Historical linguists view Wu of great significance due to its obviously distinct nature.[4] The Wu languages typically preserve allvoiced initials ofmedieval Chinese, as well as thechecked tone in the form of aglottal stop.[5] Wu varieties also have noticeably uniquemorphological andsyntactic innovations,[6] as well aslexicon exclusively found in the Wu grouping. It is also of note that the influential linguistChao Yuen Ren was a native speaker ofChangzhounese, a variety of Northern Wu.[7] The Wu varieties, especially that of Suzhou, are traditionally perceived as soft in the ears of speakers of both Wu and non-Wu languages, leading to the idiom "the tender speech of Wu" (吴侬软语;吳儂軟語).
Speakers of Wu varieties are mostly unaware of this term for their speech, since the classificatory imposition of "Wu" used in linguistics today is a relatively recent coinage. Saying someone "speaks Wu" is therefore akin to saying someone "speaks a Romance language"; it is not a particularly defined entity likeStandard Mandarin orHochdeutsch.
Most speakers are only aware of their local variety's affinities with other similarly classified varieties, and will generally only refer to their local Wu variety rather than to the dialect family as a whole. This is typically done by affixing話 ('speech') to a location's endonym. For example,溫州話 (Wu Chinese pronunciation:[ʔy˧꜖tɕiɤu˧꜖ɦo˩꜒꜔]) is used forWenzhounese. Affixing閒話 is also common, and more typical of Northern Wu, as in嘉興閒話 (Wugniu:ka-shin ghae-o) for theJiaxing variety [zh]. Names for the group as a whole include:
Wu language (吴语;吳語;Wúyǔ; Shanghainese[ɦu˨ɲy˦]; Suzhounese[ɦoʊ˨ɲy˦]; Wuxinese[ŋ˨˨˧nʲy˨]; 'Wu language'), the formal name and standard reference indialectology literature.
Wutopolect (吴方言;吳方言;Wú fāngyán), a common name that refers to Wu languages that appends方言 ("dialect, topolect") instead of語 ("language"), at times perceived as derogatory.[8]
Wuyue language (吴越语;吳越語;Wúyuèyǔ; 'the language of Wu–Yue'), a poetic and historical name, highlighting the roots of the language in antiquity, specifically the culture of theWu andYue states during theWarring States period.
Goetian, derived from the Japanese spelling ofWuyue (吳越;Go-etsu), is among the alternative names listed byEthnologue.[9]
Jiang–Zhe speech (江浙话;江浙話;Jiāngzhè huà), a non-standard name meaning 'the speech ofJiangsu andZhejiang, occasionally used to highlight the fact that the language is spoken across two provinces.
Jiangnan speech (江南话;江南話;Jiāngnán huà), a non-standard, less common name linking the language to the cultural region ofJiangnan. This is not to be confused with the Jiangnan Industrial Groups Koiné spoken inXiangtan, which is classified as a variety of Mandarin.[10] Contrasts withJiāngběihuà (江北話), ie.Huai Chinese.
Migratory routes into or out of theearly modern limits of Wu Chinese
It is believed thatHan Chinese peoples first arrived at the area duringpre-dynastic history. After the migrations preceding theUpheaval of the Five Barbarians, the vernacular that would later lead to modern Wu Chinese started taking shape, though the court language ofJiankang (todayNanjing) was still noticeably different to that of the commonfolk. A second migration wave during theSouthern Song dynasty, this time toLin'an (Hangzhou), led to the formation of the modernliterary layer, and during theYuan andMing dynasties, manyoperatic traditions andvernacular texts began to appear. Later, during theQing dynasty,missionaries began translatingthe Bible into various local varieties, recording the exact pronunciations of many varieties for the first time. This was also when the economic boom ofShanghai happened, leading to its urban variety becoming the prestige variety over that ofSuzhou. The 20th century marked a pivotal moment of Wu linguistic change, asStandard Mandarin waspromoted nation-wide, though the 21st century is seeingrevival efforts for many Wu Chinese varieties.
Before the migration of the Han Chinese peoples, theJiangnan region was inhabited byKra-Dai orAustroasiatic peoples, which were dubbed barbarians by the early Chinese.
According to traditional history,Taibo of Wu settled in the area during theShang dynasty, bringing along a large section of the population and Chinese administrative practices to form thestate of Wu.[11] The majority population of the state would have been the ancientBaiyue peoples, who had very different customs and practices compared to the Chinese.
