| Hangzhounese | |
|---|---|
| Hangzhou dialect | |
| 杭州話／杭州话,ghan-tsei-wa | |
| Pronunciation | [ɦɑŋ˨tsei˧˦ɦua˥˧] |
| Native to | People's Republic of China |
| Region | urban centre ofHangzhou |
| Speakers | 1.92 million (2012)[1] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| ISO 639-6 | hgou |
| Glottolog | hang1257 |
| Linguasphere | 79-AAA-dbd |
.png) Location where Hangzhounese is traditionally spoken, between Suhujia (blue) and Linshao (green) areas[2] | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Hangzhounese, or theHangzhou dialect, is aSinitic language spoken in the urban centre ofHangzhou (that is to say, in the districts ofGongshu,Shangcheng,Xihu,Binjiang, and parts ofQiantang), the capital ofZhejiang,China, by over a million speakers.[1] It has traditionally been classified as aNorthern Wu variety, but has undergone significantMandarinic influence, due in large part to historical migrations, making it of immense interest toChinese historical phonologists anddialectologists. Phonologically, the variety has many features that distinguish it from traditional Wu varieties such asSuzhounese andShanghainese,[3] but also exhibits behaviour not seen in other Mandarinic languages. Hangzhounese is also lexically and morphosyntactically difficult to categorise, leading to some linguists calling it a "Mandarinicised Wu"hybrid variety, or even acreole language. Today, Hangzhounese remains an important cultural marker for natives of the city,[4] though its cultural significance is not as strong as that of Shanghainese to Shanghai inhabitants.[5] Its usage has also declined due to the dominance ofStandard Mandarin in education and public life.
Hangzhounese is mainly spoken in the urban area inHangzhou, including the urban area of modern-dayGongshu,Shangcheng, the urban core and seven villages ofXihu, and part ofBinjiang.[6] The first edition of theLanguage Atlas of China further restricts this to only the north bank of theQiantang River,[2] whereas the second edition expands its userbase intoYuhang andXiaoshan as well.[7]
If Hangzhounese is to be classified as a Wu variety, it is the sole member of the Hangzhou cluster (杭州小片) ofNorthern Wu.[1][8] However, an alternative phylogeny, classifying it as a parallel branch withHuai Chinese, has been proposed.[3][4][9]
Hangzhounese, as mentioned above, has a host of features that are of Mandarinic origin. This is primarily due to theJingkang incident and the large migration wave that accompanied it.[10]
Phonological features include:[11]
Grammatical features include:
Lexical features include:
It is, however, noteworthy that many of the above features can be seen in other Wu varieties.
Hangzhounese does also have some Wu-like features, such as:[10][13][14]
It is also of note that Hangzhounese has been gradually gaining Wu Chinese features, such as younger speakers developing newvernacular pronunciations.[15]
Some linguists have proposed that Hangzhounese underwentcreolisation orkoineisation, which would explain the blend of primarily Mandarinic phonology and primarily Wu morphosyntax.[16]
For much of Hangzhou's history, the lect spoken in the city would have been a typical Wu variety. The linguistic transformation that led to its Mandarinic appearance is in primarily due to theJingkang incident of theSong dynasty, in which the imperial court was moved fromBianjing (today Kaifeng) to Lin'an, modern day Hangzhou. The event caused a massive influx of Northern Chinese refugees of various walks of life,[17] who spoke a variety of Mandarin, dubbed by Zheng Wei as Bianliang Mandarin (汴梁官話).[18]
As Hangzhou was the primary political and commercial centre of the region, Hangzhounese also took on the role as a local merchant language andlingua franca,[19] leading to many Wu varieties adopting Hangzhounese's Mandarin pronunciations to form aliterary layer locally called "Zhejiang Mandarin" (浙江官話). The effect is most pronounced in lects that are found along trade routes into and out of Hangzhou, such as on theQiantang River, theGrand Canal, and directly out of theHangzhou Bay.[20] Hangzhounese was also used extensively inMing dynasty literature, as seen from the many Hangzhounese or otherwise Northern Wu lexica in, for instance,Water Margin.[21][22]
During theQing dynasty, Hangzhounese underwent another instance of Mandarinisation, due to the presence of Manchubannermen in the city.[18] After the end of dynastic rule in China, Hangzhou experienced a large population increase, almost doubling its population between 1947 and 1985. Coupled withtuipu policies, use of Hangzhounese gradually began to decline.[23]
Hangzhounese is today a "developing" language, with a rating of 5 on theExpanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS), meaning it is still in vigorous use, but its written form are neither sustainable, nor widespread.[4] A study in 2016 found that only around 20% of student respondents could proficiently use the variety, which, in contrast to the 48% figure quoted for Shanghai, is low. 3.5% of respondents used Hangzhounese exclusively at home, and a further 15.5% use it alongside Standard Mandarin.[24] A different study had respondents that believed that it is inappropriate to use Hangzhounese in official occasions.[4] Nonetheless, use of Hangzhounese can at times still be seen in official media, such as in the TV showOld Liutou Tells the News (阿六頭說新聞), which has been running since 2004. The show has been and still is popular to this day.[25]
The phonology of Hangzhounese shows a mix of both Mandarinic and Northern Wu features.
