Shenyang Mandarin


Shenyang Mandarin is a dialect of Northeastern Mandarin used by people in and around Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province and the largest city in Northeast China. It is very close to Standard Chinese but has some notably distinctive words. Some people think of it as a strong accent rather than a distinct dialect. Because of its similarity to the standard language, pinyin can be used to represent the pronunciation.
However, as schools in Shenyang teach only the standard language, usage of the dialect is dwindling.
The most distinctive aspect of the Shenyang dialect is the much lower pitch of the first tone than in Standard Chinese. It would be positioned at 2, rather than 5, on the chart at right. As a result, it can sound rather like the third tone.
Like Beijing dialect, Shenyang dialect is characterized by erhua.
Some of the words in Shenyang dialect come from other languages like the Manchu language. One example is 旮旯儿 gālár 'corner'.
Examples of words in various Northeastern dialects :
Northeastern MandarinpinyinStandard MandarinMeaning
不赶趟兒bù gǎn tàng r赶不上unable to catch up
波楞盖儿bō lin gàr膝盖kneecap
疙瘩、圪塔gāda地方place
得瑟dèse卖弄to show off
老鼻子（了）lǎobízi很多a lot
驲驲地rírídi（形容速度快）interjection for very fast speed
埋汰máitai脏dirty, filthy
嘎哈gāhā干什么 、干嘛What are you doing?
砢碜kēchen 难看ugly, hideous
老lǎo很very
贼zéi特别exceedingly
毙bì棒good, excellent
蚂蛉mālíng蜻蜓dragonfly
嘎赌gàdu打赌to bet

Phonology

Shenyang dialect has 19 initial consonants, as opposed to 21 in Standard Mandarin. Most notably, retroflex consonants, and in Standard Chinese are pronounced as, and, respectively, while is omitted. While lost in Standard Mandarin, Middle Chinese is preserved in Shenyang dialect. exists in Shenyang dialect.
Standard Mandarin diphthongs tend to be pronounced as monophthongs in Shenyang dialect. For example, becomes, and becomes.