Suzhou dialect
Suzhounese | |
---|---|
Sou-tseu ghé-ghô | |
Pronunciation | [soʊ˥tsøʏ˨˩ ɦɛ˩˧ɦʊ˧] or [səu˥tsøʏ˥ ɦɛ˨˨˦ɦo˨˧˩] |
Native to | China |
Region | Suzhou and southeast Jiangsu province |
Chinese characters | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
ISO 639-6 | suji |
wuu-suh | |
Glottolog | suzh1234 |
Linguasphere | 79-AAA-dbb |
Suzhou dialect | |||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | |||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 苏州话 | ||||||||||||
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Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | |||||||||||||
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Suzhounese (Suzhounese:
Distribution
[edit]Suzhou dialect is spoken within the city itself and the surrounding area, including migrants living in nearby Shanghai.
The Suzhou dialect is mutually intelligible with dialects spoken in its satellite cities such as Kunshan, Changshu, and Zhangjiagang, as well as those spoken in its former satellites Wuxi and Shanghai. It is also partially intelligible with dialects spoken in other areas of the Wu cultural sphere such as Hangzhou and Ningbo. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Cantonese or Standard Chinese; but, as all public schools and most broadcast communication in Suzhou use Mandarin exclusively, nearly all speakers of the dialect are at least bilingual. Owing to migration within China, many residents of the city cannot speak the local dialect but can usually understand it after a few months or years in the area.[citation needed]
History
[edit]This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (October 2022) |
Grammar
[edit]Pronoun | Number | Word | Pinyin | IPA |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | Singular | ngou6 | ŋəu | |
Plural | 伲 | gni6 | nʲi | |
2nd | Singular | 倷 | ne6 | ne |
Plural | 唔笃 | n6 toq7 | n toʔ | |
3rd | Singular | 俚 | li1 | li |
俚倷 | li1 ne6 | li ne | ||
唔倷 | n1 ne6 | n ne | ||
Plural | 俚笃 | li1 toq7 | li toʔ |
Second and third-person pronouns are suffixed with 笃 [toʔ] for the plural. The first-person plural is a separate root, 伲 [nʲi].[3]
Demonstrative
[edit]Proximal | Neutral | Distal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
e1 | 搿 | geq8 | 弯 | ue1 | |
该 | ke1 | 归 | kue1 |
哀 杯 茶 是 吾 葛 ,掰杯茶 是 僚葛,弯杯茶 是 俚葛。
When "搿" refers to time, there is no need to use the proximal and distal in opposition. The role of the neutral demonstrative is very obvious.
抗 战是民 国 二 十 六 年 到 民 国 三 十 四 年 ,掰歇(弯歇)辰 光 日脚 勿好过。
In this sentence, "掰歇(弯歇)" cannot be replaced by "
When not referring to time, the proximal "
"
Suzhou | Mandarin | English | |
---|---|---|---|
e1 keq7 | 这个 | this (thing) | |
e1 tie3 | 这些 | these | |
e1 shieq3 | 这时 |
this (moment) | |
e1 tie3 | 这阵 |
this (period) | |
e1 mie6 | 这边 | this (side) | |
e1 taeq7 | 这里 | this place (here) |
Example phrases:
哀 歇啥辰 光 则?
现在什么时候
哀 呛倷身体 好 啘?
现阵
Varieties
[edit]Some non-native speakers of Suzhou speak the Suzhou dialect in a "stylized variety" to tell tales.[4]
Phonology
[edit]Initials
[edit]The Suzhou dialect has series of voiced, voiceless, and aspirated stops, and voiceless and voiced fricatives. Moreover, palatalized initials also occur.
