Chinese Conlects

[ParkeNYU]

Has anyone here attempted to construct their own topolect, incorporating some unique features not only phonologically, but also in vocabulary and grammar?

[anonymoose]

Why?

[ParkeNYU]

Just to have a conservative topolect that descends most directly and consistently from Literary Chinese vocabulary/syntax and Late Middle Chinese phonology. Natural languages have lots of exceptions, mixtures, corruptions, evolutions, and outside influence that are a handful to juggle when learning. Why not just revive Middle Chinese? While there are some good reconstructions, its many distinctions are cumbersome and we can't know for absolute certain what it sounded like (and that also depends on where and when it was spoken). The conlect I'm making reflects what I believe Modern Standard Chinese would have been today had Song never fallen to the Jurchens and Mongols, thus precluding future Manchu rule as well.

 

Perhaps it could be used in a science fiction, fantasy, or alternate history book/film, or even those depicting the Tang-Song era, whether fictional or historical.

[Angelina]

Try 杭州话. Apparently, it is different from the surrounding Wu languages. 

[Tomsima]

17 hours ago, anonymoose said:

Why?

Because it's fun and interesting to some. I personally love it every time @ParkeNYUP posts these kinds of thing, it's great to see the differences and similarities between dialects coming together, highlighting things in this (these?) languages I would otherwise not have noticed.

[ParkeNYU]

13 hours ago, Angelina said:

Try 杭州话. Apparently, it is different from the surrounding Wu languages. 

 

I'm familiar with it, along with the similar Suzhou and Shanghai dialects of Northern Wu, and it doesn't make enough distinctions for my liking. It's fun to pronounce Northern Wu sounds, and the phonological distribution is nice and symmetrical, but I'm leaning towards the Mandarin/Cantonese/Hakka side, rather than the larger, more diverse, and more distantly related Wu and Min families.