Disappearing dialects
January 28, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FIVE judges sit in a row. Ten Minhang residents appear before them. They are asked to read 27 groups of Chinese characters with similar pronunciations in the Minhang dialect. Then each of them is asked to read a story in Mandarin.
There's a bit of nervousness in the air as indigenous speakers from the district's Xinzhuang area "try out" for a place in the Shanghai dialect preservation project. The Minhang dialect originated in Xinzhuang.
Language sits at the heart of cultural history, and the colorful permutations of the Shanghai dialect are at risk of being lost if efforts are not made to record them and even encourage their use.
The project, sponsored by Shanghai's Language Work Committee, began last March. It aims to record different variations of the Shanghai dialect in 11 areas to track changes and map locations for historical archives.
So who is the ideal candidate to participate in the dialect preservation project?
"He should be a farmer, but not an ordinary farmer," said Zheng Wei, a linguist from Shanghai Normal University who serves as the principal examiner in vetting Minhang candidates. "He should have studied at school long enough to recognize widely used characters, but he should have failed to graduate. He should be talkative, with quick responses."
It's a tall order to fill, Zheng admitted.
"The criteria surrounding birthplace and other factors are very strict," he said.
The Minhang judges were looking for two senior citizens and two younger residents to participate in the program.
One of the successful candidates was Xu Zhihui, 70, who has never left Xinzhuang since he was born. Before retirement, he worked at a local research institute dealing with farm machinery. He attended primary and middle schools.
Xu now lives in the Changshou residential community on Xindong Road. His wife and parents were also born in Xinzhuang. That's important because it means limited outside influences "contaminated" his pure native tongue at home.
Xu said it was never his intention to raise his hand for the dialect program, but as the very public recruitment drive foundered in the search for pure speakers, someone in his neighborhood committee recommended he step forth and volunteer.
"I do love the dialect," he said. "I speak it all the time with my grandchildren."
Xu triumphed over another pair of Minhang semi-finalists -- Chu Bannong and Yang Baoming.
Chu was disqualified because he wasn't born in the town center of Xinzhuang, and Yang failed to make the cut because he spent time away in Fujian Province when serving in the military.
The program criteria stipulate that successful candidates not have lived outside Xinzhuang for more than six years. Better yet if they never left home.
Another "black mark" against Yang was his work as a leader in a state-owned company. The supervisory post meant that he had to spend considerable time delivering reports and exchanging views with others in Mandarin, Zheng said.
Each candidate was asked to read 27 groups of Chinese characters that are the most easily misread characters in the Minhang dialect.
It's a matter of delicate ear to distinguish the differences in the way younger and older candidates pronounce the characters.
"The pronunciation of Minhang's younger generation is similar to that of the Shanghai dialect spoken in downtown areas," Zheng said. "That gives us insight into linguistic evolution."
Zheng said he and other judges can roughly guess the age of an applicant merely by his or her pronunciation.
Xu was chosen as the ideal male speaker of pure Minhang dialect, born between 1941 and 1950. Shen Peilin was chosen at the ideal senior female speaker, and Yang Yi and Ma Liping qualified as the two dialect speakers born between 1971 and 1980.
Xu said he has already started recording sessions for the project at Shanghai Normal University.
"It is not an easy job because I have to read the same thing several times to achieve the best effect," Xu said. "But I am happy to help."
Zheng said the dialect preservation program comes none too late.
"Minhang is experiencing fast urbanization," he said. "Its dialect has experienced change and, as a result, is lost more rapidly than that in the countryside."
The presence of younger speakers in the program is meant to track that change.
Ma Liping qualified as the young female speaker.
"When I read these characters, it sounds like a tongue twister," she said, with a grin.
"You may find what I speak is more similar to 'downtown Shanghai dialect,' but only if you listen carefully can you spot some Minhang accent," she joked.
Like other speakers chosen for the program, she has always lived in Xinzhuang, which was farmland in her childhood, Ma said.
Each candidate was also asked to read a three-paragraph story in Mandarin because the organizers wanted to find Mandarin speakers with strong local accents.
That was difficult. Zheng said most younger candidates spoke very standard Mandarin with no accent. The Minhang recruiters had to search far and wide in Xinzhuang to come up with applicants.
"It is imperative to record their voices, but establishing a vocal archive is far from protecting the dialect, and more should be done," Zheng said.
More and more young people - especially those born after the 1990s - no longer speak Shanghai dialect, much less the Minhang variation, because schools require them to speak Mandarin in class.
Then too, Shanghai's booming economy has attracted millions of workers from around the country, further diluting the local dialect.
