Jiangsu 41

Listen to Jiangsu 41, a 20-year-old woman from Suzhou, Jiangsu 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): 03/12/1989

PLACE OF BIRTH: Suzhou, Jiangsu Province

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Han Chinese

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: university

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS: N/A

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject had native English-speaking teachers in middle school.

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): 11/05/2010

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I want to talk about my high school. My high school is one of the best school in China. So, I was very grateful because our school give me a color- colorful school life. Ahm, I think, we school did not like other schools in Jiangsu Province, ahm, because we know the test to going to college is very difficult, so many, many schools focus on the study, but in our school, I think we focus more on the, mmm, interest which students are interested in. We have, ah, many courses and classes for the students to hold various of activities. We have different, ah, students unit, ah, which include languages, ah, arts, musician, ah, and, some, mmm, mysterious stories, which was very interesting. So we can take part in it and relax ourselves after school. [The subject now goes on to read abstracts from the Analects of Confucius in her own Suzhouhua dialect. (See the detailed commentary below.) She has also provided a pinyin transliteration. A reading in Putonghua (Mandarin) can be heard on the Hebei 1 sample.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Bill McCann

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 20/08/2013

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

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

孔子: 论语 – Kǒng zǐ : lún yǔ – Kong zi: len yu – Confucius: Lun Yu

 

學而第一 – xué ér dì yī – Huo 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 :-    zi ya, huo er se xie zi, fe yi se hou.

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:-     you pang zi you fang lai, fe yi le hou.

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:    nin fe zi er fe yun ,fe yi jun zi hou.

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:-     zi ya ,si sai ba ,yi yan yi bi zi ,ya ,si wu ya

D: 2-2:-       The Master said: In the Book of Odes there are three hundred poems, but they may be summarised 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:-   zi you men xiao, zi ya ,jin zi xiao ze ,si wei neng yang,, zhu yu qu mu ,jie nen you yang ,fe jin, hou yi bi hou

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 :- yi ya, si qi sou yi ,gu qi suo you ,su qi sou u, nin yi sou zai ,nin yi sou zai

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

The subject has a very strong, but pleasant, accent. Listen out for “Sarah Penny” in the scripted text. This transposition of the /r/ and /n/ phones is occasionally found in the south Jiangsu dialects. (It is probably worth noting here that the stereotypical /r/ and /l/ transposition that one reads and hears a lot in the West is fairly rare in this part of China, at least.) Another phonetic feature is the confusion of the /eI/ and aI/ phones in “laid,” “millionaire,” and “fair.” This is quite common among students who have studied the IPA phonetic system. Finally, the subject substitutes “he” for “she” very frequently. This is also quite common, as the Chinese dialects do not distinguish genders: The same word, “Tā,” is used to designate both male and female.

This sample is an important addition to our Suzhou dialect set as it adds a major piece to our jigsaw of the many Suzhou sub-dialects. The subject comes from the area that lay to the west of the Hangzhou to Beijing Grand Canal, which itself passes to the west of the ancient city. Originally farmland, development of the area, Suzhou New District (Sūzhōu xīnqū), began in 1992. It was one of the first Chinese industry parks specifically designed to attract Western investment. This was a wholly Chinese development, in contrast to the almost contemporary joint venture with Singapore, which developed the Suzhou Industrial Park to the east of the old city. (See the commentary in the Jiangsu 35 sample for the details.) The Suzhou dialect itself is the premiere dialect of the Taihu Group of Wu dialects. It is illuminating to compare the dialect Readings on this recording with those of the Jiangsu 14, 17, 18, 31, 32, 33, and 35 samples to get a flavor of the subtle variations in these most important sub-dialects. The Suzhou dialect is intelligible to speakers from Shanghai (to the east) and partially intelligible to natives of Wuxi, to the west, and Hangzhou and Ningbo in Zhejiang to the south.

COMMENTARY BY: Bill McCann

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 20/08/2013

The archive provides:

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