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ 馬亡門麥 | n ⟨n⟩ 你內難納 | ɲ ⟨gn⟩ 銀繞逆玉 | ŋ ⟨ng⟩ 呆礙岸額 | ||
| Plosive | plain | p ⟨p⟩ 巴表變北 | t ⟨t⟩ 堆店黨德 | k ⟨k⟩ 古官廣骨 | (ʔ) 衣咬安屋 | |
| aspirated | pʰ ⟨ph⟩ 破怕胖撲 | tʰ ⟨th⟩ 天吐痛塔 | kʰ ⟨kh⟩ 枯快康客 | |||
| voiced | b ⟨b⟩ 袍步旁白 | d ⟨d⟩ 台隊定笛 | ɡ ⟨g⟩ 狂跪環葵 | |||
| Affricate | plain | ts ⟨ts⟩ 災資張桌 | tɕ ⟨c⟩ 街酒江腳 | |||
| aspirated | tsʰ ⟨tsh⟩ 車草唱尺 | tɕʰ ⟨ch⟩ 丘搶欠七 | ||||
| voiced | dz (dz) 茶站蟲直 | dʑ ⟨j⟩ 齊轎件強 | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f ⟨f⟩ 封肺反法 | s ⟨s⟩ 沙掃送色 | ɕ ⟨sh⟩ 信小向吸 | h ⟨h⟩ 花海荒黑 | |
| voiced | v ⟨v⟩ 文肥房伐 | z ⟨z⟩ 如受上肉 | ɦ ⟨gh⟩, ⟨y⟩, ⟨w⟩ 戶鞋黃盒 | |||
| Lateral | l ⟨l⟩ 羅亂浪六 | |||||
Hangzhounese has a three-way contrast in its plosives and affricates, and also has voicing contrast in fricatives. The voiced consonants in Hangzhounese, like Northern Wu languages, are in reality, voiceless consonants with breathy voice.[29][30] The labiodental initials/fv/ are closer to[ɸβ] when in front of/u/.[31][32] Sonorants, when paired with dark tones, are at times transcribed withglottalisation.[33][32]
The chart below shows the 48 rimes found in Hangzhounese.[26][29][34]
| Medial | Nucleus | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ∅ | ɑ | e | ɔ | o | ø | ei | ẽ | õ | en | ɑŋ | oŋ | ɑʔ | əʔ | oʔ | |
| ∅ | ɿ ⟨y⟩ 知次市 | ɑ ⟨a⟩ 媽哈沙 | e ⟨e⟩ 開台海 | ɔ ⟨au⟩ 包刀好 | o ⟨o⟩ 波多我 | ø ⟨eu⟩[note 1] 溝口扣 | ei ⟨ei⟩ 斗頭手 | ẽ ⟨aen⟩ 板山安 | en ⟨en⟩ 分成很 | ɑŋ ⟨an⟩ 方港杭 | oŋ ⟨on⟩ 東送共 | ɑʔ ⟨aq⟩ 法集踏 | əʔ ⟨eq⟩ 德汁色 | oʔ ⟨oq⟩ 六叔福 | |
| i | i ⟨i⟩ 西衣皮 | iɑ ⟨ia⟩ 家鴉下 | ie ⟨ie⟩ 街界鞋 | iɔ ⟨iau⟩ 交小妖 | iø ⟨ieu⟩ 丟酒求 | iẽ ⟨ien⟩ 煙田邊 | in ⟨in⟩ 心丁引 | iɑŋ ⟨ian⟩ 江亮想 | ioŋ ⟨ion⟩ 永兄窮 | iɑʔ ⟨iaq⟩ 腳削藥 | iəʔ ⟨iq⟩ 筆一力 | ioʔ ⟨ioq⟩ 吃玉育 | |||
| u | u ⟨u⟩ 烏布蘇 | uɑ ⟨a⟩ 瓜花畫 | ue ⟨ue⟩ 拐快外 | uo ⟨uo⟩ 話[note 2] | ui ⟨uei⟩ 位鬼灰 | uõ ⟨uon⟩ 彎亂半 | un ⟨uen⟩ 溫滾坤 | uɑŋ ⟨uan⟩ 黃光狂 | uɑʔ ⟨uaq⟩ 挖颳挖 | uoʔ ⟨uoq⟩ 骨闊活 | |||||
| ʮ | ʮ ⟨yu⟩ 朱居樹 | ʮɑ ⟨ua⟩ 抓耍[note 3] | ʮe ⟨ue⟩ 摔帥率 | ʮei ⟨uei⟩ 車蛇水 | ʮõ ⟨uon⟩ 酸船圈 | ʮen ⟨uen⟩ 村准順 | ʮɑŋ ⟨uan⟩ 雙窗床 | ʮɑʔ ⟨uaq⟩ 刷 | ʮəʔ ⟨ueq⟩ 卒說熱 | ||||||
| y | y ⟨iu⟩ 語女取 | yõ ⟨iuon⟩ 圓冤院 | yn ⟨iun⟩ 雲運勻 | yəʔ ⟨iuq⟩ 月浴鬱 | |||||||||||
Other rimes include/əl/ (in, for instance,兒爾二) and syllabic nasals/m/ (as in呣媽 "mum"),/n/ (as in□娘 "aunt"), and/ŋ/, which is seen in the speech of younger speakers, and patterns similarly to the syllabic nasal in other Northern Wu varieties (eg. in五).
The cross-linguistically rare apical glide/-ʮ-/ appears after dentialveolars and in complementary distribution with the/-u-/ medial.[35]
More precise descriptions of these rimes are as follows:[26][36][37][38]
Hangzhounese, like other Sinitic languages, have phonemictone. Hangzhounese has seven tone categories, based on theMiddle Chinese tone categories.