The situation is worse in outlying suburbs, where variations of the Shanghai dialect have been overpowered by the downtown accent.
There's a bit of nervousness in the air as indigenous speakers from the district's Xinzhuang area "try out" for a place in the Shanghai dialect preservation project. The Minhang dialect originated in Xinzhuang.
Language sits at the heart of cultural history, and the colorful permutations of the Shanghai dialect are at risk of being lost if efforts are not made to record them and even encourage their use.
The project, sponsored by Shanghai's Language Work Committee, began last March. It aims to record different variations of the Shanghai dialect in 11 areas to track changes and map locations for historical archives.
So who is the ideal candidate to participate in the dialect preservation project?
"He should be a farmer, but not an ordinary farmer," said Zheng Wei, a linguist from Shanghai Normal University who serves as the principal examiner in vetting Minhang candidates. "He should have studied at school long enough to recognize widely used characters, but he should have failed to graduate. He should be talkative, with quick responses."
It's a tall order to fill, Zheng admitted.
"The criteria surrounding birthplace and other factors are very strict," he said.
The Minhang judges were looking for two senior citizens and two younger residents to participate in the program.
One of the successful candidates was Xu Zhihui, 70, who has never left Xinzhuang since he was born. Before retirement, he worked at a local research institute dealing with farm machinery. He attended primary and middle schools.
Xu now lives in the Changshou residential community on Xindong Road. His wife and parents were also born in Xinzhuang. That's important because it means limited outside influences "contaminated" his pure native tongue at home.
Xu said it was never his intention to raise his hand for the dialect program, but as the very public recruitment drive foundered in the search for pure speakers, someone in his neighborhood committee recommended he step forth and volunteer.
"I do love the dialect," he said. "I speak it all the time with my grandchildren."
Xu triumphed over another pair of Minhang semi-finalists -- Chu Bannong and Yang Baoming.
Chu was disqualified because he wasn't born in the town center of Xinzhuang, and Yang failed to make the cut because he spent time away in Fujian Province when serving in the military.
The program criteria stipulate that successful candidates not have lived outside Xinzhuang for more than six years. Better yet if they never left home.
Another "black mark" against Yang was his work as a leader in a state-owned company. The supervisory post meant that he had to spend considerable time delivering reports and exchanging views with others in Mandarin, Zheng said.
Each candidate was asked to read 27 groups of Chinese characters that are the most easily misread characters in the Minhang dialect.
It's a matter of delicate ear to distinguish the differences in the way younger and older candidates pronounce the characters.
"The pronunciation of Minhang's younger generation is similar to that of the Shanghai dialect spoken in downtown areas," Zheng said. "That gives us insight into linguistic evolution."
Zheng said he and other judges can roughly guess the age of an applicant merely by his or her pronunciation.
Xu was chosen as the ideal male speaker of pure Minhang dialect, born between 1941 and 1950. Shen Peilin was chosen at the ideal senior female speaker, and Yang Yi and Ma Liping qualified as the two dialect speakers born between 1971 and 1980.
Xu said he has already started recording sessions for the project at Shanghai Normal University.
"It is not an easy job because I have to read the same thing several times to achieve the best effect," Xu said. "But I am happy to help."
Zheng said the dialect preservation program comes none too late.
"Minhang is experiencing fast urbanization," he said. "Its dialect has experienced change and, as a result, is lost more rapidly than that in the countryside."
The presence of younger speakers in the program is meant to track that change.
Ma Liping qualified as the young female speaker.
"When I read these characters, it sounds like a tongue twister," she said, with a grin.
"You may find what I speak is more similar to 'downtown Shanghai dialect,' but only if you listen carefully can you spot some Minhang accent," she joked.
Like other speakers chosen for the program, she has always lived in Xinzhuang, which was farmland in her childhood, Ma said.
Each candidate was also asked to read a three-paragraph story in Mandarin because the organizers wanted to find Mandarin speakers with strong local accents.
That was difficult. Zheng said most younger candidates spoke very standard Mandarin with no accent. The Minhang recruiters had to search far and wide in Xinzhuang to come up with applicants.
"It is imperative to record their voices, but establishing a vocal archive is far from protecting the dialect, and more should be done," Zheng said.
More and more young people - especially those born after the 1990s - no longer speak Shanghai dialect, much less the Minhang variation, because schools require them to speak Mandarin in class.
Then too, Shanghai's booming economy has attracted millions of workers from around the country, further diluting the local dialect.
The situation is worse in outlying suburbs, where variations of the Shanghai dialect have been overpowered by the downtown accent.
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