Beijing dialect

[angelina119]

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?

[renzhe]

I think that the character you're looking for is 碎 [suì].

The reason that Beijing dialect hasn't developed many special written characters unique to it is that the standard written language is basically based on Beijing dialect*.

* actually, it is based on the written canon in baihua, which itself was mostly the way Mandarin dialects were spoken in much of the north, and this includes Beijing. Beijing pronunciation of the educated elites was taken as the standard pronunciation for the new national spoken standard.

[jbradfor]

Cantonese, Shanghaiese, and other well known ""dialects"" all ""invented"" their own special characters. Shanghaiese: 依

Excuse my ignorance, but this is a Shanghaiese term? I learned it years ago as meaning "to depend on".

[Sarevok]

I think he meant 侬, which is used instead of 你 in Shanghainese...

I think 怹 is a Beijing thing (or so I was told or read it somewhere... can't remember anymore). It is supposed to be a polite version of 他 (just like 你/您, same 心 radical added)

cei4 is written as 卒+瓦 combined into one character - you can't type it with Sougou Pinyin. Pleco was somehow able to display that character on my old Windows Mobile device (might have been in the pre-2.0 era). It can't do that anymore - on my current WM device, there is only a blank space where the character should be displayed. Anyways, I encountered it by accident at that time and I somehow remembered it (I always remember useless characters like this almost effortlessly, but struggle when I have to write 寂寞 or 辣椒, which are much more frequent)

[renzhe]

Hrm, look what I found: http://www.nciku.com/search/cc/detail/梡/211

[Glenn]

I guess that isn't phono-semantic. 完 certainly doesn't give any hint that it would be read cei4.

[Jane_PA]

Yes, Beijing dialect has a word called cei4, which means to be broken. But I am not sure is there any Chinese character to match it. I think that is why a dialect.

[yzl]

cei4 is written as 卒+瓦 combined into one character - you can't type it with Sougou Pinyin.

Hrm, look what I found: http://www.nciku.com...cc/detail/梡/211

I think 卒瓦 is correct. It's easy to write but difficult to type. And 梡's pronunciation is kuan3.

cei4 is indeed commonly used in Beijing dialect.

1. break into pieces. Used only when a glass or ceramic container broken into pieces.

杯子(cei4)了.

碗(cei4)了.

别弄(cei4)了.

2. spank/beat. Only a few usages:

找(cei4)!

暴(cei4) (+someone).

3. (cei4)丁(ding1)壳(ke2). The game "rock paper scissors" is usually called "(cei4)丁壳" in Beijing dialect.

Are there any more such words without characters in the Beijing dialect?

Only two more come into my mind.

cei3: ugly. 她长的太(cei3)了.

rua2: weak. 你的身子有点(rua2).

[renzhe]

I think 卒瓦 is correct. It's easy to write but difficult to type. And 梡's pronunciation is kuan3.

My paper dictionary seems to agree. Don't know what happened there, nciku is usually reliable...

[Glenn]

At any rate, that makes me feel a little better. kuan3 makes way more sense than cei4 for 梡.