| Wugniu | Category | Value | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dark level (陰平) | ˧˧˦ 334 | 金詩單連貓 |
| 2 | Light level (陽平) | ˨˧ 23 | 秦時台梅毛 |
| 3 | Rising (上聲) | ˥˧ 53 | 井死膽染尾 |
| 5 | Dark departing (陰去) | ˦˥ 45 | 鏡四帶二岸 |
| 6 | Light departing (陽去) | ˩˩˧ 113 | 近誓袋右令 |
| 7 | Dark checked (陰入) | ˥ 5 | 急失的搣摸 |
| 8 | Light checked (陽入) | ˨˧23 | 極十踏額六 |
Light tones only appear with voicedobstruents andnasal initials, whereas dark tones only appear with voiceless and othersonorant initials. The rising tone acts like a dark tone; historical voiced obstruents with the rising tone category are today realised with the light departing tone.
More precise descriptions of the above are as follows:[26][43]
Like Northern Wu languages, Hangzhounese exhibits complextone sandhi. Sandhi chains can be bidirectional, and the most important tonemes in determining the sandhi chain lies closest to the head.[33][44]
| Head tone | Chain length | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 | ˧˧˦ 334 | ˧ 33 ˧˦ 34 | ˧ 33 ˧˦ 34 ˥˧ 53 | ˧ 33 ˧˦ 34 ˥ 55 ˨˩ 21 | ˧ 33 ˧˦ 34 ˥ 55 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 |
| ˧ 33 ˥˧ 53 | ˧ 33 ˥ 55 ˨˩ 21 | ˧ 33 ˥ 55 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 | |||
| 2 | ˨˧ 23 | ˨ 22 ˧˦ 34 | ˨ 22 ˧˦ 34 ˥˧ 53 | ˨ 22 ˨˧ 34 ˥ 55 ˨˩ 21 | |
| ˨ 22 ˥˧ 53 | ˨ 22 ˥ 55 ˨˩ 21 | ˨ 22 ˥ 55 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 | |||
| 3 | ˥˧ 53 | ˥ 55 ˨˩ 21 | ˥ 55 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 | ˥ 55 ˨ 22 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 | ˥ 55 ˨ 22 ˨ 22 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 |
| 5 | ˦˥ 45 | ˧˦ 34 ˥˧ 53 | ˧˦ 34 ˥ 55 ˨˩ 21 | ˧˦ 34 ˥ 55 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 | |
| 6 | ˩˩˧ 113 | ˩ 11 ˥˧ 53 | ˩ 11 ˥ 55 ˨˩ 21 | ˩ 11 ˥ 55 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 | ˩ 11 ˥ 55 ˨ 22 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 |
| 7 | ˥ 5 | ˧ 3 ˧˦ 34 | ˧ 3 ˧˦ 34 ˥˧ 53 | ˧ 3 ˧˦ 34 ˥ 55 ˨˩ 21 | |
| ˧ 3 ˥˧ 53 | ˧ 3 ˥ 55 ˨˩ 21 | ˧ 3 ˥ 55 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 | |||
| ˥ 5 ˨˩ 21 | ˥ 5 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 | ˥ 5 ˨ 22 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 | |||
| 8 | ˨˧ 23 | ˨ 2 ˧˦ 34 | ˨ 2 ˧˦ 34 ˥˧ 53 | ˨ 2 ˧˦ 34 ˥ 55 ˨˩ 21 | ˨ 2 ˧˦ 34 ˥ 55 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 |
| ˨ 2 ˥˧ 53 | ˨ 2 ˥ 55 ˨˩ 21 | ˨ 2 ˥ 55 ˨ 22 ˨˩ 21 | |||
A trisyllabic sandhi chain ˨ 2 ˨ 2 ˧ 33 is also seen in a small number of words starting with light checked syllables.
