Taihu Wu dialects
Encyclopedia
Taihu Wu dialects or Northern Wu dialects (北部吳語), are a group of Wu dialects spoken over much of southern part of Jiangsu
province, including Suzhou
, Wuxi
, Changzhou
, the southern part of Nantong
, Jingjiang
and Danyang
; the municipality of Shanghai
; and the northern part of Zhejiang
province, including Hangzhou
, Shaoxing
, Ningbo
, Huzhou
, and Jiaxing
. A notable exception is the dialect of the town of Jinxiang, which is a linguistic exclave of Taihu Wu in Zhenan Min
-speaking Cangnan county of Wenzhou
prefecture in Zhejiang province. This group makes up the largest population among all Wu speakers. The subdialects of this region are, in a large degree, mutually intelligible among each other.
and Jiangnan
regions. While the city of Yangzhou
was the center of trade, flourishing and prosperous, it was considered part of Jiangnan
, which was known to be wealthy, even though Yangzhou was north of the Yangzi river. Once Yangzhou
's wealth prosperity were gone, it was then considered to be part of Jiangbei, the "backwater". After Yangzhou was removed from Jiangnan, its residents decided to no longer speak Jianghuai Mandarin, which was the dialect of Yangzhou. They instead replaced Mandarin with Wu and spoke Taihu Wu dialects. In Jiangnan itself, multiple subdialects of Wu fought for the position of prestige dialect.
Northwestern Wu
Northern Zhejiang
Jiangsu
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...
province, including Suzhou
Suzhou
Suzhou , previously transliterated as Su-chou, Suchow, and Soochow, is a major city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, located adjacent to Shanghai Municipality. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Taihu Lake and is a part...
, Wuxi
Wuxi
Wuxi is an old city in Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. Split in half by Lake Tai, Wuxi borders Changzhou to the west and Suzhou to the east. The northern half looks across to Taizhou across the Yangtze River, while the southern half also borders the province of Zhejiang to the south...
, Changzhou
Changzhou
Changzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling, Jinling, and Wujin. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Zhenjiang to the...
, the southern part of Nantong
Nantong
Nantong is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth, Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north, Taizhou to the west, Suzhou and Shanghai to the south across the river, and...
, Jingjiang
Jingjiang
Jingjiang is a county-level city in China's Jiangsu province. It is located on the northern bank of the Yangtze river. Originally belonging to Yangzhou city, Jingjiang was transferred to Taizhou city in 1996...
and Danyang
Danyang
Danyang is a county-level city administered by Zhenjiang in Jiangsu Province. It is famous for its spectacles industry and it has the Spectscles City.-Economy:...
; the municipality of Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
; and the northern part of Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
province, including Hangzhou
Hangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
, Shaoxing
Shaoxing
Shaoxing is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. Located on the south bank of the Qiantang River estuary, it borders Ningbo to the east, Taizhou to the southeast, Jinhua to the southwest, and Hangzhou to the west. It was once known as "越"...
, Ningbo
Ningbo
Ningbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
, Huzhou
Huzhou
Huzhou is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province of Eastern China. Lying south of the Lake Tai, it borders Jiaxing to the east, Hangzhou to the south, and the provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu to the west and north respectively.-Administration:...
, and Jiaxing
Jiaxing
Jiaxing is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province of Eastern China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the province of Jiangsu to the north....
. A notable exception is the dialect of the town of Jinxiang, which is a linguistic exclave of Taihu Wu in Zhenan Min
Zhenan Min
Zhenan Min , is a variety of Min Nan Chinese spoken in the Wenzhou region of the southern Chinese province of Zhejiang. The Zhenan Min people had settled in areas such as Cangnan County, Pingyang County, Yuhuan County and Dongtou County from Fujian Province as early as the Tang dynasty period and...
-speaking Cangnan county of Wenzhou
Wenzhou
Wenzhou is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. The area under its jurisdiction, which includes two satellite cities and six counties, had a population of 9,122,100 as of 2010....
prefecture in Zhejiang province. This group makes up the largest population among all Wu speakers. The subdialects of this region are, in a large degree, mutually intelligible among each other.
History
Dialect has also been used as a tool for regional identitity and politics in the JiangbeiJiangbei
Jiangbei may refer to:*North of the Yangtze River, especially in eastern China, or Jiangsu*Jiangbei District, Chongqing, in Chongqing, China*Jiangbei District, Ningbo, in Zhejiang, China*Jiangbei, Meizhou, in Guangdong, China...
and Jiangnan
Jiangnan
Jiangnan or Jiang Nan is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including the southern part of the Yangtze Delta...
regions. While the city of Yangzhou
Yangzhou
Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across...
was the center of trade, flourishing and prosperous, it was considered part of Jiangnan
Jiangnan
Jiangnan or Jiang Nan is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including the southern part of the Yangtze Delta...
, which was known to be wealthy, even though Yangzhou was north of the Yangzi river. Once Yangzhou
Yangzhou
Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across...
's wealth prosperity were gone, it was then considered to be part of Jiangbei, the "backwater". After Yangzhou was removed from Jiangnan, its residents decided to no longer speak Jianghuai Mandarin, which was the dialect of Yangzhou. They instead replaced Mandarin with Wu and spoke Taihu Wu dialects. In Jiangnan itself, multiple subdialects of Wu fought for the position of prestige dialect.
