Shaoxing dialect

The Shaoxing dialect (simplified Chinese: 绍兴话/绍兴方言ほうげん; traditional Chinese: 紹興しょうこう話ばなし/紹興しょうこう方言ほうげん; pinyin: Shàoxīnghuà/Shàoxīng fāngyán) is a Wu dialect spoken in the city of Shaoxing more specifically in the city center of Yuecheng and its surrounding areas. It is a representative Wu dialect with a tripartite distinction on voiced stop initials and a textbook register split with each of the four tonal categories of Middle Chinese being divided into upper and lower registers. Within Wu, it is classified as a Northern Wu dialect belonging to the Taihu division within which it is classified under the Linshao subdivision (臨紹小片しょうへん/临绍小片しょうへん).

It is the pronunciation of the Shaoxing dialect which is the standard to be used on the texts of Yue opera. It is also the native language of Cai Yuanpei and Lu Xun whose Baihua was often peppered with phrases from his native dialect.

Distribution

The suburban areas to the north and east stretching from Dongpu (东浦) to Doumen (斗と门) and north of Pingshui (平水へいすい) in the southern suburban areas are basically the same as that of the city center. Outside of these areas, people may still speak "Shaoxing dialect," but there are noticeable differences between these speech forms and those of the main urban area of Shaoxing.

Research into the Shaoxing dialect

The Shaoxing dialect has received an unusually large amount of attention. Documented research for the dialect has existed since the Kangxi era in the Qing dynasty, when there were three main works dealing with the Shaoxing dialect.

• 越えつ语肯綮录 by Mao Qiling (毛もう奇き龄)
• 越えつ言ごと释 by Ru Dunhe (茹敦和わ)
• 越えつ谚 by Fan Yin (范寅)

In the modern era, Chao Yuen Ren documented four regions in Shaoxing in his Modern Wu Research (现代吴语研究けんきゅう). Besides Chao, the Shaoxing dialect has received the most attention from Chinese dialectologist Wang Futang (王おう福堂ふくどう) whose 1959 Shaoxinghua jiyin (绍兴话记音おん) was the first full-length paper in the modern era dedicated wholly to the dialect. A concise grammar, phonology, and nearly 300 page word list of the dialect has been compiled by Yang Wei (杨葳) and Yang Jun (杨浚) in Shaoxing Fangyan (绍兴方言ほうげん). There is also an English-language monograph The Phonology of Shaoxing Chinese by Zhang Jisheng and a handful of other works in Chinese.

The Shaoxing dialect is also mentioned in Zhejiang Fangyan Fenqu (浙江せっこう方言ほうげん分ぶん区く), Zhejiang Fangyanci (浙江せっこう方言ほうげん词), and Shaoxingshi yanyu juan (绍兴市し谚语卷まき). As with most locations in China, Shaoxing is also covered in the Linguistic Atlas of Chinese Dialects.

Phonological inventory

Initials

Initials of Shaoxing dialect.

		Labial	Dental/Alveolar	Alveolo-Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	tenuis	p	t		k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Affricate	tenuis		ts	tɕ
	aspirated		tsʰ	tɕʰ
	voiced		dz	dʑ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ɕ		h
	voiced	v	z	ʑ		ɦ
Lateral			l

Finals

Finals of Shaoxing dialect

Coda		Open			Nasalized			Nasal			Glottal stop
Medial		∅	j	w	∅	j	w	∅	j	w	∅	j	w
Nucleus	u	u
	ɤ	ɤ	jɤ					əŋ			əʔ
	o	o	jo	wo	ɵ̃	jɵ̃	wɵ̃	oŋ	joŋ	woŋ	oʔ	joʔ	woʔ
	ɒ	ɒ	jɒ					ɒŋ	jɒŋ	wɒŋ
	a	a	ja	wa	ɛ̃	jɛ̃	wɛ̃	aŋ	jaŋ	waŋ	aʔ	jaʔ	waʔ
	e	e	je	we	ẽ	jẽ					eʔ		weʔ
	i	i						ɪŋ			ɪʔ
	y	y

Syllabic continuants: [z̩] [m̩] [n̩] [ŋ̩] [l̩]

Citation tones

Citation Tones (Yang, 2000)

Regiser	Ping (平ひらた)	Shang (上うえ)	Qu (去さ)	Ru (入いれ)
Upper (陰かげ)	42	35	33	4
Lower (陽ひ)	21	13	22	2

