Wiktionary:About Chinese/Wu
Wu is a subdivision of Chinese, spoken by about 80 million people. It is spoken to southern Jiangsu and most of Zhejiang, an area sometimes referred to as Jiangnan. The historically wealthy Lower Yangtze Delta is home to the largest branch, Northern Wu, and is also the lect area that is represented on Wiktionary. Suzhounese (zh) was the cultural capital of the area, though due to Shanghai's relative economic status, Shanghainese (zh) has, to some extent, eclipsed Suzhounese's prestige status. Characteristically Wu varieties have voiced (
Although no official romanization system is endorsed by any government, on Wiktionary, both of these lects are notated in Wugniu, which is the most common standardised system used in online circles nowadays. Wugniu is also available in a wide variety of localities, and correspondences between different lects tend to have the same glyph (eg. Shanghainese /ɔ/ and Suzhounese /æ/ both being "au"). Slight modifications have been made regarding tone notation, as Wugniu does not officially have a way to notate tone sandhi. The legacy Wiktionary romanization for Shanghainese is accessible in the expanded pronunciation infobox, and its use is now not recommended.
Initials
As most Northern Wu lects share the same set of initials, the following will be a pan-Northern Wu table. Irregularities will be listed in the footnotes. Discrepancies between the legacy Wiktionary system and Wugniu for Shanghainese are shown in bold.
Wugniu | Wiktionary Romanisation |
Voiced? | Qian's Romanisation |
Wu-Chinese MiniDict |
IPA | Examples |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
p | p | no | b | p | /p/ | |
ph | ph | no | p | ph | /pʰ/ | 怕 |
b | b | yes | bh | b | /b/ | |
m | m [note 1] | yes | m | m | /m/ | |
f | f | no | f | f | /f/ | |
v | v | yes | fh | v | /v/ | 扶 |
t | t | no | d | t | /t/ | |
th | th | no | t | th | /tʰ/ | |
d | d | yes | dh | d | /d/ | |
n | n | yes | n | n | /n/ | |
l | l | yes | l | l | /l/ | |
ts | ts | no | z | ts | /t͡s/ | |
tsh | tsh | no | c | tsh | /t͡sʰ/ | |
dz[note 2] | n/a | yes | n/a | dz | /d͡z/ | |
s | s | no | s | s | /s/ | |
z | z | yes | sh | z | /z/ | |
c | j | no | j | c, ts | /t͡ɕ/ | |
ch | q | no | q | ch, tsh | /t͡ɕʰ/ | |
j | jj | yes | jh | j | /d͡ʑ/ | |
gn | ny | yes | ny | ny[note 3] | /n̠ʲ/ | |
x | sh | no | x | s, sh | /ɕ/ | |
xx | zh[note 4] | yes | xh | z, zh | /ʑ/ | |
k | k | no | g | k | /k/ | |
kh | kh | no | k | kh | /kʰ/ | |
g | g | yes | gh | g | /ɡ/ | |
ng | ng | yes | ng | ng | /ŋ/ | |
h | h | no | h | h | /h/ | |
no | hh | - | /ʔ/ | |||
gh[note 5] | hh | yes | wh | gh[note 6] | /ɦ/ | 鞋 |
- ^ The legacy Wiktionary and MiniDict romanisations specify that sonorants (m, n, l, ny, ng) that appear with dark tones should be written with an apostrophe in front of it ('m, 'n, 'l, 'ny, 'ng). This is not found in Wugniu.
- ^ This phone is only found in Hangzhounese.
- ^ Absorbs the following i glide.
- ^ This phone is only found in Shanghainese.
- ^ Changes to y and w if the syllable has an i or u offglide.
- ^ The glyph change found in Wugniu is also present in MiniDict.
Finals
Finals in Northern Wu lects vary from lect to lect. The following are tables for Shanghainese, Suzhounese and Hangzhounese finals.
