyang, and the Dongfu dialect, spoken in eastern areas such as Weinan, Tongchuan, and Xianyang.

Even though Xi'an has been an important city since ancient times, the dialect people speak today developed much later, during the Yuan dynasty. Today, many younger people in Xi'an are more likely to speak the standard version of Chinese, but efforts are being made to keep the old Guanzhong dialect alive.

Phonology

Note: The following is a description of the lect of urban Xi'an, and should not be used as a generalization of all of Guanzhong.

Like other Mandarin dialects, Xi'anese is tonal and has a strict CGVN syllable structure. This section outlines the sounds used in the speech of younger speakers in Xi'an, with romanization adapted from Hanyu Pinyin.

Older speakers may also have a pair of special sounds.

Some older speakers may use an unusual sound for certain words.

Erhua

Erhua in Xi'an's local variety adds a special ending to sounds. All sounds can have this ending except for two specific ones. Note that, as per Sinological IPA, /r/ refers to a soft sound.

Tones

The speech of Xi'an has four tones and one neutral tone. It also has special tone changes when sounds are spoken together.

Like many other Northern Mandarin varieties, this way of speaking does not use a specific type of tone, but changes it regularly into other tones.

Right-prominent sandhi

When two sounds with certain tones are spoken together, the first sound changes its tone.

When two sounds with rising tones are spoken together, or a rising tone is followed by a neutral tone, the first sound changes its tone.

Erhua sandhi

A special tone with an erhua ending sounds different.

Some tones, in repeated sounds with erhua, change their tone on the second sound.

Internal differences

The way people speak in Xi'an can change depending on where you are and who you talk to. In most parts of Xi'an, except for Yanliang, people speak a version of the city's main language.

Younger people in Xi'an often sound a bit more like standard Standard Mandarin when they talk.

There are also some differences in how certain groups speak. For example, the Hui people, who are mostly Muslim, sometimes use different words than the main group of people called Han Chinese.