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Words of the Beijing dialect.


shibo77

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Hello everyone! I was curious about words in 北京话Beijing dialect that does not have a corresponding written character. Cantonese, Shanghaiese, and other well known "dialects" all "invented" their own special characters. Shanghaiese: 依. I will start with one word, that which to my limited knowleadge, does not have a corresponding written character, yet it is spoken daily in Beijing.

(北京话Beijing dialect)

杯子(cei4)了.

Bei1 zi5 cei4 le5.

The glass was/is broken.

(正规普通话Proper form)

杯子摔了.

Bei1 zi5 shuai1 le5.

Any Beijingers who understood this? Are there any more such words without characters in the Beijing dialect?

I would appreciate the help!

- Shibo :D

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碎sui4<< Does this correspond to Beijing Dialect's cei4? I didn't find the alternative pronounciation in my dictionary. Or are you correcting my 杯子摔了? I also thought of another which I use, 伯伯bo2bo5, 大伯子da4bai3zi5, and what I pronounce 大伯 da4bai1, 伯伯 bai1bai5. bai1 isn't listed in the dictionary.

Thanks for the responses!

- Shibo :D

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現代漢語詞典 actually lists "cei4" as "卒瓦" - 卒 on the left half and 瓦 on the right half, literally meaning the death of an earthernware. (It doesn't say it is dialect, though.)

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Actually, many characters were "invented" for Mandarin as well.

Classical --> Mandarin words formerly without character

此 --> 这 (claw = this)

彼 --> 那 (ancient Sichuan = that)

何 --> 什么 (squad + tiny = what)

此处 --> 这里

彼处 --> 那里

何处 --> 哪里

之 --> 的 (clear, accurate = possessive/genitive and modifier particle)

儿 (child = -r)

了 (to complete = aspect particle)

没 (to sink = to have not)

着 (to wear or reach = aspect particle)

地 (earth = adverbial modifier particle)

There are many many more. The only difference between the Mandarin "invented" characters and the other dialects is that Mandarin has them standardized.

For example, the Shanghainese word for 何处 (where) is pronounced alitaq. It can be written as 何里搭, 啊里嗒,嗄里答, etc. No standardization at all. The Shanghainese word for here is cidi 此地 or gettaq 搿答 (where 搿 and 答, like Mandarin's 这, is used phonetically 注音). In Shanghainese we still say 着衣裳 (wear clothes) instead of 穿.

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Actually, many characters were "invented" for Mandarin as well.

i guess we should say "invented for modern Mandarin here."

i dont think ancient north dialects had these vocabularies. meanwhile i believe some of them, such as 此处-这里, thier difference is the formar is 文言, the latter is 白话, or maybe 白话就是传说中的 mandarin?

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the reasons why there were no 白话文小说 before 元 dynasty is in ancient china, writing and speaking are two different systems, since:

1. you have write things briefly, because before 汉, they wrote at 竹简, and obviously, there're no enough space to store bulk of 竹简. meanwile, writing draging-style articles will caused a real situation of 罄竹难书. :mrgreen:

2. after we had papers(han and later), the papers should be expensive(just imagine the productivity at that time), so...

so, in the ancient time, normal writing having some differences from dialects is a reasonable thing.

seems off the topic alot. :tong

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Right, I just read the posts there, I think roddy or Quest should delete that thread...

I know that lots of characters were invented for modern Mandarin, but I am just curious about uninvented ones, ones that can only be said but not written, any thoughts?

Shibo :mrgreen:

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I know that lots of characters were invented for modern Mandarin, but I am just curious about uninvented ones, ones that can only be said but not written, any thoughts?

yeah, see:

bia1 ji1, 东西掉地上了

maybe, "啪叽"? or "啪唧"?=crack, sharp, snapping sound

-------------------------------------------

身体benr4 棒,吃嘛benr4香,您瞅准喽...

"奔儿"? =特=特别=very

-------------------------------------------

tui2 好了=太好了=it's great!

"忒"?

--------------------------------------------

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