Ba–Shu Chinese (; Sichuanese Pinyin: Ba¹su²yu³; ), or simply Shu Chinese (), also known as Old Sichuanese, is an extinct Chinese language formerly spoken in what is now Sichuan and Chongqing, China.

History and influences Ba–Shu Chinese was first described in the book Fangyan from the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–8 CE) and represented one of the earliest splits from Old Chinese. Unlike most extant varieties of Chinese, which stem from Middle Chinese, Ba–Shu diverged directly from Old Chinese, a feature it shares only with Min Chinese. However, Ba–Shu represents an even earlier split, as Min did not begin to diverge from Old Chinese until the Eastern Han (25–220 CE) and Three Kingdoms period (220–280 CE).

Ba–Shu Chinese started to disappear during the late Southern Song dynasty period due to the Mongol conquest of China, which resulted in a massacre throughout the Sichuan Basin. The language was supplanted by Southwestern Mandarin after settlement by people from other parts of China, mostly from present-day Hubei and Hunan.

Phonological aspects of Ba–Shu Chinese are preserved in the Minjiang dialect of Sichuanese Mandarin, which caused debate on whether the dialect is a variant of Southwestern Mandarin or a modern-day descendant of Ba–Shu.

Phonology Although the Ba–Shu language is extinct, some phonology features of rhymes can be found by researching the local literati and poets' use of rhymes in their works. Liu Xiaonan (2014) assumed that they wrote verses in Standard Chinese of the Song dynasty, but because their mother tongue was Ba–Shu, their verses rhymed in the Ba–Shu accent.

Coda mergers According to Liu's research, there is enough evidence to assume a significant number of coda mergers had taken place or were taking place in the Ba–Shu language during the Song dynasty:

* and often merged as (). * and often merged as (), this progress can be abbreviated as . * and sometimes merged as . * and sometimes merged as . Ditto, which can be abbreviated as . *, *, and * probably all merged as , and sometimes are dropped entirely (especially in the west of the Sichuan Basin).

Vocabulary Ba–Shu language had some unique words that scholars identified as possibly being influenced by the Old Shu language. +WordRecorded periodTranslationMiddle Chinese pronunciation (Zhengzhang)Standard ChineseNotelate Northern and Southern dynasties to early Sui dynasty, 'pellet'Yan Zhitui—Yan Family Instructions: "Encouraging Learning"。"When I was sitting with several people in Yizhou, I saw a small light [point] on the ground when the sun was shining and asked them, "What is this?" A Shǔ () child looked at it and replied, "It is a ." They looked at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what he said, [We] ordered [him] to bring [the object] over and [found that] it was a small bean. When I visited many learned men in Shǔ, [I asked them why that child] called as , but no one could explain it. I said: '[According to] Sancang and Shuowen, this character is under , generally interpreted as , the common literal reading is .' The crowd was enlightened."Eastern Han'mother'Xu Shen—Shuowen Jiezi "Shǔ people call mother[s] as ."Tang 'monk'Du Fu—Alone, Looking For Blossoms Along The River "#5" "Shǔ people call monk[s] as and call burial place[s] as ."'burying place'Northern Song'sky'Huang Tingjian— "Shǔ people call sky as ."Han'tea tree', also an ancient hydronym and a name of countyYang Xiong—Fangyan

Notable speakers Notable speakers of the Ba–Shu language include the "Three Sūs": (, sān sū): Sū Shì (), who was from Meízhōu (), Chéngdū circuit (). Sū Zhé (), Sū Shì's younger brother. Sū Xún (), Sū Shì and Sū Zhé's father.

See also Ba–Shu culture Ancient Kingdom of Ba Ancient Kingdom of Shu Second Kingdom of Shu Third Kingdom of Shu Fourth Kingdom of Shu

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