Wenzhou dialect
Encyclopedia
Wenzhounese or Oujiang is the speech of Wenzhou
, the southern prefecture of Zhejiang
Province, China. It is the most divergent division of Wu Chinese, and is sometimes considered a separate language. It features noticeable elements of Min, which borders it to the south. Oujiang is sometimes used as the broad umbrella term, reserving Wenzhou for Wenzhounese proper in sensu stricto.
Wenzhou is not mutually intelligible with other varieties of Wu neighboring it to the north and west, let alone with Min Dong
to the south or with the official language of China, Mandarin.
Due to its long history and the geographical features of the region on which it is located, Wenzhou Chinese is so eccentric in its phonology that it has the reputation of being the "least comprehensible dialect" for an average Mandarin speaker. It preserves some vocabulary from classical Chinese
lost elsewhere, and has noticeable grammatical differences from Mandarin.
during wartime communication. Due to its unique grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, the language is basically impossible for any non-local to understand.
There is a common variation of the "fearless" rhymed saying in China that reflect this comprehension difficulty: "Fear neither the heavens nor the earth [i.e. dread nothing], but be afraid of hearing a person from Wenzhou speak in their local tongue." (天不怕，地不怕，就怕温州人説温州話)
, USA; historically, there has also been a Wenzhounese-speaking community in Paris
, France
.
The most important difference between eastern Oujiang dialects such as Wencheng and Wenzhou proper is the entering tone, which merged with rising tone after unvoiced consonants, and the retention of /f/ before /o/:
Consonant
Syntax
Wenzhou dialect has some unique particularities regarding syntax.
Like other Chinese dialects, Wenzhou dialect has meanly SOV language structure, but in some situations it's meanly SOV or OSV.
SOV is commonly used with verb+suffix, the common suffixes are 过去起落来牢得还.
ex. 书给其还 （个）瓶水pai去
EXAMPLES OF OUJIANG DIALECTS
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....
, the southern prefecture 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, China. It is the most divergent division of Wu Chinese, and is sometimes considered a separate language. It features noticeable elements of Min, which borders it to the south. Oujiang is sometimes used as the broad umbrella term, reserving Wenzhou for Wenzhounese proper in sensu stricto.
Wenzhou is not mutually intelligible with other varieties of Wu neighboring it to the north and west, let alone with Min Dong
Min Dong
The Eastern Min language, or Min Dong is the language mainly spoken in the eastern part of Fujian Province in China, in and near Fuzhou and Ningde. Fuzhou is the province's capital and largest city...
to the south or with the official language of China, Mandarin.
Due to its long history and the geographical features of the region on which it is located, Wenzhou Chinese is so eccentric in its phonology that it has the reputation of being the "least comprehensible dialect" for an average Mandarin speaker. It preserves some vocabulary from classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...
lost elsewhere, and has noticeable grammatical differences from Mandarin.
Classification
The linguistic mosaic that makes up China is especially diverse in Zhejiang province, where Wenzhou is located. Wenzhou is further divided into many dialects. When people refer to the standard Wenzhou dialect, they usually mean the language spoken by the people living in more developed areas of Wenzhou, i.e. Lucheng, Ouhai, Longwan, Yongjia, Ruian, and Yueqing, though they may be referring to Oujiang as a whole. Over five million people speak dialects of Oujiang/Wenzhou that are mutually intelligible, but differences are marked, with sound systems changing almost comprehensively every ten kilometers, especially in rural areas. People from Taizhou, who speak the Wu dialect which borders Wenzhou to the north, cannot comprehend Wenzhou.Reputation for Eccentricity
Due to its high degree of eccentricity, the language is reputed to have been used during the Second Sino-Japanese WarSecond Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
during wartime communication. Due to its unique grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, the language is basically impossible for any non-local to understand.
There is a common variation of the "fearless" rhymed saying in China that reflect this comprehension difficulty: "Fear neither the heavens nor the earth [i.e. dread nothing], but be afraid of hearing a person from Wenzhou speak in their local tongue." (天不怕，地不怕，就怕温州人説温州話)
Geographic distribution
Wenzhounese is spoken primarily in Wenzhou and the surrounding southern portion of Zhejiang Province of China. To a lesser extent, it is also spoken in scattered pockets of Fujian Province in Southeastern China. Overseas, it is spoken in increasingly larger communities in Flushing Chinatown and Brooklyn Chinatown, New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, USA; historically, there has also been a Wenzhounese-speaking community in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Dialects
Oujiang (Dong'ou) 甌江 (東甌)- Wenzhou dialectWenzhou dialectWenzhounese or Oujiang is the speech of Wenzhou, the southern prefecture of Zhejiang Province, China. It is the most divergent division of Wu Chinese, and is sometimes considered a separate language. It features noticeable elements of Min, which borders it to the south...
