Wu (linguistics)

(Redirected from Wu dialect)

Wu (吳方言 pinyin wú fāng yán; 吳語 pinyin wú yǔ; lumazi wu niu(nyu)) is one of the major divisions of the Chinese language. It is spoken in most of Zhejiang province, the municipality of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu province, as well as smaller parts of Anhui, Jiangxi, and Fujian provinces. Major Wu dialects include those of Shanghai, Suzhou, Wenzhou, Hangzhou, Yongkang and Shaoxing. As of 1991, there are 87 million speakers of Wu Chinese, making it the second largest form of Chinese after Mandarin Chinese (which has 800 million speakers).

Among speakers of other Chinese varieties, Wu is often subjectively judged to be soft, light, and flowing. There is even a special term used to describe the quality of Wu speech: 吳儂軟語/吴侬软语 wúnóngruǎnyǔ. The actual source of this impression is harder to place. It is likely a combination of many factors. Among speakers of Wu, for example, Shanghainese is considered softer and mellower than the variant spoken in Ningbo. Some Wu speakers still insist that Suzhou dialect is more pleasant and beautiful than both dialects of Shanghai and Ningbo.

Like all other varieties of Chinese, there is plenty of dispute as to whether Wu is a language or a dialect. See Identification of the varieties of Chinese for the issues surrounding this dispute.

History

The modern Wu language can be traced back to the ancient Wu and Yue peoples centred around southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. The Japanese Go-on (呉音) pronunciation of Chinese characters (obtained from the Wu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period) is from the same region of China where Wu is spoken today.

See language tree of the Chinese dialects starting from 1500 BC, and Wu's position relative to them.

Dialects

The Northern Wu dialects are not mutually intelligible with the Southern Wu dialects. Wu is divided into six dialect areas:

• Taihu(太湖片): Spoken over much of southern part of Jiangsu province, including Suzhou and Changzhou; municipality of Shanghai; and northern part of Zhejiang province, including Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Ningbo, Huzhou, and Jiaxing.
• Taizhou(台州片): Spoken in and around Taizhou, Zhejiang
• Oujiang(甌江片/瓯江片)/Dong'ou(東甌片/东瓯片): Spoken in and around Wenzhou, Zhejiang
• Wuzhou(婺州片): Spoken in and around Jinhua, Zhejiang
• Chu-Qu(處衢片/处衢片): Spoken in and around Lishui and Quzhou, Zhejiang
• Xuanzhou(宣州片): Spoken in and around Xuancheng, Anhui

Sounds

Wu dialects are notable among Chinese languages in having kept voiced plosives and fricatives from Middle Chinese, such as /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/, etc. The only other major group to have done this is Xiang. Other groups, such as Mandarin and Cantonese, have not kept voiced plosives or fricatives from Middle Chinese. (Min dialects often have voiced plosives, but those are inherited from Middle Chinese nasals rather than unchanged voiced plosives.)

See Suzhou dialect and Shanghai dialect for examples of Wu phonology.

Northern Wu Romanization

Northern Wu Romanization Scheme, developed by W.Z. Yin of the University of Chicago.The below romanization unites Shanghainese and Suzhou-hua, and is highly representative of other Northern Wu dialects as well. The initials and finals inventory below is by far the most extensive of any major Chinese dialect and has high correspondence with early Middle Chinese (just before Tang Dynasty) phonology.

Grammar

Wu dialects have a relatively higher amount of Subject-Object-Verb sentence structure than Mandarin or Cantonese. There is huge array of personal and demonstrative pronouns used within the Wu dialects. Sandhi is also extremely complex, and helps parse multisyllabic words and idiomatic phrases. In some cases, indirect objects are distinguished from direct objects by a voiced/voiceless distinction.

Vocabulary

References

External links

Resources on Wu dialects

• Shanghainese (a Wu Chinese dialect): Introduction and Development - With dictionary, phonology, romanization, audio, comprehensive lessons, readings, and forum. In the works.
• Classification of Wu Dialects - By James Campbell
• Tones in Wu Dialects - Compiled by James Campbell
• 江南雅音话吴语 (Jiangnan Yayin Hua Wuyu; literally, "The Speech of South of Yangtze River called Wu Dialect") - Introduction, statistical data, vocal records, dialect maps and literature datum of Wu Chinese. (In simplified Chinese only)(http(colon)(slash)(slash)neucyo(dot)home4u(dot)china(dot)com(slash)index(dot)htm)

Articles

• Globalization, National Culture and the Search for Identity: A Chinese Dilemma (1st Quarter of 2006, Media Development) - A comprehensive article, written by Wu Mei and Guo Zhenzhi of World Association for Christian Communication, related to the struggle for national cultural unity by current Chinese Communist national government while desperately fighting for preservation on Chinese regional cultures that have been the precious roots of all Han Chinese people (including Hangzhou Wu dialect). Excellent for anyone doing research on Chinese language linguistic, anthropology on Chinese culture, international business, foreign languages, global studies, and translation/interpretation.
• Modernisation a Threat to Dialects in China - An excellent article originally from Straits Times Interactive through YTL Community website, it provides an insight of Chinese dialects, both major and minor, losing their speakers to Standard Mandarin due to greater mobility and interaction. Excellent for anyone doing research on Chinese language linguistic, anthropology on Chinese culture, international business, foreign languages, global studies, and translation/interpretation.
• Middlebury Expands Study Abroad Horizons - An excellent article including a section on future exchange programs in learning Chinese language in Hangzhou (plus colorful, positive impression on the beautiful Hangzhou dialect, too). (Requires registration of online account before viewing)
• Mind your language (from The Standard, Hong Kong) - This newspaper article provides a deep insight on the danger of decline in the usage of dialects, including Wu dialects, other than the rising star of Standard Mandarin. It also mentions an exception where some grassroots’ organizations and, sometimes, larger institutions, are the force behind the preservation of their dialects. Another excellent article for research on Chinese language linguistic, anthropology on Chinese culture, international business, foreign languages, global studies, and translation/interpretation.
• China: Dialect use on TV worries Beijing (originally from Straits Times Interactive, Singapore and posted on AsiaMedia Media News Daily from UCLA) - Article on the use of dialects other than standard Mandarin in China where strict media censorship is high.

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