It is said inMaster Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals that the customs and languages of the states ofWu andYue were the same.[12] This refers not just to theBaiyue language of the area, but also of that of "Ancient Wu",[13] a Sinitic language likely only used by the nobility.[14][15] The northern border of this Ancient Wu language is at theHuai River rather than theYangtze like it is today,[13][16] and its southern limits may have reached as far asFujian, asProto-Min may have been a daughter language to Ancient Wu,[17] though this is not fully accepted.[18] As early as the time ofGuo Pu (275–324), speakers easily perceived differences between dialects in different parts of China, including the area where Ancient Wu was spoken. The language slowly receded from the north due to growing pressure from theCentral Plains, until its northern limit was set near the Yangtze River towards the end of theWestern Jin dynasty.[14] Note, however, that due to the fact that all modern Wu varieties work within theQieyun system, thisOld Chinese dialect cannot be the primary origin of Wu Chinese today.
It is known that Wu languages inherited a significant number ofloanwords ofKra-Dai origin. A study of the variety spoken inMaqiao, a suburb ofShanghai, found that 126 out of around a thousand lexical items surveyed were of Kra-Dai origin.[19] Terms such as落蘇 (Wugniu:8loq-su1 "aubergine") are also shared between otherSinitic languages (eg.Teochew,Peng'im:lag8 sou1) as well as Kra-Dai languages (cf.Standard Zhuanglwggwz).[20] Shared terms withAustroasiatic languages have also been suggested, though many of them, such asVietnameseđầm,bèo, andkè, have also been argued to beareal features, Chinese words in disguise, or long shots.[21]
ThoughSino-Tibetan, Kra-Dai,Austronesian and Austroasiatic are mostly considered to be unrelated to each other,Laurent Sagart has proposed some possible phylogenetic affinities. Specifically, Tai–Kadai and Sino-Tibetan could possibly both belong to the Sino-Austronesian language family (not to be confused with Austroasiatic) due to a scattering of cognates between their ancestral forms,[22] and there is also some, albeit much more tenuous, evidence to suggest that Austroasiatic should also be included. However, his views are but one among competing hypotheses about the phylogeny of these languages, and is not widely accepted.[23] See theSino-Austronesian languages article for some further detail.
It does appear that Wu varieties have had non-Sinitic influences, and many contain words cognate with those of other languages in various strata. These words however are few and far between, and Wu on the whole is most strongly influenced by other Chinese languages rather than any other linguistic influence.
This period is bookended by two major migration waves into the Wu-speaking area. The first was in the4th centuryCE from primarily the mountains ofShandong, whereas the second happened during the12th centuryCE, and originated from theHeluo region.
Migrants went as far south as centralZhejiang,[24] though many settled in the geographically less challenging areas in the north, that is to say, theYangtze Delta and theHangjiahu Plain.[26] Early stages of this period of change was likely marked bydiglossia, with the commonfolk typically speaking Ancient Wu or their native Shandong or northern Jiangsu Chinese, and the nobility, both new migrants and old aristocracy, typically speaking a variety not dissimilar to that of early medievalLuoyang.[15] This linguistic situation eventually led to the formation of modern Wu, with many early coincidental strata that are hard to differentiate today. It is unclear as to when exactly the language of theBaiyue became extinct, though during theEastern Han dynasty,Kra-Dai words were recorded in the everyday vernacular of people in the region,[27] and by the end of the Western Jin, the common language of the region was Sinitic,[28] as will be explained below.
As early as theEastern Wu dynasty, commentators criticized the speech of the Southern aristocracy (ie. that of the Wu-speaking areas), noting that it is neither Wu-sounding nor Northern.[29] However, evidence suggests that the primary language among the populace was, in fact, Sinitic, although not one that was perceived as "civilized".[30] This possible civilian language would be a commonJiangdong Sinitic language (古江東方言), as is seen in theBook of Wei, which unflatteringly compares the speech of Jiangdong to the calls of wild animals.[27] The court language of Jiankang at this time would not have been the same as the civilian Wu language, though it would have been closely related.[28] This would also mark the time whereJapaneseGo-on (呉音;Hepburn:go-on;pinyin:Wúyīn) readings were loaned, and it is accepted that these readings would have been loaned from the language variety of medieval Jiankang.[31][32]
Unlike the previous periods, the history of Wu Chinese after theMongol conquest of China becomes a lot clearer, due to the emergence of vernacular texts.