Wugniu | Wiktionary Romanisation |
Qian's Romanisation |
Wu-Chinese MiniDict |
IPA | Examples |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | a | a | a | /a̠/ | |
o | o | o | o | /o/ | |
au | au | ao | au | /ɔ/ | |
eu | eu | eu | /ɤ/ | 鬥 | |
e | e | e | e, ai, ae | /e/ | |
oe | oe | oe | oe | /ø/ | |
i | i | i | i, ie | /i/ | |
ia | ia | ia | ia | /ia/ | |
iau | iau | iao | iau | /iɔ/ | |
ieu | ieu | ieu | /iɤ/ | ||
ie | ie | ie | iae | /ie/ | |
u | u | u | u | /u/ | |
ua | ua | ua | ua | /ua/ | |
ue | ue | ue | ue | /ue/ | |
uoe | uoe | uoe | /uø/ | ||
iu | y | yu | iu | /y/ | |
ioe | yoe | ioe | /yø/ | 軟 | |
an | an | ang | an | /ã/ | |
aon | aan | ang | aon | /ɑ̃/ | |
en | en | en | en | /ən/ | 奮 |
on | on | ong | on | /oŋ/ | |
aq | aq | ak | ah | /aʔ/ | 辣 |
oq | oq | ok | oh | /oʔ/ | |
eq | eq | ek | eh | /əʔ/ | |
ian | ian | ian | /iã/ | ||
iaon | iaan | iaon | /iɑ̃/ | 旺( | |
in | in | in | in | /in/ | 緊 |
ion | ion | ion | /ioŋ/ | ||
iaq | iaq | iah | /iaʔ/ | ||
ioq | ioq | ioh | /ioʔ/ | ||
iq | iq | ik | ih | /iɪʔ/ | |
uan | uan | uan | /uã/ | ||
uaon | uaan | uaon | /uɑ̃/ | ||
uen | un | uen | /uəŋ/ | ||
uaq | uaq | uah | /uaʔ/ | 挖劃刮/挖划刮 | |
ueq | ueq | ueh | /uəʔ/ | ||
iun | yn | iuin | /yn/ | ||
iuq | yq | iuih | /yɪʔ/ | ||
er | er | er | r | /əl/ | 而( |
y | r | y | y | /z̩/ | |
m | mm | m | /m̩/ | 姆( | |
n | nn | n | /n̩/ | ||
ng | ngg | n | ng | /ŋ̍/ |
Wugniu | Wu-Chinese MiniDict |
IPA | Examples |
---|---|---|---|
a | a | /ɑ/ | |
o | o | /o/ | |
au | au | /æ/ | |
eu | eu | /øy/ | |
e | e | /e/ | |
oe | oe | /ø/ | |
ie | ie | /ɪ/ | |
ou | ou | /əu/ | |
i | i | /i/ | |
ia | ia | /iɑ/ | |
io | io | /io/ | |
ieu | ieu | /ʏ/ | |
ioe | ioe | /iø/ | |
u | u | /u/ | |
iu | iu | /y/ | |
an | an | /ã/ | |
aon | aon | /ɑ̃/ | |
en | en | /ən/ | |
on | on | /oŋ/ | |
aeq | aeh | /aʔ/ | |
aq | ah | /ɑʔ/ | |
eq | eh | /əʔ/ | |
oq | oh | /oʔ/ | 落 |
ian | ian | /iã/ | |
iaon | iaon | /iɑ̃/ | 旺( |
in | in | /in/ | |
ion | ion | /ioŋ/ | |
iaeq | iaeh | /iaʔ/ | |
iaq | iah | /iɑʔ/ | 腳 |
iq | ih | /iəʔ/ | |
ioq | ioh | /ioʔ/ | |
iun | iuin | /yn/ | |
iuaeq | - | /yaʔ/ | 曰 |
iuq | iuih | /yəʔ/ | |
er | r | /əl/ | 而( |
y | y | /z̩/ | |
yu | yu | /z̩ʷ/ | |
m | m | /m̩/ | |
n | n | /n̩/ | 唔~ |
ng | ng | /ŋ̍/ |
Wugniu | Wu-Chinese MiniDict |
IPA | Examples |
---|---|---|---|
a | a | /ɑ/ | 媽哈 |
e | e | /ɛ/ | |
au | au | /ɔ/ | |
o | o | /o/ | |
eu | ei | /ey/ | |
ei | ei | /ei/ | |
i | i | /i/ | |
ia | ia | /iɑ/ | |
ie | ie | /iɛ/ | |
iau | iau | /iɔ/ | 交 |
ieu | iu | /iø/ | 丟 |
u | u | /u/ | |
ua | ua | /uɑ/ | |
/zʷɑ/ | |||
ue | ue | /uɛ/ | 拐 |
/zʷɛ/ | 摔 | ||
uo | uo | /uo/ | |
uei | uei | /ui/ | |
/zʷei/ | |||
en | en | /en/ | |
aen | e | /ẽ̞/ | |
an | an | /ɑŋ/ | |
on | on | /oŋ/ | |
in | in | /in/ | |
ien | ie | /iẽ̞/ | |
ian | ian | /iɑŋ/ | |
ion | ion | /ioŋ/ | |
uen | uen | /un/ | |
/zʷen/ | |||
uan | uan | /uɑŋ/ | |
/zʷɑŋ/ | |||
iun | iuin | /yn/ | |
uon | uon | /uõ/ | 彎 |
/zʷõ/ | |||
aq | eh | /ɑʔ/ | |
eq | eh | /əʔ/ | |
oq | oh | /oʔ/ | |
iaq | ih | /iɑʔ/ | 腳 |
iq | ih | /iəʔ/ | |
ioq | ioh | /ioʔ/ | |
uaq | ueh | /uɑʔ/ | 挖刮挖 |
/zʷɑʔ/ | |||
iuq | iuih | /yəʔ/ | |
/zʷəʔ/ | |||
er | er | /əl/ | |
y | y | /z̩/ | |
yu | yu | /z̩ʷ/ | |
m | m | /m̩/ | 呣~媽/呣~妈 |
n | n | /n̩/ |