Finals
[edit]Front | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Unrounded | Rounded | |||
Close | /i/ | /y/ | ||
Near-close | /ɪ/ | /ʏ/ | /ɵ/ | /ʊ/ |
Mid | /ɛ/ | /ə/ | /o/ | |
Open | /æ/ | /a/ | /ɑ/ | |
Diphthong | /øʏ, oʊ/ |
Coda | Open | Nasal | Glottal stop | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Medial | ∅ | j | w | ∅ | j | w | ɥ | ∅ | j | w | ɥ | |
Nucleus | i | i | iɲ | |||||||||
y | y | |||||||||||
ɪ | jɪ | |||||||||||
ʏ | ʏ | jʏ | ʏɲ | |||||||||
ɵ | ɵ | jɵ | wɵ | |||||||||
ʊ | ʊ | |||||||||||
ɛ | ɛ | wɛ | ||||||||||
ə | ən | wən | ɥən | əʔ | jəʔ | wəʔ | ɥəʔ | |||||
o | o | jo | oŋ | joŋ | oʔ | joʔ | ||||||
oʊ | oʊ | |||||||||||
æ | æ | jæ | ||||||||||
a | ã | jã | wã | aʔ | jaʔ | waʔ | ɥaʔ | |||||
ɑ | ɑ | jɑ | wɑ | ɑ̃ | jɑ̃ | wɑ̃ | ɑʔ | jɑʔ |
- Syllabic continuants: [z̩] [z̩ʷ] [
β ̩~v̩] [m̩] [ŋ̩] [l̩]
Notes:
- The Suzhou dialect has a rare contrast between "fricative vowels" [i, y] and ordinary vowels [ɪ, ʏ].
- /j/ is pronounced [ɥ] before rounded vowels.
The Middle Chinese [-ŋ] rimes are retained, while [-n] and [-m] are either retained or have disappeared in the Suzhou dialect. Middle Chinese [-p -t -k] rimes have become glottal stops, [-ʔ].
In the Suzhou dialect, [gə] is a very special demonstrative that is used alongside a separate set of proximal and distal demonstratives. [gə] can indicate referents appearing in a speech situation, which may be close to or far away from the deictic center, and under these conditions, [gə] is always used in combination with gestures. Hence [gə] can serve both proximal and distal functions.[6]
Tones
[edit]Suzhou is considered to have seven tones. However, since the tone split dating from Middle Chinese still depends on the voicing of the initial consonant. Yang tones are only found with voiced initials, namely [b d ɡ z v dʑ ʑ m n nʲ ŋ l ɦ], while the yin tones are only found with voiceless initials. These constitute just three phonemic tones: ping, shang, and qu. (Ru syllables are phonemically toneless.)
Tone number | Tone name | Tone letters | Description |
---|---|---|---|
1 | yin ping (阴平) | ˦ (44) | high |
2 | yang ping (阳平) | ˨˨˦ (224) | level-rising |
3 | shang (阴上) | ˥˨ (52) | high falling |
4 | yin qu (阴去) | ˦˩˨ (412) | dipping |
5 | yang qu (阳去) | ˨˧˩ (231) | rising-falling |
6 | yin ru (阴入) | ˦ʔ (4) | high checked |
7 | yang ru (阳入) | ˨˧ʔ (23) | rising checked |
In Suzhou, the Middle Chinese 阴上 tone has partially merged with the modern 阴去 tone. Meanwhile, the 阳上 tone has fully merged with 阳去 tone. Therefore, 买 and 卖 has the exact same pronunciation in literary and colloquial readings.
Tone Sandhi
[edit]The tone sandhi present in Suzhou dialect introduces 4 completely new tones. ˧ (33), ˨˩ (21), ˨˩˨ (212), and ˨ʔ (2)
A. Stop final + stop final
The both two-character in this combination do not change tone.
脚色 tɕiɑʔ˦ səʔ˦吃 力 tɕʰiəʔ˨˧ liəʔ˨˧白 虱 bɑʔ˨˧ səʔ˦特 别 dəʔ˨˧ biəʔ˨˧
B. Stop final + clear final
The first character do not change tones. The second character do not change tone if it has a yin (阴) tone.
作 兴 tsoʔ˦ ɕin˦- 铁饼 tʰiəʔ˦ pin˥˨
国 庆 kuəʔ˦ tɕʰin˦˩˨
If the second character is yangping (阳平), it becomes ˦ (44), the same as yinping (阴平).
失 眠 səʔ˦ miɪ˦黑 魚 həʔ˦ ŋ˦
If the second character is yangqu (阳去), it becomes ˨˩ (21) or ˨˩˨ (212).
赤 佬 tsʰəʔ˦ læ˨˩吃 饭 tɕʰiəʔ˦ ve˨˩˨
C. Clear final + stop final
The second character's tone becomes ˨ʔ (2). The first character does not change tone if it has a ping (
- 书桌 sʮ˦ tsoʔ˨
牛 角 nʲiʏ˨˨˦ koʔ˨海 蛰 he˥˨ zəʔ˨
If the first character is yinqu (阴去) it becomes ˦ (44) similar to yinping or ˥˨ (52) similar to yinshang.