溫州話 - Ruian dialectRuian dialectRuian Dialect is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in RuianIt belongs to the Oujiang sub-group of Wu language.It's strictly related to Pingyang dialect and Lucheng dialcet, generally referred as Wenzhounese.-Initials:...
瑞安話 - Wencheng dialect 文成話
The most important difference between eastern Oujiang dialects such as Wencheng and Wenzhou proper is the entering tone, which merged with rising tone after unvoiced consonants, and the retention of /f/ before /o/:
| 八 | 风 | 到 | 晓得 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wenzhou | puu | hoŋ | tə | ɕadei |
| Wencheng | bɔ | foŋ | tɶ | ɕodi |
ConsonantConsonantIn articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
s
| bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
labio-dental Labiodental consonant In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.-Labiodental consonant in IPA:The labiodental consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
alveolo-palatal Alveolo-palatal consonant In phonetics, alveolo-palatal consonants are palatalized postalveolar sounds, usually fricatives and affricates, articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the body of the tongue raised toward the palate... |
palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
| voiceless Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
ʔm | ʔn | ʔɲ | ʔŋ | ||||
| plosives Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &... |
voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
b | d | ɡ | ||||
| voiceless Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... unaspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ... |
p | t | k | |||||
| voiceless Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... aspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ... |
pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | |||||
| fricatives Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
v | z | ɦ | ||||
| voiceless Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
f | s | ɕ | h | ||||
| affricates Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
dz | dʑ | |||||
| voiceless Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... unaspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ... |
ts | tɕ | ||||||
| voiceless Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... aspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ... |
tsʰ | tɕʰ | ||||||
| approximants Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
j | |||||||
| lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth.... approximants Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
l | |||||||
Citation tones
Wenzhou has three phonemic tones. While it has eight phonetic tones, most of these are predictable: The yin–yang tone split dating from Middle Chinese still corresponds to the voicing of the initial consonant in Wenzhou, and the ru tones are simply syllables with a final stop.| Tone number | Tone name Tone name In the Chinese and Vietnamese languages, tone names are the names given to the tones these languages use.*In Chinese, tone names are given in terms of the four tones, namely level , rising , departing , and entering , as well as dark and light , and high and low .* Standard Vietnamese has six... | Tone contour Tone contour A tone contour is a tone in a tonal language which shifts from one pitch to another over the course of the syllable or word. Tone contours are especially common in East and Southeast Asia, but occur elsewhere, such as the Kru languages of Liberia and the Ju languages of Namibia.-Themes:When the... |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | yin ping (陰平) | ˦ 4 |
| 2 | yang ping (陽平) |˧˩ 31 |
|
| 3 | yin shang (陰上) |˦˥ 45 |
|
| 4 | yang shang (陽上) |˧˦ 34 |
|
| 5 | yin qu (陰去) |˦˨ 42 |
|
| 6 | yang qu (陽去) |˨ 2 |
|
| 7 | yin ru (陰入) | ˧˨˧̚ 323 |
| 8 | yang ru (陽入) | ˨˩˨̚ 212 |
SyntaxSyntaxIn linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
Wenzhou dialect has some unique particularities regarding syntax.Like other Chinese dialects, Wenzhou dialect has meanly SOV language structure, but in some situations it's meanly SOV or OSV.
SOV is commonly used with verb+suffix, the common suffixes are 过去起落来牢得还.
ex. 书给其还 （个）瓶水pai去
Examples
There are a lot of sub-branches of Oujiang group of dialects, some are not very intelligible like Wenzhou city dialect with some Wencheng dialect, but there is no trouble understanding neighbouring dialect or very few, I'll take as example 2 dialects spoken in Li'ao village of Ouhai District, Wenzhou, one dialect is spoken in 白门 (where the local people have 姜 as their surname), the other one is 王宅 (where local people have normally 王 or 黄 as their surname), they are nearly 100% except for few vocabulary, as the word RUBBISH is different in these 2 dialects, in one, the 白门 dialect it is ʔlutsuu, in the other is ʔladʒee (from mandarin 垃圾).EXAMPLES OF OUJIANG DIALECTS
| dialect | 一 | 两 | 三 | 四 | 五 | 六 | 七 | 八 | 九 | 十 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| wenzhou | iaii | liɛ2 | sa1 | sɨ3 | ŋ2 | loɯɯ | ts'aii | puu | tɕaɯ2 | zaii |
| ruian | iaa | la2 | so1 | sɨ3 | ŋ2 | loɯɯ (also liɯɯ in some variants) | ts'aa | puu | tɕaɯ2 | zaa |
See also
- List of Chinese dialects
- Wu Chinese
- Wenzhounese romanisationWenzhounese romanisationThe Romanisation of the Wenzhou dialect of Wu Chinese, part of the greater Ou grouping of Wú dialects centered around the city, refers to the use of a Latinate alphabet as a means of phonetically representing the sounds of this dialect group.-Early Romanisation:...
- 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....
- Shanghai dialectShanghaineseShanghainese , 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...
- 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...