- eu is only found in the speech of elderly Hangzhounese speakers. When -eu is to be specified, -ei must also appear in the input and a note must be made of the difference. See
狗 . - -u- and -iu- glides become fricated (/zʷ/) after sibilants.
- MiniDict merges a few more rimes that are not merged on Wugniu. Please exercise caution.
Tones
Unlike other varieties such as Beijing Mandarin (right-prominent, limited but systematic), Guangzhou Cantonese (rare and non-systematic, but with certain patterns) or Taiwanese Hokkien (right-prominent, widespread and systematic), the tone sandhi rules in Northern Wu comprise two parts—a left-prominent word tone sandhi rule, and a right-prominent phrase tone sandhi rule. Words of fossilised nature follow the first rule, and analysable phrases (usually of verb + noun composition) follow the second rule.
For Northern Wu romanizations in the template {{zh-pron}}
, the romanisation is made up of the sandhi chain's tone value (often the same as the tone category of the first character), followed by romanizations of the initial and final of each character (separated by spaces); 6zaon he
would be the input for 6veq8 khu i
would be the input for 勿
Wugniu's tone categories span from 1 to 8 for all lects, though not all are used in every lect. These numbers correspond to the four Middle Chinese tones—level, rising, departing and checked—and are further split in two based on voicing (voiceless—dark, voiced—light) of the initial of the character.
Level | Rising | Departing | Checked | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dark | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
Light | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
Right-prominent sandhi can be inputted through the use of +
: 6ne+3hau
for 倷好 in Suzhounese.
0
forces a null tone onto a syllable, and -
forces a mid-tone onto a syllable. These are both useful in usage examples and idioms, where tone nullification often occurs based on syntax.
Shanghainese
There are five tone categories (or "tones") in Middle and New (
Several of these tone categories are non-phonemic; that is, they are predictable from the voicing of the initial consonant and from whether the syllable is checked (ending in a glottal stop). Only tones 1 and 5 are contrastive: they both occur in syllables with voiceless initials and no final glottal stop.
Wugniu tone number Legacy tone number Tone name
(tone category)Voicing Tone value Example characters Ancestral MC tones 1 1 dark level 陰平 /阴平voiceless ˥˧ 53 刀 漿司 東 /刀 浆司 东dark level 5 2 dark departing 陰 去 /阴去voiceless ˧˦ 34 島 到 獎醬/岛到 奖酱dark rising, dark departing 6 3 light departing 陽 去 /阳去voiced ˨˧ 23 桃 導 道 牆/桃 导道 墙light level, light rising, light departing 7 4 dark checked 陰 入 /阴入voiceless ˥ʔ 55 雀 削 說 足 /雀 削 说足 dark checked 8 5 light checked 陽 入 /阳入voiced ˩˨ʔ 12 嚼 石 曲 食 light checked
Left-prominent tone sandhi (word sandhi)
Each of these five categories then has a tone sandhi pattern, depending on the number of syllables in the word. In Shanghainese, left-prominent sandhi patterns are always analysed to be entirely dependent on (ie. predictable from) the tone of the first syllable (except 勿 (8veq)), and as such, subsequent syllables' tones are unmarked.