Citation Tones (Tu Guoping, 2012)

Regiser	Ping (平ひらた)	Shang (上うえ)	Qu (去さ)	Ru (入いれ)
Upper (陰かげ)	52	335	33	45
Lower (陽ひ)	231	113	11	23

Citation Tones (Huang et al., 2007)

Regiser	Ping (平ひらた)	Shang (上うえ)	Qu (去さ)	Ru (入いれ)
Upper (陰かげ)	41	55	44	5
Lower (陽ひ)	15	22	31	32

Syllable structure

Initials

Initial	Example characters
[p]	奔彪宝たから闭
[pʰ]	抛ほう普あまね配はい批
[b/pʱ]	盆ぼん瓢ひさご抱だき毙
[m]	盟めい袜摸芒すすき
[f]	风法幅はば放ひ
[v/fʱ]	奉たてまつ罚伏亡ほろび
[t]	斗と吊つるし蹲つくばい冻
[tʰ]	偷挑探さがせ痛つう
[d/tʱ]	豆まめ掉潭动
[n]	闹诺挪纳
[l]	拦率蓝勒
[ts]	钻赞照あきら醉よい
[tsʰ]	川かわ灿操菜さい
[dz/tsʱ]	缠残赵垂
[s]	涩送爽酸
[z/sʱ]	十字じゅうじ嚷善
[tɕ]	将はた经机举
[tɕʰ]	腔青启躯
[dʑ/tɕʱ]	墙近旗はた具ぐ
[ɕ]	虚きょ洗あらい仙せん勋
[ʑ/ɕʱ]	如自贱像
[k]	鸽甲广哥
[kʰ]	渴掐筐かたみ科か
[g/kʱ]	柜轧狂きょう溃
[ŋ]	外そと呆ほけ饿岸
[h]	荒あら轰黑夯
[ɦ]	员养荣药
Zero initial ([j], [w], or no initial)	衣ころも乌挨汪ひろし

Rhymes

Rhyme	Example characters
[z̩]	资纸自治じち
[i]	地ち替がえ弟おとうと贰
[u]	补都附ふ簿ぼ
[y]	吕靴需语
[a]	爸他楷挨
[ia]	夜よる爷斜鸦
[ua]	拐快槐えんじゅ哇
[e]	还眉贝台
[ue]	柜会亏威
[ɤ]	谋否走はし口くち
[iɤ]	秋あき酒しゅ流りゅう右みぎ
[ɒ]	报盗曹高
[iɒ]	飘吊捞妖
[o]	把わ多た罗假
[io]	瘸厦肉にく加か
[uo]	挂花话跨
[aŋ]	碰撑冷ひや生せい
[iaŋ]	仰おおせ央ひさし抢粮
[uaŋ]	光ひかり梗横
[əŋ]	萌もえ凳乘恒つね
[ɪŋ]	民みん亭てい津つ引
[ɒŋ]	胖ゆたか汤窗抗こう
[iɒŋ]	亮あきら降くだ像ぞう象ぞう
[uɒŋ]	黄き旺眶往
[oŋ]	红翁东奉
[ioŋ]	琼穷胸むね咏
[aʔ]	百ひゃく折おり客きゃく赫
[iaʔ]	掠かすめ削そぎ约捏
[uaʔ]	豁掴划括
[eʔ]	泼物撒舌
[ueʔ]	凸とつ虱しらみ脱だつ捋
[əʔ]	德とく特とく刻こく值
[ɪʔ]	鳖匹叠悉
[oʔ]	博ひろし落摸诺
[ioʔ]	局きょく蓄役穴あな
[uoʔ]	哭获惑国
[ɛ̃]	扮ふん凡碳蓝
[iɛ̃]	鲇年念ねん验
[uɛ̃]	贯甩弯环
[ẽ]	奔门吻参
[iẽ]	棉わた点てん甜盐
[ɵ̃]	算さん半はん盘满
[jɵ̃]	软悬娟冤
[uɵ̃]	碗わん缓欢管かん
[m̩]	姆（~妈
[n̩]	呒（~得え去ざ）
[ŋ̍]	午うま鱼五
[l̩]*	尔而饵儿

*Literary reading only.

References

Works cited

• Zhang, Jisheng (2006). The Phonology of Shaoxing Chinese (Doctoral thesis). Leiden University. hdl:1887/4279.