Following theMongol conquest of China, a period of relative stability followed, and vernacularism started being further embraced. This is evident in the fact thatChinese opera productions, including those of both the Northern and Southern Wu-speaking regions, started using their local varieties rather thanClassical Chinese, as was the norm during and before the Song dynasty.[43]
TheTō-on (唐音;Hepburn:tō-on;Pinyin:Tángyīn) pronunciations introduced during the JapaneseKamakura period were largely rooted in the vernacular of northernZhejiang at around the end of theSong dynasty or start of theYuan dynasty, despite what its name may suggest. Analyses on texts of the time reveal stark phonetic differences between the Wu of today and that of the13th century.[44]
Dialectal differences were not as obvious in textual sources until Ming times,[49] and thus regional linguistic distinctions were only seen in media after the fall of the Yuan. These differences are largely found in musical sources such as historical folk songs andtanci (a kind of ballad or lyric poem). For instance, theShange (山歌;Shāngē; 'Mountain songs'), a collection offolk songs gathered during the Ming dynasty byFeng Menglong in southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang, whereNorthern Wu is today spoken, shows clear signs of modern Wu Chinese in its lexicon.[50][51] Other Ming documents that are either written in Wu or contain parts where Wu is used include:
Sanyan (三言), a trilogy of collected stories also compiled by Feng Menglong
Erpai (二拍), two short story collections byLing Mengchu
Xingshiyan (型世言), a novella recorded by Lu Renlong (陸人龍)
Huanshaji (浣紗記), an opera by Liang Chenyu (梁辰魚)
Mo Hanzhai Dingben Chuanqi (墨憨齋定本傳奇), by Feng Menglong
Guzhang Juechen (鼓掌絕塵), a late Ming novel collection
Bozhonglian (缽中蓮), written by an unknown author
These works contain a small handful of unique grammatical features, some of which are not found in contemporary Mandarin,Classical Chinese, or in contemporary Wu varieties. They do contain many of the unique features in its vocabulary present in contemporary Wu,[52] such aspronouns,[53] but clearly indicate that not all of the earlier unique features of these Wu varieties were carried into present varieties.[54] These works also possess a number ofcharacters uniquely formed to express features not found in the classical language and used some common characters as phonetic loans (seeChinese character classification) to express other uniquely Wu vocabulary.[55]
A 16th century text called theWenqiji (问奇集;問奇集;Wènqíjí) includes a chapter calledGedi Xiangyin (各地鄉音) that records the local pronunciations of terms in various areas. Unlike theQieyun preface, it separates the earlySouthwestern Mandarin ofHuguang, ie. that of Chu, from Wu Chinese. The chapter records typical features of modern Wu, such as:[56][57]
the/ŋ/ coda in the term打; 'to strike' (打為黨)
the loss of the final glide in terms such as解; 'to untie' (解為嫁)
Title Page of Joseph Edkins's 1868 bookA Grammar of Colloquial Chinese, as Exhibited in the Shanghai Dialect
Texts in the earlyQing dynasty remained much the same as that of the Ming dynasty. Works of the time include theQingzhongpu (清忠譜) andDoupeng xianhua (豆棚閒話), an early Qingbaihua novel. During the18th century, significant lexical shifts away from that seen inShange took place; many sources we have of the period are operatic in nature. Representative works from this section include theoperas (especiallykunqu operas) by Qian Decang (錢德蒼) in the collectionZhuibaiqiu (綴白裘),[58] and the legends written byShen Qifeng [zh] or what are known asShenshi Sizhong (沈氏四種), as well as huge numbers oftanci (彈詞) ballads.[59]
Wu-speaking writers who wrote in vernacular Mandarin often left traces of their native varieties in their works, as can be found inGuanchang Xianxing Ji andFubao Xiantan (負曝閒談).[61][62] Works in this period also saw an explosion of new vocabulary in Wu varieties to describe their changing world. This clearly reflects the great social changes which were occurring during the time.[63]
At the same time, missionaryJoseph Edkins gathered large amounts of data and published several educational works onShanghainese,[64] as well asBibles in a few major Wu varieties, including Southern Wu varieties such asJinhuanese andWenzhounese.[65]
Following theTaiping Rebellion, many migrants fromMandarin-speaking areas migrated into the Wu-speaking area.Xuanzhou Wu therefore significantly receded, which is reflected in the fact that it is now only spoken in the mountainous highlands of southernAnhui.[66] Some territorial changes andstratification occurred, primarily near theYangtze River.[4] The newly-arrivedHuai Chinese varieties have been slowly overtaking the suburban and rural Wu varieties. For instance, inLishui county,Nanjing prefecture, the Huai variety was confined inside the town itself until the 1960s; at present, it is overtaking the Wu variety even in rural areas.[67]
A sign inLishui urging people to speak Mandarin: "Speak Mandarin well — It's easier for all of us."