Left-prominent word tone sandhi patterns Tonal category Monosyllabics Disyllabics Trisyllabics Tetrasyllabics Pentasyllabics 1. Dark level (1) 53 55+21 55+33+21 55+33+33+21 55+33+33+33+21 2. Dark departing (5) 34 33+44 33+55+21 33+55+33+21 33+55+33+33+21 3. Light departing (6) 23 22+44 22+55+21 22+55+33+21 22+55+33+33+21 4. Dark checked (7) 55 33+44 33+55+21 33+55+33+21 33+55+33+33+21 5. Light checked (8) 12 11+23 11+22+23 11+22+22+23
22+55+33+2122+55+33+33+21
Right-prominent tone sandhi (phrase sandhi)
When words combine form a phrase, the following right-prominent sandhi rules apply. In short, when the word A in appears non-finally in a phrase, its last syllable (A-x) changes to a flat (level) tone. The tone sandhi value that syllable A-x changes to is conditioned by three factors: (1) the tonal category of syllable A-x, (2) the number of syllables in word A, and if the number of syllables in A is 1 – (3) whether word A is "tightly associated" with the word preceding word A. The exact realization of the phenomenon varies from person to person, and as such, right-prominent sandhi is only visible in the IPA realization of the input.
Word undergoing sandhi (i.e. word A) Tonal category of last syllable of word undergoing sandhi (i.e. syllable A-x) Example Tone 1 Tone 5 Tone 6 Tone 7 Tone 8 Monosyllabic word unbound to any word preceding it 44 33 44 22 儂 好 /侬好 (6non+5hau)炒 魷魚/炒 鱿鱼 (5tshau+6yeu ng)Monosyllabic word tightly bound to a monosyllabic word preceding it 硬 碰硬 (6ngan+-phan+6ngan)Multisyllabic word 33 33 嘸 著 嘸 落/呒着呒落 (6m zaq+6m loq)Monosyllabic word tightly bound to a multisyllabic word preceding it 前世 作 孽 (6zhi sy+7tsoq+8gniq)
Conversion from MiniDict and Wugniu tone notation
平 (level),上 (rising),去 (departing), and入 (checked) should be used for reference, not the numbers.
MiniDict | Wugniu | Voicing of initial | Wiktionary tone category |
---|---|---|---|
6 | voiced | 3 | |
1 | voiceless | 1 | |
6 | voiced | 3 | |
5 | voiceless | 2 | |
6 | voiced | 3 | |
5 | voiceless | 2 | |
8 | voiced | 5 | |
7 | voiceless | 4 |
Suzhounese
Tone sandhi in Suzhounese is usually analysed as a system in which every underlying tone contributes to the chain's contour. However, some generalizations can be made. On Wiktionary, the system as described in A Study on Suzhounese Phonetics (
Disclaimer: as Suzhounese has many irregular sandhi chains, and this system drastically simplifies sandhi, many words are irregular. Please transcribe realised tones using the sandhi chain with the closest pitch contour.
It is widely agreed upon that Suzhounese has seven tones.
Wugniu tone number Tone name
(tone category)Voicing Tone value Example characters Ancestral MC tones 1 dark level 陰平 /阴平voiceless ˦ 44 廳 千 芭篩 /厅千 芭筛dark level 2 light level 陽平 /阳平voiceless ˨˨˧ 223 排 尋 同 廊 /排 寻同 廊 light level 3 rising 上聲 /上声 voiceless ˥˩ 51 耍 總 朵孔 /耍总朵孔 dark rising 5 dark departing 陰 去 /阴去voiceless ˥˨˧ 523 誘 鈵贊 介 /诱𰽥赞介 dark departing 6 light departing 陽 去 /阳去voiced ˨˧˩ 231 戀 晚 稻 共 /恋 晚 稻 共 light rising, light departing 7 dark checked 陰 入 /阴入voiceless ˦˧ʔ 43 戚鉑 掬 客 /戚铂掬 客 dark checked 8 light checked 陽 入 /阳入voiced ˨˧ʔ 23 十 薄 達 曆 /十 薄 达历light checked
Left-prominent tone sandhi (word sandhi)
The left-prominent sandhi system used on Wiktionary works quite similarly to Shanghainese. For tones 1-6, only the first syllable is taken into account, whereas in tones 7 and 8, the first two syllables determine the chain. The 0's listed below are not displayed in the IPA as it is considered non-standard.
