Which accent features? Tourist guide filmed doing aggressive selling

[Wippen (inactive)]

I went over this video news story in class. The news is really funny. A guide in Heilongjiang (which is located in North China) was videoed telling guests they were basically the sheep being slaughtered for three months of the year, the nine months of the year was spent sharpening the knife. She basically wanted them to part with more money than they had already paid. The tone on her part is aggressive selling.

 

The teacher told us as a side remark there was a regional accent coming through. She didn't expand.

I think she may just mean the Northern 儿化. I can also hear possibly the 月 and 右 being tonally perhaps a bit off. I am curious about this accent and what can others detect in the accent in terms either vowels, consonants, prosody or stress?

 

Link to Video here.

 

Edited February 17, 2018 at 07:50 AM by Tøsen
clarification on the location of Heilongjiang

[陳德聰]

To the untrained Southern ear, all I can tell you is that it is a “Northern” accent. I liked the jabs at Hainan and the South though, very amusing.

[Wippen (inactive)]

2 hours ago, 陳德聰 said:

To the untrained Southern ear, all I can tell you is that it is a “Northern” accent.

Cmon.... I had got that far.

 

I was hoping for more specifics since our teacher did not elaborate. I suspect she just means the erhua and then perhaps the items I suggested.

[imron]

Listen to some of her w's especially when she's saying 玩儿, many of them have a 'v' sound to them e.g. they sound like vanr instead of wanr.  Check out from 1.51 onwards, that's when it's very obvious and some of her other words have a stronger accent - still can't figure out exactly what she's saying around 1.54 玩儿得够gar?的.

[Wippen (inactive)]

20 minutes ago, imron said:

Listen to some of her w's especially when she's saying 玩儿, many of them have a 'v' sound to them e.g. they sound like vanr instead of wanr.  Check out from 1.51 onwards, that's when it's very obvious and some of her other words have a stronger accent - still can't figure out exactly what she's saying around 1.54 玩儿得够gar?的.

Really helpful comments

 

I found the same video on QQ and there are subtitles on some of it, also on the sentence you mention. They suggest 玩得咯儿嘎的  whatever that is.

[imron]

49 minutes ago, Tøsen said:

They suggest 玩得咯儿嘎的  whatever that is.

Onomatopoeia!

 

It seems it's the sound of cackling/laughter

[Wippen (inactive)]

1 hour ago, imron said:

seems it's the sound of cackling/laughter

Could it also be the sound of walking on ice I wonder.

 

Onomatopoeia s are difficult in any language but are easier town to write in other languages.

[Publius]

Well obviously it's Dongbeihua or Northeastern Mandarin, since the video was shot in Heilongjiang.

The tonal system is very similar to that of Standard Mandarin except the first tone (阴平) is lower. For example, in Standard Mandarin the pitch contour of 吃 is 55, but her 吃 in 不好吃 is more like 33.

There's also a lot of [ɤ] (哦) sounds. For example, 磨刀 [mɤ] instead of [mwo], 三个月 [ɥɤ] instead of [ɥe].

Of course there are some dialectal terms that are deliberately delivered with a local accent:

骑洋马，挎洋刀，呱唧呱唧就是撩 (撩 = 跑, also notice 刀 and 撩 are lower than they are in Standard Mandarin)

玩得勾嘎的 (I'm not familiar with this term but it seems to be used to describe fullness, e.g. https://www.google.com/search?q=撑的勾嘎)

I don't have a headset at the moment. Maybe I can tell you more tomorrow.

[Wippen (inactive)]

@Publius Your analysis was exactly what I was hoping to get but didn't think I would. You went above and beyond ! Thanks.

 

With regards to the following, really chuffed you confirmed that. You also used the appropriate phonetics to describe these sounds. Thanks.

44 minutes ago, Publius said:

月 [ɥɤ] instead of [ɥe

[imron]

1 hour ago, Publius said:

There's also a lot of [ɤ] (哦) sounds.

For the longest time I thought 剥 in 剥水果 was pronounced bé because that's how the people around me always said it, at some point though I realised 'hang on, bé isn't even a proper Mandarin syllable'.  That wasn't even too far north (Hebei, just near where the Great Wall goes in to the sea).

[Publius]

Alright, not much to add.

 

Northeastern Mandarin is very similar to Beijing Mandarin, the sound system of which forms the basis of Standard Mandarin/Guoyu/Putonghua.

 

I can only tell the tour guide is from Dongbei. You need a true 东北银 to tell you where in Dongbei she is from. But since 雪乡 is in Mudanjiang, 370 km from Harbin, I looked into the dialects of both cities here and here.

 

1) The tone contours

Standard/Beijing Mandarin: 阴平 = 55, 阳平 = 35, 上声 = 214, 去声 = 51

Northeastern Mandarin: 阴平 = 33/44, 阳平 = 24/35, 上声 = 212/213, 去声 = 53/52

Basically the tones are lower and flatter in Dongbeihua. But the differences are very subtle, and the 东北味 only becomes more detectable when a sentence ends in first tone like in the examples in my previous post or in phrases like 瞎溜达.