信 壳 sin˦ kʰoʔ˨半日 pø˥˨ zəʔ˨
料 作 liæ˨˨˦ tsoʔ˨- 满月 mø˨˨˦ ŋəʔ˨
技 术 dʑi˦˩˨ zəʔ˨
D. Clear final + clear final
The first character does not change tone if it has a ping (
If the first character is yinqu (阴去) it becomes ˦ (44) similar to yinping or ˥˨ (52) similar to yinshang.
If the first character is yangqu (阳去) it becomes ˨˨˦ (224) similar to yangping.
The second character becomes ˨˩ (21) after yinping tones.
The second character becomes ˧ (33), ˨˩ (21) after yinshang, yinqu, yangping, yangqu tones.
Suzhou dialect in literature
[edit]Ballad-narratives
A "ballad–narrative" (
Novels
Han Bangqing wrote Lives of Shanghai Flowers, one of the earliest novels in Wu dialect, in Suzhou dialect. Suzhou serves as an important drive for Han to write the novel. Suzhou dialect is used in innovative methods to demonstrate urban space and time, as well as the interrupted narrative aesthetics, making it an integral part of an effort, which is presented as a fundamental and self-conscious new thing.[9] Han's novel also inspired other authors to write in Wu dialect.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^
叶 ,祥 苓 (1988).蘇州 方言 詞 典 .江 苏教育 出版 社 . p. 407. - ^
叶 ,祥 苓 (1993). 苏州方言 志 .江 苏教育 出版 社 . p. 454. - ^ Yue, Anne O. (2003). "Chinese Dialects: Grammar". In Thurgood, Graham; LaPolla, Randy J. (eds.). The Sino-Tibetan Languages (illustrated ed.). London: Routledge. p. 86. ISBN 0-7007-1129-5.
- ^ Clements, Clancy (2000). "Review of Creole and Dialect Continua". Language. 76 (1): 160. doi:10.1353/lan.2000.0054. JSTOR 417399. S2CID 141755433.
She also examines a stylized variety of Suzhou Wu as used to tell stories by native speakers of another dialect.
- ^ Ling, Feng (2009). A Phonetic Study of the Vowel System in Suzhou Chinese (PhD thesis). City University of Hong Kong.
- ^ Chen, Yujie (2015), Chappell, Hilary M (ed.), "The semantic differentiation of demonstratives in Sinitic languages", Diversity in Sinitic Languages, Oxford: Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198723790.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-872379-0, retrieved 2021-12-06
- ^ Idema, Wilt L. (2007). "Fighting in Korea: Two Early Narratives of the Story of Xue Rengui". In Breuker, Remco E. (ed.). Korea in the Middle: Korean Studies and Area Studies: Essays in Honour of Boudewijn Walraven (illustrated ed.). Leiden: CNWS Publications. p. 341. ISBN 978-90-5789-153-3.
A prosimetrical rendition, entitled Xue Rengui kuahai zheng Liao gushi 薛仁
貴 跨 海 征 遼 故事 (The story of Xue Rengui crossing the sea and Pacifying Liao), which shares its opening prose paragraph with the Xue Rengui zheng Liao shilüe, is preserved in a printing of 1471; it is one of the shuochang cihua說 唱詞話 (ballad-narratives - ^ Idema, Wilt L. (2007). "Fighting in Korea: Two Early Narratives of the Story of Xue Rengui". In Breuker, Remco E. (ed.). Korea in the Middle: Korean Studies and Area Studies: Essays in Honour of Boudewijn Walraven (illustrated ed.). Leiden: CNWS Publications. p. 342. ISBN 978-90-5789-153-3.
for telling and singing) which were discovered in the suburbs of Shanghai in 1967. While these shuochang cihua had been printed in modern-day Beijing, their language suggests that they had been composed in the Wu Chinese area of Suzhou and surroundings,
- ^ Des Forges, Alexander (2007). Mediasphere Shanghai: The Aesthetics of Cultural Production. University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-3081-6. JSTOR j.ctt13x1jm2.