There are many predicates in Sichuan dialect that are different from Mandarin, such as calling grandma "mother-in-law", calling father "old Han'er" ("Han" reading two voices), calling wife "Tangke" or "old concubine", etc., calling great-grandfather and great-grandmother "grandfather", calling father's brother "X father" instead of uncle, and so on. Moreover, there are also regional differences in various titles, such as calling Grandpa "Ah Gong" or "Jia Gong" (pronounced "GaGong") in the Zigong Neijiang area of southern Sichuan, which is a remnant of the Hakka dialect; Guang'an in eastern Sichuan and yibin and Luzhou in southern Sichuan, calling grandpa "嗲嗲" (pronounced diadia, a sound).
Among these local titles, the most used and internally consistent predicates are none other than "嬢嬢". No matter where in Sichuan, almost all of them have this name.
In fact, the word "嬢" is a variant of "孃", and "孃" simplifies to become "Niang", "嬢嬢" is actually "Niangniang", but because the word "Niangniang" in the Chinese has another meaning, we generally take the variant writing method of "嬢" to show the difference.
Before the Tang Dynasty, Niang and Womb were originally two different words. The titles used for "mother" and "elderly women" are generally used as "孃" (such as "Daddy Niang" and "Niangniang"), while "Niang" is mostly used as the title of a young girl (such as "Girl", "Red Niang", "Autumn Niang"), and "Lang". Later, the two characters gradually became confused, and when modern Chinese characters were sorted out, "孃" was used as a variant of "niang".
In modern Chinese, the word niang has three meanings: one is mother, such as mother, mother, mother, and father. The second is the name for young women, such as girls, bridesmaids, bridesmaids. The third is to call the older generation or older married women, such as the eldest bride and aunt. However, in the standard modern Chinese, there is no word "Niangniang", so "嬢嬢" in Sichuan dialect is a dialect word.
In terms of pronunciation, the "嬢嬢" in Sichuan dialect is pronounced as a sound, that is, niāng, which is also different from the standard Chinese. In the dictionary, "嬢" has two pronunciations, one is niáng, which is also the most common pronunciation; the other is ráng, which is the character "Shuowen Jiezi", which means "annoying also, fat also", but this meaning does not exist in modern Chinese, so this pronunciation has become history. Similarly, the pronunciation niāng in Sichuan dialect is not found in the dictionaries of previous dynasties.
In Sichuan, "grandma" can be called either the father's sister (i.e., aunt) or the mother's sister (i.e., aunt). When referring to the sisters of their parents, they are generally referred to as "big concubines", "second concubines", "three concubines" and even "small concubines" or "concubines" according to their age and younger age, without distinguishing between the father's family and the mother's family. In the eyes of Sichuanese, the two titles of aunt and aunt are relatively unfamiliar, and even if they know what they mean, they often have to react. If both parents have sisters, then Sichuan people will often have two "big concubines" and two "second concubines"...
At the same time, the "concubine" in Sichuan dialect can also be used to refer to women who are not related to themselves but are of the same generation as their parents, such as aunts who sell vegetables at stalls, aunts of neighbors, and girlfriends of mothers, which is roughly equivalent to "aunt" in Mandarin. Specific to individuals, it can generally be called as follows: (surname) + large or small + small + small; surname + number (greater than one) 嬢 or 嬢, such as: Zhang Concubine, Wang Damao, Li Ermao and so on.
Interestingly, in the past, some service industry personnel, compared to their older female customers, all shouted "Grandma" to show respect, and female customers also felt that they were senior and felt that they had face. And modern women are afraid of others saying that they are old, if they are called "grandma", I am afraid they will be unhappy.
Although the word "嬢嬢" is widely used throughout the southwest mandarin area, the vast majority of Sichuan people do not know its origin, let alone that the word is not only found in the southwest region.
According to research, the word "嬢嬢" originated from the Wu language, and it is still used in Suzhou, Shanghai and other places in the Wu language area. For example, in the 80s, there was a very popular Wu-language movie "Little Moon Building" (which was broadcast on CCTV6), in which there was a negative character called "White Concubine". Bai Xiao likes to open the back door to take advantage of the public, and the conflict of this movie is that Bai Xiao is unable to take advantage of the small Deyue Building, and in a fit of anger, she complains to the chief of the Bai Section of the Commercial Bureau, and the white section chief uses his authority to seize the small Deyue Building.
"Little Moon Building" Cast List, Bai Grandma wrote "White Niangniang"
In addition to the Wu-speaking area, Nanjing, Yangzhou and other places in the Jianghuai guan dialect area also have this usage, but the use of "嬢嬢" in Yangzhou dialect is different from that in Sichuan dialect, referring only to the female elders of the patrilineal line, and the female elders of the matrilineal line are "aunts".
Observing the areas with the word "嬢嬢", from Suzhou and Shanghai, to Nanjing and Yangzhou, to Hubei and Sichuan, are basically distributed along the Yangtze River. Considering the historical factors of the lake filling Sichuan, it is possible that the term "嬢嬢" was used in the southwest region with successive migrations, against the current upstream of the Yangtze River, spreading to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and finally being widely used in the southwest region.
A vocabulary that Sichuanese often hang on their lips also has such an intricate history, which also reflects the mixed collision of different languages and cultures in Sichuan and other places, which eventually evolved into today's Sichuan dialect and has its own unique flavor.
Resources:
Dictionary of Sichuan Dialect, edited by Wang Wenhu, Zhang Yizhou, and Zhou Jiajun, Sichuan People's Publishing House, 2014.
"A Micro-Probe of the Word "嬢嬢" in the Sichuan Dialect", Dossier, No. 16, 2019, by Ma Li.