Compare that to other Mandarin dialects where the perceived tones can be completely different to the untrained ear, e.g.:

Xi'an dialect (Northwestern Mandarin): 阴平 = 21, 阳平 = 24, 上声 = 53, 去声 = 55 (so when 佟掌柜的 in 《武林外传》 says '大哥大嫂', it sounds like 'dā gě dā sào')

Wuhan dialect (Southwestern Mandarin): 阴平 = 55, 阳平 = 213, 上声 = 42, 去声 = 35 (very interesting pattern, 2nd->3rd, 3rd->4th, 4th->2nd, making '武汉话' sound like 'wù hán huá')

 

2) Erhua

Beijing dialect is known to have a lot more erhua than Standard Mandarin. Dongbeihua has even more. To me, 雪服儿 and 冒汗儿 sound very cute and Dongbei.

 

3) The [ʋ] sound as observed by imron

This also happens in Beijing and its surrounding areas (I was told that old, inner-city Beijing dialect does not have this feature), e.g. 玩儿 vár, 维持 véichí, 为什么 vèishénme, or 天津卫 'tiǎnjinvèi' in Tianjin dialect  (but not when the following vowel is /o/ or /u/, i.e. 我 wǒ, 五 wǔ).

 

4) The aggressive reduction/blurring/merging of syllables

Common in Beijing dialect too. In the sentence 到了二郎河景区，我们去吃饭, 'wǒmen' is almost reduced to a single 'm'. The phrase 那你说那导游, I bet many of you don't know what she is mumbling. And 三十多度四十多度 is realized as 'sānrduōdù sìrduōdù'.

 

5) No 'bopomofo' but 'bepemefe'

As imon pointed out, this phenomenon is not restricted to Dongbei.

 

6) Other regional pronunciations

那别人在里边儿……结果你在外边儿…… (在 zǎi, can also be heard in Beijing)

冻得大鼻涕都出来了 (涕 ting, this is very Dongbei)

 

And a transcript by me, hope it's helpful.

 

……叫做“九个月磨刀，三个月宰羊。”谁是羊呢？大家都是羊。其实是什么样的呢？雪乡的消费高，那么在景区里边儿，我相信你去任何一个地方旅游，那么景区的东西卖得都是要比平时贵了一些的。所以说呢，这个地方它虽然消费高，但是它可以理解，为什么，如果你家在这个地方，一年你只营业三个月，那你得把一年的钱都挣回来，如果是你，你也会这么做的。那么一会儿到了前边儿，到了二郎河景区，我们去吃饭，那么我们吃的饭是什么饭？叫做“忆苦思甜饭，苦到解放前。”那么它也叫做什么？游客给它起名叫做“生命维持餐。”那么团餐它就是这样的，团餐你去任何一个地方旅游，团餐它都不好吃。那么起码啊，它要比海南好一点儿，海南的米饭都是生的，对不对啊？我们玩儿雪地长龙，带领你在雪地里漂移，我们去Happy雪世界，来回忆童年、回忆过去，啊，然后玩各种电动雪圈儿、滑雪圈儿、打冰疙儿、各种游戏，冰河世纪玩儿雪飘，啊，我们玩儿这些项目，我们还要乘坐什么？乘坐马拉爬犁，带领你骑洋马挎洋刀，呱唧呱唧就是撩。那你自己去买票，最贵的地方598，最便宜的地方168，自己去买票，这么多的项目，你基本上你再花近两千六七百块钱左右。那么今天你报团游，咱们呢，花不上这么多钱，因为报团游讲究经济游，讲究实惠游，所有的票我只打在一张单上，只需要花费1680块钱就可以了。那你说“那导游，我经济条件不允许，不去可不可以啊？”说实话，你不去，它是不可以的。因为原则上它是不可以的。说实话，就你花的那点儿钱，你交了门票费它不够车费，交了车费它不够吃饭钱，那还怎么带你玩儿，对不对啊？所以说是你的自费加上你的团费，才是你这两天的正常消费。那你说“那导游，你听好了，这地儿我就不去，这钱我就不花，我出来不是玩儿的，我就是出来较劲的。”那说实话，你跟谁较劲呢？跟你自己去较劲呢。首先说这个地方它非常地冷，零下30多度40多度，那你不去玩儿怎么办，你只能在外边儿等。那别人在里边儿，穿着自己的雪服儿，玩儿得挺开心的，玩儿得勾嘎儿的，热得直冒汗儿，结果你在外边儿冻得大鼻涕都出来了，你说“导游我冷啊，冻得眼泪都出来了，”对不起，过这个村儿没这个店儿，你让我给你租雪服儿，对不起我找不到了，啊。头几年的时候有对儿夫妻，啊，他们来到这个地方，可能经济条件不是特别好，只能在外边等。等你就老老实实等吧，跑到大山里边儿去了，然后呢最后导游找不着了，只能报警。在凌晨三四点钟的时候在山上找到了这对儿情侣，当时这个男孩儿为了保护这个女孩儿，所以全身80%的，啊，已经冻伤了，所以说呢他面临了高部截瘫。而这个女孩儿呢，被他保护得很好，但是呢也是终身不育了。所以说这个地方儿它非常地冷，你要想瞎溜达，说实话你去南方去溜达的。出门儿旅游，要么钱遭罪，要么人遭罪，那么说实话，你宁可让钱遭罪你也不让人遭罪啊，钱是干嘛？钱是来服务你的，对不对啊？所以说呢，你如果说你要选择人遭罪的话，那你今天，那你是真遭罪了。