The top chain of each head tone represents the dominant sandhi chain. The second shows a secondary realisation, often associated with the rising tone category, though this association is not particularly rigid.[46]
Left-prominent chains are used in polysyllabic words, and chains spread to subsequent words as well in verb-pronoun constructions and with the nounattributive nouns modify.Sentence-final particles also attach onto chains they follow.[47] Some historical light rising syllables may switch categories in sandhi, for instance3lau老 in老鴨兒 "old duck" takes the dark rising pattern, whereas in老酒 "huangjiu" it takes the light departing pattern.[26]
| Head tone | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | ˧ 33 | ˨ 22 | ˧ 33 ~ ˦ 44 | ˧ 33 ~ ˧˦ 32 | ˩ 11~ ˩˨ 12 ~ ˨˧ 23 | ˧ 3 ~ ˦ 4 | ˨ 2 ~ ˧ 3 |
Right-prominent sandhi, on the other hand, is used in verb-object constructions, verb-resultative constructions, and on monosyllabic adverbs and subjects. The right-prominent sandhi tone change only applies to the syllable directly adjacent to the head.[49]
Sandhi behaviour in Hangzhounese is, as demonstrated, similar to sandhi behaviour in other Northern Wu languages.
The/n/ initial is universally palatalised in younger speakers' speech. Syllables with irregular/l/ and/n/ initials in older speakers' speech are normalised in younger speakers' idiolects.[50]
| 鳥 | 寧 | 哪 | 那 | 兩 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | niǎo | níng | nǎ | nà | liǎng |
| Old Hangzhounese | liau3 | lin2 | la3 | la3 | nian6 |
| New Hangzhounese | gniau3 | gnin2 | na3 | na3 | lian6 |
The/z/ initial, when in Standard Mandarin the initial isr-, is pronounced as/ɹ/ by younger speakers.[50]
The/ø/ rime is only found in older speakers' speech, and can also be realised as[ey]. Younger speakers merge this rime with/ei/.[35][51]
The/ʮ/ rime and/-ʮ-/ glide are both merged into their/u/ counterparts in younger speakers' speech.[52] The nasal element of the/ẽ/ and/õ/ series are lost in younger speakers' speech. Coupled with the/ʮ/-/u/ merger, younger speakers therefore merge the/ʮõ/,/uõ/, and/uo/ rimes.[53][50][51]
The/ɑŋ/ rime series is realised as[æ̃] in the speech of older speakers in the old town.[54] The checked/ɑʔ/ and/əʔ/ rime series are merged by some speakers.[51]
Younger speakers split the/o/ rime based on its distribution in Standard Mandarin. When in Standard Mandarin the rime is-u, younger speakers realise it as/u/; when in Standard Mandarin the rime is-uo, younger speakers say/ou/.[35]
There are minor differences in tone distribution and sandhi chains between different age groups.[35]
As mentioned above, some speakers may importcolloquial pronunciations from nearby Wu varieties. The effect is most pronounced in the speech of younger speakers and female speakers.[15]
Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
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| WesternHimalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand,Nepal,Sikkim) |
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| EasternHimalayas (Tibet,Bhutan,Arunachal) | |||||
| Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border |
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| East andSoutheast Asia |
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| Dubious (possible isolates,Arunachal) |
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| Proposed groupings | |||||
| Proto-languages | |||||
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches. | |||||
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