Phonemica:鄉音苑中國方言地圖是一個致力於記錄漢語方言及其變種的專案，通過一個個故事的講述，真實地留下每一個有趣的故事和每一地語言的細微差別。鄉音苑團隊由國內外的志願者共同組成。
鄉音苑使命:“從世界各個角落採擷中文故事，通過講述者最自然的方言呈現，向世人展示漢語語言的豐富性。”
鄉音苑希望通過講故事的形式，記錄下漢語每一種方言的聲音。我們堅信，每一種方言都是無價之寶，它承載著歷史傳統、社會的風俗，甚至於整個民族的文化積澱。當下的中國囊括了數量龐大的方言種類，它們之間有時就如同廣東話和普通話那樣有著天壤之別，有時又只是村子和村子間發音、用詞的微妙差異。
但由於種種原因，越來越多的中國人——尤其是離開家鄉的年輕人——生活在普通話的世界裡。他們用普通話與家人聊天、和同事寒暄、聽老友敘舊、找校友聚餐。他們的方言將不知不覺隨著時間而沉默。
我們無力阻止這樣的改變，但是我們希望保留住方言這份文化遺產。我們正在四處蒐集用方言講的故事，它們有的來自家人，有的來自老師、朋友，當然我們更希望其中有你的聲音!
這些錄音會被轉錄成文字，並在網站上共享，讓其他人也聽聽你的故事，享受你的家鄉美妙的方言。
這些錄音一方面有助於我們的後代(或許他們已然無法流利地運用方言)聽他們的前輩講述故事。另一方面也有利於語言學家研究中國方言發展和歷史，以方言為載體，我們便能更好地瞭解中國的人口大遷徙和文化發展得傳播。
我們從尋找講故事的人開始。先採訪他們，有時用當地的方言，有時用帶有地域口音的普通話。隨後將採訪的錄音釋出在網上，添上錄音所對應的漢字、羅馬音(拉丁字元)和國際音標。我們也會把故事翻譯成英文。
所有這些工作都是由鄉音苑的志願者完成的，有些是線上成員，另一些則是線下蒐集資料的成員。倘若你也和我們一樣對這些小工作有興趣，加入我們的大家庭吧!
我們的歷史
鄉音苑的網站是由柯禕藍(Kellen Parker)和司圓直(Steve Hansen)在2012年5月上線的。許多年前，大概是2008年，柯禕藍就在腦中規劃出了鄉音苑的雛形——希望藉此展現方言的差別。在隨後的2009和2010年，他和司圓直一起投入這項浩大的工程，隨後就有了你現在看到的一切。
我們的團隊
鄉音苑是依靠眾多志願者們實現的。柯禕藍和司圓直建設並且維護著網站的執行。假如你有任何想說的，隨時聯絡我們吧~我們會很樂意和你分享我們的故事。
Phonemica is a project to record spoken stories in every one of the thousands of varieties of Chinese in order to preserve both stories and language for future generations. We are a team of volunteers working within China and abroad.
Our mission: Bringing the richness of oral Chinese to a wider audience, through the words of natural storytellers, from every corner of the world where Chinese is spoken.
Phonemica is a crowd-sourced project to record spoken stories in every one of the thousands of varieties of Chinese. We believe that each language and dialect is a priceless cultural treasure embedding history, social customs — the knowledge of a people. The Chinese language today contains thousands of language varieties, with differences as wide as Mandarin and Cantonese, as nuanced as the different words of neighboring villages.
But with more and more people speaking Standard Mandarin with family members, coworkers, friends and schoolmates, many of these languages will disappear.
We can’t stop this change, but we want to preserve the cultural heritage. And we need your help. We are collecting stories from grandparents, aunts, neighbours, parents, teachers, friends, and you. They will be transcribed and shared on our site for others to hear.
The recordings will provide a way for future generations to hear the stories of those parents, teachers and friends, told using the language they shared in common. At the same time the recordings will help linguists study the history and development of the Chinese language, allowing us to better understand the rich history of China, with its many periods of mass migration and the spread of cultural developments.
We begin by finding storytellers. We interview them – sometimes in the dialect of their home village, sometimes in a variety of standard Mandarin – then put the recording online, transcribe it into Chinese characters, into a Romanized (Latin alphabet) version, and into the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Also, we translate each story into English.
All this work is done by Phonemica volunteers, both online and off. If you’re interested, please get involved!
Phonemica was launched by Kellen Parker and Steve Hansen in May 2012. Kellen had come up with an outline of Phonemica many years earlier, probably 2008, with the general idea of showcasing dialect differences. As he and Steve worked on it through 2009-10, the idea gradually developed into what you see today.
