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The troubled history of dialects
Print Edition
HEARING people speak Shanghai dialect in public spaces still surprises many local residents even though they live in the same city.
Nobody remembers when they started speaking mandarin, usually to unknown people, but sometimes even with friends and relatives. The language, which used to be the pride of the city, is gradually fading into oblivion.
Almost every region of China has a dialect with particular pronunciation. Even grammar distinguishes the language from others. So does Shanghai dialect.
There are actually two Shanghai dialects — one that was formed in the region more than 700 years ago, and another that swept the city and nearby regions after Shanghai opened its port and welcomed migrants from all over.
The first kind of Shanghai dialect is now called as Songjiang dialect, indicating the origin and user of the dialect. It is quite similar to that of Jiaxing city in Zhejiang Province during the times of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
The Songjiang dialect was used for a long time in Shanghai until the city was forced to open its port under numerous concessions since 1843.
Great number of migrants coming to Shanghai not only influenced the development of the city but also the language, especially those coming from Suzhou in Jiangsu Province and Ningbo in Zhejiang Province. Most Shanghai and Suzhou residents can still understand each other when they speak in their own dialects.
Quite a few words in Shanghai dialect such as “a-la” (literally my or we) are borrowed from Ningbo dialects. Some English words also made it into the Shanghai dialect, such as “si-men-ting” for cement, “kai-si-mi” for cashmere and “si-di-ke” for stick.
With the rapid development of the city, the new dialect quickly became the most influential language in the Yangtze River Delta Region in the 20th century.
Speaking Shanghai dialect was seen as something to be proud of for those coming to settle down in the city. There was a popular rhyme that mocked those who could not speak the dialects. Back then, a dialect was used to differentiate between the natives and the outsiders.
Yet, the dialect is losing its appeal among Shanghainese with new waves of migration as well as the city government’s advocating for mandarin in daily use. Since late 1980s, all the schools in Shanghai were required to give lessons in mandarin. Almost all radio and television with the dialects were canceled. The TV series “Nie Zhai” (Educated Youth), which was produced in Shanghai dialect in the early 1990s, was dubbed into mandarin. A campaign to preserve the Shanghai dialect was initiated in 2001 but opponents say speaking the dialect could be perceived as being unfriendly that may create hurdles in the city’s economic development.
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