Heilongjiang 1

Listen to Heilongjiang 1, a 20-year-old woman from Haerbin, Heilongjiang Province, China. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 20

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 04/02/1991

PLACE OF BIRTH: Haerbin, Heilongjiang Province

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Han Chinese

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: At the time of the recording, subject was in her first year at university.

AREA(S) OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

Subject had been living in Suzhou, Jiangsu, for the six months prior to the recording.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

A major influence was the native-speaking English teacher she had at school. Otherwise, she left her hometown to come to university in Suzhou only six months ago. During this time at university, she has had very limited exposure to native English-speaking teachers.

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

RECORDED BY: Bill McCann

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 06/04/2011

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Hello, I’m Stacy; I’m come from Heilongjiang Province. Today I will introduce my hometown to you. Heilongjiang Province lies in the northeast of China. It is just like a squirrel in the map. It’s – you know – it’s very cold around the year; however, the winter it’s a wonderful place. You can come to see the ice and snow, and in summer it’s also a good place to have a cool holiday. It’s a very beautiful place. People in Heilongjiang Province are all very friendly. Welcome all the people come to my hometown, Heilongjiang Province.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Bill McCann

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 06/04/2011

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

Short readings from the analects of Confucius

The subject now goes on to read the following abstracts from the Analects of Confucius in her own Northwestern dialect of Mandarin. This dialect is spoken in the northeast of China (known as Manchuria in the West), except the Liaodong Peninsula. It is closely related to Standard Mandarin (Putonghua) with generally little variation in lexicon; there are very few tonal changes. The accent is distinctive of the northern Mandarin group, and a comparison with the reading in the Jiangsu 7 sample illustrates the distinguishing features quite nicely. A reading in Putonghua (Mandarin) can be heard on the Jiangsu 7 sample; notice for example the rolled /r/ in the northern dialect.

KEY: A = Mandarin (Simplified); B = Mandarin (Pingyin); C = Dialect (Pingyin); D = English.

孔子: 论语 – Kǒng zǐ : lún yǔ – Kon zi:leng yu – Confucius: Lun Yu

學而第一 – xué ér dì yī – Xué ér dì yī – Chapter One

A: 1-1:- 子曰: 學而時習之、不亦說乎。

B: yī-yī :- zǐ yuē: xué ér shí xí zhī, bù yì yuè hū.

C: yī-yī :- zǐ yuē: xué ér shí xí zhī, bù yì yuè hū.

D: 1-1:- The Master said: Is it not pleasure to learn, and practice what is learned time and again?

A: 1-2:- 有朋自遠方來、不亦樂乎。

B: yī-èr:- yǒu péng zì yuǎn fāng lái, bù yì lè hū.

C: yī-èr:- yǒu péng zì yuǎn fāng lái, bù yì lè hū.

D: 1-2:- Is it not happiness to have friends coming from distant places?

A: 1-3:- 人不知而不慍、不亦君子乎。

B: yī-sān: rén bù zhī ér bù yùn, bù yì jūn zi hū.

C: yī-sān: rén bù zhī ér bù yùn, bù yì jūn zi hū.

D: 1-3:- Is it not virtue for a man to feel no discomposure when others take no note of him?

為政第二 – wéi zhèng dì èr – wéi zhèng dì ér – Chapter two

A: 2-2:- 子曰：「詩三百，一言以蔽之，曰：『思無邪』。

B: èr-èr:- zǐ yuē: shī sān bǎi, yī yán yǐ bì zhī , yuē: sī wú xié.

C: èr-èr:- zǐ yuē: shī sān bǎi, yī yán yǐ bì zhī , yuē: sī wú xié.

D: 2-2:- The Master said: In the Book of Odes there are three hundred poems, but they may be summarized in a single sentence: Think no evil.

A: 2-7:- 子游問孝。子曰：今之孝者，是謂能養。至於犬馬，皆能有養；不敬, 何 以別乎。

B: èr-qī:- zǐ yóu wèn xiào. zǐ yuē: jīn zhī xiào zhě, shì wèi néng yǎng. zhì wū quǎn mǎ, jiē néng yǒu yǎng; bù jìng, hé yǐ bié hū.

C: : èr-qī:- zǐ yóu wèn xiào. zǐ yuē: jīn zhī xiào zhě, shì wèi néng yǎng. zhì wū quǎn mǎ, jiē néng yǒu yǎng; bù jìng, hé yǐ bié hū.

D: 2-7:- Zi You asked what filial piety was. The Master said: Nowadays, providing support for one’s parents is considered filial piety. But dogs and horses can also do this. If there is no respect, what is the difference?

A: 2-10:- 子曰：「視其所以，觀其所由，察其所安。人焉叟哉？人焉叟哉？

B: èr-shí :- zǐ yuē: shì qí suǒ yǐ , guān qí suǒ yóu, chá qí suǒ ān. rén yān sǒu zāi? rén yān sǒu zāi?

C: èr-shí :- zǐ yuē: shì qí suǒ yǐ , guān qí suǒ yóu, chá qí suǒ ān. rén yān sǒu zāi? rén yān sǒu zāi?

D: 2-10:- The Master said: Watch what a man does. Find out his motives. See how he takes his ease. How then can the man hide his true self? How can the man hide his true self?

Commentary

Hēilóngjiāng is located in the northeastern part of China and borders Russia to the north and east. It contains China’s most northern and most eastern points. The name of the province literally means “Black Dragon River,” which is the Chinese name for the Amur, the river marking the border between the China and Russia. There are more than 1,900 rivers in Hēilóngjiāng, and this has allowed the creation of an extensive system of waterway transportation.

The area was isolated in ancient times, and there are few historical records. It was occupied by the Buyeo, Mohe, Khitan and other peoples whose names are Mongolian or Manchu. It was here that the Jurchen Jin Dynasty (1115-1235), which ruled most of North China, arose in Hēilóngjiāng. It finally became an administrative area in 1683, during the Kangxi era of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, from the northwestern part of the Jilin province.

In 1858 and 1860, the Qing government was forced to give up all land beyond the Amur and Ussuri Rivers to the Russian Empire. This cut China off from the Sea of Japan and gave Hēilóngjiāng its present northern borders. The Qing government then began to encourage Han Chinese migration into Manchuria, so that by the early twentieth century, the Han Chinese had become the dominant ethnic group in the region.

Harbin is a Manchu word meaning “a place for drying fishing nets,” and the city is bitterly cold in winter. Its old name is Pokai. Known as the “Ice City,” it is well known for its beautiful ice sculptures in winter. Human settlement in the Harbin area dates from at least 2200 BC (late Stone Age).

Noticeable characteristics, which can be heard on the recordings, include the usual Chinese problems with [s] and [sh], [z] and [zh] pairs. There are also some examples of the /θ/- /s/ and /ʒ/- /s/ and the /v/ and /w/ minimal pair transpositions. There are also occasional transpositions of the /u:/and /ʊ/ minimal pair. The influence of her dialect is also strong in places, especially with the /r/ (listen to “squirrel,” for example) in the unscripted speech. Also, here we find some examples of the distortion of the “ai” in words such as “daily” and “fair.” This seems to be quite common, among students, at least, in China.

COMMENTARY BY: Bill McCann

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 06/04/2011

The archive provides:

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• Text of the speakers’ biographical details.
• Scholarly commentary and analysis in some cases.
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