[DavyJonesLocker]

i could only recognise dongbeihua but more regional that that I wouldn't know. I think I can pick out a Beijing accent quite easily 

 

Actually an interesting question maybe for @Publius or any native speakers on here: how regionally specific can you detect a Chinese accent? i get the impression that chinese accents are much more uniform than many native english speaking accents. For example, In the UK or Ireland I can narrow an English accent down to cities or counties fairly easily 

 

 

[imron]

Not a native, but my impression is that most people don't get a lot of exposure to dialects/accents outside of standard mandarin and what's spoken in and where they live.  There's also a stigma associated with speaking in local dialect and accent. 

 

So while it probably is possible to identify the region/county/town by differences in accent and dialect, lack of exposure to those accents makes it difficult for most people except within a certain radius of where they live. 

[Publius]

Good question! And good answer!

 

Yes, I think lack of exposure is definitely a reason. Most people nowadays speak a hybridized version of Putonghua at least publicly, e.g. 川普、广普、陕普 etc. And for good reason: if they speak their mother tongue, they may not understand each other, especially in the south where mountains and rivers and lakes means travel and contact were rare until very recently and the language has evolved in isolated pockets for so long that in Fujian for example, 闽东话, 闽南话, 闽北话, 闽中话 are mutually unintelligible. When I was in Yunnan, the locals thought I was from Tianjin, which is very amusing, because to me 天津话 is soooo different...

 

Another factor to consider is geography. UK is, relatively speaking, a small country (it's about the same size as Sichuan -- countries look larger on the map the closer they are to the poles), but has like what, hundreds of dialects/accents. Because the English language originated there. The US, on the other hand, is much more uniform. If you ask a 四川人 where another 四川人 is from, he will do a better job than a generic Mandarin speaker.

[roddy]

15 hours ago, Publius said:

3) The [ʋ] sound as observed by imron

Veishenme has been mentioned a couple of times  over the years. I remember noticing it very early on, in my first year in China, from a woman who was from somewhere up north. 

[somethingfunny]

16 hours ago, Publius said:

And 三十多度四十多度 is realized as 'sānrduōdù sìrduōdù'.

 

Lived in Dongbei, can confirm.  I remember the first time I heard this, I thought "Really, we're just going to drop the ten out of all the numbers?"

 

Although I have to say, I always found 多儿钱 much easier to say than 多少钱.

[Wippen (inactive)]

20 minutes ago, somethingfunny said:

多儿钱 much easier to say than 多少钱

I understood the wit and laughed.

However, 儿 and 少 have different tones. I think they say "er" with third tone or is it neural (In Beijing at least) when saying 多er 钱. Is 儿 second er neutral? If neutral then you are right.

 

[somethingfunny]

Yes, you're right.  It's definitely three syllables: 多--er--钱, rather than 多儿--钱 .

[DavyJonesLocker]

9 hours ago, imron said:

Not a native, but my impression is that most people don't get a lot of exposure to dialects/accents outside of standard mandarin and what's spoken in and where they live.  There's also a stigma associated with speaking in local dialect and accent. 

 

So while it probably is possible to identify the region/county/town by differences in accent and dialect, lack of exposure to those accents makes it difficult for most people except within a certain radius of where they live. 

 

Beijing has a lot of non Beijingers especially amongst the younger generation so interaction and exposure is high.  I wonder if they can detect a regional accent per se rather than individual traits

 

 

8 hours ago, Publius said:

The US, on the other hand, is much more uniform. 

 

 

Well I wouldn't fully agree with that, regional parts of USA differs quite a lot from my experience but given western people are exposed to American accents regularly through media, interaction etc since childhood it's much easier to tell. NYC and New Jersey seem different to me

[Publius]

1 hour ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

Beijing has a lot of non Beijingers especially amongst the younger generation so interaction and exposure is high.  I wonder if they can detect a regional accent per se rather than individual traits

Yes but they don't speak their local dialect. They speak standard mandarin with varying degrees of accent. The more well-educated, the more socioeconomically successful, the less the accent. Sometimes you can tell the general region, such as Dongbei, Xibei, Guangdong, Jiangzhe, etc, but not much more. It's like the foreigners in the UK, you detect a trace of Eastern European accent in someone's English, but whether they're from Warsaw or Budapest, you don't know. When they do start to speak their mother tongue which in theory could provide enough information to geolocate them, you don't understand a word.