Comparative analysis of the Beijing and Shanghai dialects in the teaching of comparative linguistics

Abstract

The article is devoted to a linguodidactically oriented comparison of the Beijing dialect, which underlies normative Putonghua, and the Shanghai dialect of the Wu group as typologically polar Sinitic systems differing at the phonetic, prosodic, and lexico-grammatical levels. It examines how the contrastive presentation of dialect material shifts learners’ perception of dialects from a mode of chaotic deviations to a mode of recognizing systematic oppositions, thereby reducing interference characteristic of students whose articulatory and perceptual base has been formed on Putonghua. On the basis of an extensive body of audiovisual data and pedagogical measurements, it is shown that the key obstacles in the transition to Shanghai speech are tonal sandhi and the redistribution of prosodic information in polysyllabic words, as well as the retention of voiced initials, which expands the set of phonological oppositions. The experimental organization of instruction, in which each phenomenon of the Beijing norm was compared with its Shanghai counterpart or with the absence thereof, is accompanied by instrumental analysis of acoustic parameters: students reproduce Beijing register characteristics with relative accuracy, but when imitating the Shanghai standard they display systematic hypercorrection, especially in the narrowing of the modulation range, which is interpreted as an attempt at cognitive distancing from the familiar expressivity of the northern model. It is shown that the contrastive methodology provides a pronounced increase in the recognition of grammatical markers and stability of results within the group, especially in closed classes of units (pronominal systems), where oppositions are more readily formalized. The dynamics of integral indicators of communicative response record an acceleration of processing of dialect-colored speech alongside an increase in semantic accuracy and a leveling of tempo across the group. The proposed interpretation emphasizes the synergetic linkage of levels of the language system: the quality of acquisition of the phonological base statistically accounts for a significant share of the variability in success in grammatical identification, and the automation of recoding manifests itself in a reduction of response latency. The material of the article makes it possible to assess the relevance of the described approach for courses in comparative linguistics and for expanding the training of sinologists to work with real dialectal variability.