Shaozhou Tuhua


Shaozhou Tuhua, also known as Yuebei Tuhua, is an unclassified Chinese variety spoken in northern Guangdong province, China. It is mutually unintelligible with Xiang, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

Classification

Some scholars consider it to be an extension of Ping Chinese in Guangxi. Others consider it to have a foundation in Song dynasty-era Middle Gan, mixed with Hakka, Cantonese, and Southwestern Mandarin.
Chen notes that the Shaoguan Tuhua of Shibei shares many similarities with the Hakka of Qujiang District, due to intensive contact.
Sagart considers the Nanxiong dialect to be most closely related to Hakka. In contrast, Egerod had proposed a relationship between Nanxiong and Min.

Dialects

Shaozhou Tuhua is also known as Yuebei Tuhua, and as Shīpóhuà, Shīnǎhuà, or Shīpóshēng in its own region. It is also known as Pingdi Yaohua, locally Piongtuojo or Piongtoajeu; "Yao" here might be a cultural designation, as only half of the one million speakers are classified as ethnic Yao.
Li & Zhuang cover the following dialects of Shaoguan Tuhua.
  1. Dacun , Qujiang District
  2. Xiangyang , Wujiang District
  3. Shibei , Zhenjiang District
  4. Zhoutian , Renhua County
  5. Shitang , Renhua County
  6. Guitou , Ruyuan County
Zhang Shuangqing covers five dialects of Lianzhou Tuhua.
  1. Xingzi dialect: 120,000 speakers in Xingzi, Qingjiang, Shantang, Tanling, Dalubian towns, and parts of Mabu and Yao'an towns
  2. Bao'an dialect: 30,000 speakers in Bao'an Town, and parts of Longping Town
  3. Lianzhou dialect : 40,000 speakers in Lianzhou Town and Fucheng Town
  4. Xi'an dialect : 30,000 speakers in Xi'an Town
  5. Fengyang dialect : 50,000 speakers in Fengyang Town, and parts of Zhugang, Dongpo, and Yao'an towns

    Distribution

Tuhua is retreating before Mandarin, Cantonese and Hakka and is found in rural dialect islands in the northern Guangdong counties of Lechang, Renhua, Ruyuan Yao Autonomous County, Qujiang, Nanxiong, Zhenjiang, Wujiang, and Lianzhou and Liannan Yao Autonomous County in Qingyuan prefecture-level city.