Vocabulary
The Kunming dialect’s basic vocabulary exhibits a high degree of consistency with northern Chinese and standard dialects. Although words in the Kunming dialect typically possess substantial differences in pronunciation from their counterparts in standard Mandarin and can be unintelligible even to other Chinese speakers, a large portion of the dialect’s morphology and word meanings are identical to those of other northern dialects. The Kunming dialect also preserves an exceptionally high number of classical Chinese words. In particular, a number of phrases dating from northern literary works produced during the Yuan and Ming dynasties remain in common usage in the Kunming dialect’s popular vernacular despite having virtually disappeared from usage in northern China.
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Famous quotes containing the word vocabulary:
“I have a vocabulary all my own. I “pass the time” when it is wet and disagreeable. When it is fine I do not wish to pass it; I ruminate it and hold on to it. We should hasten over the bad, and settle upon the good.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“The vocabulary of pleasure depends on the imagery of pain.”
—Marina Warner (b. 1946)
“[T]here is no breaking out of the intentional vocabulary by explaining its members in other terms.”
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