Left-prominent word tone sandhi patterns in unchecked syllables Tone category Monosyllabics Disyllabics Trisyllabics Tetrasyllabics Dark level (1) 44 44 0 44 44 0 44 44 44 0 Light level (2) 223 22 33 22 33 0 22 33 44 0 Rising (3) 51 55 11 55 11 0 55 11 11 0 Dark departing (5) 523 52 33 52 33 0 52 33 44 0 Light departing (6) 231 23 11 23 11 0 23 11 11 0
Left-prominent word tone sandhi patterns in checked syllables Tone category Disyllabics Trisyllabics Tetrasyllabics 1st syl 2nd syl Dark checked (7) Level (1, 2) 44 23 44 23 0 44 44 23 44 0 Rising (3) 55 51 55 51 0 55 51 11 0 Departing (5, 6) 55 523 55 52 33 55 52 22 33 Checked (7, 8) 44 44 44 44 0 44 44 44 22 Light checked (8) Level (1, 2) 22 33 22 33 0 22 33 44 0 Rising (3) 22 51 22 51 0 22 51 11 0 Departing (5, 6) 22 523 22 52 33 22 52 22 33 Checked (7, 8) 33 44 33 44 0 33 44 22 0
Right-prominent tone sandhi (phrase sandhi)
Suzhounese only has Shanghai-style right-prominent sandhi in monosyllabic dark departing terms. The dark departing syllabe mutates from 523 to 51:
Use in example sentences
In example sentences, all Northern Wu lects with Wugniu romanization are permitted. Other Wu lects are to be further investigated as to the potential for their inclusion. The Northern Wu localities with Wugniu notation are:
- Shanghai
- Urban Shanghai, Baoshan, Jiading, Putuo, Qingpu, Songjiang, Jinshan, Fengxian, Chuansha, Chongming
- Jiangsu
- Zhejiang
- Urban Jiaxing, Jiashan, Haiyan, Haining, Tongxiang
- Urban Huzhou, Changxing, Anji, Deqing
- Urban Hangzhou, Yuhang, Linping, Fuyang, Tonglu, Xiaoshan
- Urban Shaoxing, Keqiao, Shangyu, Shengzhou, Xinchang
- Urban Ningbo, Cixi, Yuyao, Zhenhai, Beilun, Yinzhou, Fenghua, Xiangshan
- Urban Zhoushan, Daishan
Examples
zh-pron|w=sh:1thi ze;sz:1thie ze2
zh-pron|w=sh:5hu tsaon zan;sz:3hou tsaon5 zan2
zh-pron|w=sh:6di zy;sz:6die zyu6
zh-pron|w=sh:6ghoe koq;sz:2ghoe koq7
zh-pron|w=sh:7faq liq;sz:7faq liq8
zh-pron|w=sh:8zeq pen;sz:8zeq pen3
Resources
- For checking the pronunciation of words, use The Comprehensive Dictionary of Shanghainese (《
上海 话大词典》), which uses IPA notations throughout the book. Wugniu also has a Shanghainese dictionary listed under松江 Songjiang. However, note that Wugniu's dictionary spills into lect areas outside of Puxi - For checking the pronunciation of characters, use Wugniu or Wu Chinese MiniDict
- Note that MiniDict uses a different romanisation system than the one implemented here. Their romanisation scheme is as listed on their website
See also
- Category:Wu language
- Category:Northern Wu
- Category:Shanghainese Wu
- Category:Suzhounese Wu
- Wiktionary:About Chinese/Wenzhounese another Wu variety
If unsure, hassle User:ND381 or User:Musetta6729.