List of Taihu Wu dialect subgroups
Su-Jia-Hu (Suzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou) 蘇嘉湖小片- Su-Hu-Jia (Suzhou-Shanghai-Jiaxing) 蘇滬嘉小片
- Suzhou dialectSuzhou dialectSuzhou dialect is a dialect of Wu, one of the subdivisions of Chinese spoken language. It is spoken in the city of Suzhou, in Jiangsu province of China, and is the traditional prestige dialect of Wu....
(Jiangsu) - ShanghaineseShanghaineseShanghainese , or the Shanghai language , is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai and the surrounding region. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Shanghainese, like other Wu dialects, is largely not mutually intelligible with other Chinese varieties...
- Jiaxing (Zhejiang)
- Wuxi dialectWuxi dialectWuxi dialect is a dialect of Wu. It is spoken in the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu province of China....
(Jiangsu)
- Suzhou dialect
- Tiaoxi 苕溪小片 (now considered to be a subbranch or sister group to Suzhou-Shanghai-Jiaxing)
- Huzhou dialect (Zhejiang)
- Southeast Guangde dialect (Anhui)
Northwestern Wu
- Piling 毗陵小片 (spoken in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces)
- Changzhou dialectChangzhou dialectChangzhou dialect is a dialect of Wu, a Sino-Tibetan language, and belongs to the Taihu dialect group. It is spoken in the city of Changzhou and surrounding areas in Jiangsu province of China. It has many similarities with the Shanghainese and Suzhou dialect, but is largely not comprehensible...
(Jiangsu)
- Changzhou dialect
- Hangzhou 杭州小片
- Hangzhou dialectHangzhou dialectThe Hangzhou dialect, or Rhangzei Rhwa , is spoken in the city of Hangzhou and its immediate suburbs, but excluding areas further away from Hangzhou such as Xiāoshān and Yúháng . The number of speakers of the Hangzhou dialect has been estimated to be about 1.2 to 1.5 million...
(Zhejiang)
- Hangzhou dialect
Northern Zhejiang
- Lingshao 臨紹小片 or Yuezhou 越州小片
- Shaoxing dialect (Zhejiang)
- Ling'an (Zhejiang)
- Yongjiang 甬江小片 or Mingzhou 明州小片
- Ningbo dialectNingbo dialectNingbo dialect is a dialect of Wu, one of the subdivisions of Chinese spoken language. It is spoken in the city of Ningbo and Zhoushan and surrounding areas in Zhejiang province.-Area:...
(Zhejiang) - Zhoushan (Zhejiang)
- Ningbo dialect
- Jinxiang dialectJinxiang dialectJinxiang dialect , is a Taihu Wu dialect, or a Northern Wu dialect, spoken in Cangnan county of Wenzhou prefecture-level city. It is considered to be a Taihu Wu linguistic exclave within the mostly Min Nan speaking part of Southern Zhejiang....
金鄉話 (appears to be an isolate, but closely related to the Taihu Wu varieties of Northern Zhejiang.)
List of Taihu Wu dialects
- Shanghai dialect
- Ningbo dialectNingbo dialectNingbo dialect is a dialect of Wu, one of the subdivisions of Chinese spoken language. It is spoken in the city of Ningbo and Zhoushan and surrounding areas in Zhejiang province.-Area:...
- Hangzhou dialectHangzhou dialectThe Hangzhou dialect, or Rhangzei Rhwa , is spoken in the city of Hangzhou and its immediate suburbs, but excluding areas further away from Hangzhou such as Xiāoshān and Yúháng . The number of speakers of the Hangzhou dialect has been estimated to be about 1.2 to 1.5 million...
- Suzhou dialectSuzhou dialectSuzhou dialect is a dialect of Wu, one of the subdivisions of Chinese spoken language. It is spoken in the city of Suzhou, in Jiangsu province of China, and is the traditional prestige dialect of Wu....
- Changzhou dialectChangzhou dialectChangzhou dialect is a dialect of Wu, a Sino-Tibetan language, and belongs to the Taihu dialect group. It is spoken in the city of Changzhou and surrounding areas in Jiangsu province of China. It has many similarities with the Shanghainese and Suzhou dialect, but is largely not comprehensible...
- Wuxi dialectWuxi dialectWuxi dialect is a dialect of Wu. It is spoken in the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu province of China....
- Jiangyin dialectJiangyin dialectJiangyin dialect is a Northern Wu Chinese dialect spoken in the city of Jiangyin in Jiangsu province. Jiangyin dialect is a member of the Wu Chinese Taihu Wu family of dialects, which means the inhabitants speak a dialect similar to that of nearby Wuxi, Changzhou, Suzhou, and Shanghai. Jiangyin...
- Qihai dialectQihai dialectQihai dialect is a Wu Chinese dialect spoken in Tongzhou, Haimen, Qidong districts in southern Jiangsu province, as well as spoken on Chongming Island in Shanghai, It is considered to be a Taihu Wu dialect, which is intelligible with Shanghainese dialect....
- Jinxiang dialectJinxiang dialectJinxiang dialect , is a Taihu Wu dialect, or a Northern Wu dialect, spoken in Cangnan county of Wenzhou prefecture-level city. It is considered to be a Taihu Wu linguistic exclave within the mostly Min Nan speaking part of Southern Zhejiang....