Huizhou Chinese
Huizhou Chinese (), or the Hui dialect (), is a group of closely related Sinitic languages spoken over a small area in and around the historical region of Huizhou (for which it is named), in about ten or so mountainous counties in southern Anhui, plus a few more in neighbouring Zhejiang and Jiangxi. Although the Hui area is small compared with other Chinese dialect groups, it displays a very high degree of internal variation. Nearly every county has its own distinct dialect unintelligible to a speaker from a few counties away. For this reason, bilingualism and multilingualism are common among  speakers of Hui. It is estimated that there are around 4.6 million speakers of Huizhou varieties. Classification. Huizhou Chinese was originally classified as Lower Yangtze Mandarin but it is currently classified separately from it. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences supported the separation of Huizhou from Lower Yangtze Mandarin in 1987. Its classification is disputed, with some linguists such as Matisoff classifying it as Wu Chinese, others such as Bradley (2007) as Gan, and still others setting it apart as a primary branch of Chinese. History. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jianghuai speakers moved into Hui dialect areas. Some  works of literature produced in Yangzhou, such as "Qingfengzha", a novel, contain Jianghuai Mandarin. People in Yangzhou identified by the dialect they speak, locals spoke the dialect, as opposed to sojourners, who spoke other varieties like Huizhou or Wu. This led to the formation of identity based on one's dialect. Large numbers of merchants from Huizhou lived in Yangzhou and effectively were responsible for keeping the town afloat. Merchants in the later imperial period also sponsored operas and performances in the Hui dialect. Languages and dialects. Zhengzhang Shangfang divided the Hui languages into five subgroups, which are also used  in the "Language Atlas of China": Huizhou varieties differ from village to village. People in different villages (even in one county and township) often cannot speak with one other. Features. Phonologically speaking, Hui is noted for its massive loss of syllable codas, including -i, -u, and nasals: Many Hui dialects have diphthongs with a higher lengthened first part. For example, ("speech") is in Xiuning County (Standard Chinese ), ("yard") is in Xiuning County (Standard Chinese ); ("knot") is in Yi County (Standard Chinese ), ("agreement") is in Yi County (Standard Chinese ). A few areas take this to extremes. For example, Likou in  Qimen County has for ("rice") (Standard Chinese ), with the appearing directly as a result of the lengthened, nasalized . Because nasal codas have mostly been lost, Hui reuses the ending as a diminutive. For example, in the Tunxi dialect, "rope" appears as from + .