Minjiang dialect

Minjiang dialect
岷江话
Pronunciation	[min˨˩tɕiaŋ˥xa˨˨˦]
Native to	China
Region	Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou and Yunnan
Native speakers	About 30 million (date missing)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Chinese Mandarin (Disputed) Southwestern/Sichuanese (Disputed) Minjiang dialect
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Linguist list	cmn-xgm
Glottolog	None
Minjiang is the central light khaki-green area around the cities of Dujiangyan, Leshan, Yibin, Qijiang, Xichong (N), Xichang (SW), and an area to the east.

Minjiang dialect (simplified Chinese: 岷江话; traditional Chinese: 岷江話, local pronunciation: [min˨˩tɕiaŋ˥xa˨˨˦]; pinyin: Mínjiānghuà), is a branch of Sichuanese, spoken mainly in the Min River (Mínjiāng) valley or along the Yangtze in the southern and western parts of the Sichuan Basin. There is also a language island of Minjiang dialect located in the center of the Sichuan Basin covering three counties: Xichong, Yanting, and Shehong Counties.

The primary characteristic of the Minjiang dialect is that the stop consonants for checked-tone syllables in Middle Chinese have developed into tense vowels to create a phonemic contrast, and in several cities and counties the tense vowels retain a following glottal stop. It also keeps many characteristics of Ba-Shu Chinese phonology and vocabulary. Due to these characteristics, the status of Minjiang dialect is disputed among linguists, with some classifying it as Southwestern Mandarin, and others setting it apart as a successor of Ba-Shu Chinese.