After the founding of thePeople's Republic of China, the strongpromotion of Mandarin in the Wu-speaking region yet again influenced the development of Wu Chinese. Curiously,Wenzhounese was used again during theVietnam War to avoid enemy comprehensibility.[a] Wu varieties were gradually excluded from most modern media and schools. With the influx of a migrant non-Wu-speaking population,[2] the near total conversion of public media and organizations to the exclusive use of Mandarin as well as certain Mandarin promotion measures, promotion and regularization of Wu languages became improbable and left them more prone to Mandarinization.[3] In 1992, students inShanghai were banned from speaking Shanghainese at all times on campuses.[70] As of now, Wu has no official status, no legal protection and there is no officially sanctionedromanization.[71]
It is not uncommon to encounter children who grew up with a regional variant of Mandarin as their parent tongue with little or no fluency in a Wu variety at all.[72] This led to a step up in the preservation and documentation of Wu Chinese, with the first major attempt being theLinguistic Atlas of Chinese Dialects, which surveyed 2,791 locations across the nation, including 121 Wu locations (an increase from the two locations in PKU's earlier surveys). This also led to the formation of an elaborate database including digital recordings of all locations,[73] however, this database is not available to the general public. The atlas's editor, Cao Zhiyun, considers many of these languages "endangered" and has introduced the term濒危方言 ('languages in danger' or 'endangered local languages') to raise people's attention to the issue,[74] although major internationaldatabases, such asGlottolog andEthnologue, do not share similar sentiments.[75][76]
Although more TV programs are appearing in Wu varieties,[77] they are no longer permitted to air during primetime.[78] They are generally more playful than serious and many of these shows, such asHangzhou's "阿六頭説新聞" ("Old Liutou tells you the news"),[77] provide local or regional news in the variety, but most are limited to fifteen minutes of airtime. Popular video sites such asYouku andTudou also host a variety of user-uploaded audio and visual media in many Wu varieties, most of which are regional TV shows, although some are user-created songs and the like. A number of books are also appearing to teach people how to speak Wu varieties such asSuzhounese andShanghainese,[79][80] the latter of which even having international titles.[81]
Today, popular support for the preservation of Wu languages is very strong,[82] while feature-length movies such asB for Busy and highly successful TV shows such asBlossoms Shanghai have been filmed in Wu varieties (in both aforementioned cases,Shanghainese).[83][84] It is now not uncommon to see advertisements and billboards, as well as government media, using Wu Chinese written in non-ad hoc orthographies.[85]
This video shows the difference between Wu and Mandarin. At achurch in Paris, theBeijing Mandarin spoken by the pastor (left) was interpreted intoWenzhounese, a Southern Wu language.A video inShanghainese, a Northern Wu language.
Wu's place within the greater scope ofSinitic languages is less easily typified than prototypically northern Chinese varieties such asMandarin or prototypically southern Chinese varieties such asCantonese. Its original classification, along with the other Sinitic varieties, was established in 1937 byLi Fang-Kuei, whose boundaries more or less have remained the same,[5] and were adopted byYuan Jiahua in his influential 1961 dialect primer.[11] These limits were also adopted byChao Yuen Ren, and he even further created a potentialproto-system for Wu using the several varieties included in these boundaries.[86] A similar attempt was attempted by William L. Ballard,[87] though with significantly fewer localities and a heavy skew towards theNorth.[88]
The sole basis ofLi Rong's classification was the evolution ofQieyun systemvoicedstops.[5] This was also Chao's only "necessary and sufficient" requirement for a variety to be Wu.[89] This definition is problematic considering the devoicing process has occurred in many Southern Wu varieties and inNorthern Wu varieties situated nearHuai Chinese.[90] It furthermore would place unrelated varieties such asOld Xiang in this category,[91] and also includesHangzhounese despite its linguistically complex situation.[4] Therefore, more elaborate systems have developed, but they still mostly delineate the same regions. Regardless of the justification, the Wu region has been clearly outlined, and Li's boundary in some ways has remained the de facto standard.
InJerry Norman's usage, Wu dialects can be considered "central dialects" or dialects that are clearly in a transition zone containing features that typify both northern and southern Chinese varieties.[92]
Dialectologists traditionally establish linguistic boundaries based on several overlappingisoglosses of linguistic features. One of the critical historical factors for these boundaries lies in the movement of the population of speakers.[13] This is often determined by theadministrative boundaries established during imperial times. As such, imperial boundaries are essential for delineating one variety from another, and many varieties' isogloss clusters line up perfectly with the county boundaries established in imperial times, although some counties contain more than one variety and others may span severalcounties.[93] Another factor that influences movement and transportation, as well as the establishment of administrative boundaries, is geography.[13] NorthernmostZhejiang andJiangsu are very flat—being in the middle of ariver delta, and as such are more uniform than the more mountainous regions farther south towardsFujian. TheTaihu varieties, like Mandarin in theflat northern plains, are more homogeneous than Southern Wu, which has a significantly greater diversity of linguistic forms, likely a direct result of the geography. Coastal varieties also share more featural affinities, likely because the East China Sea provides a means of transportation. The same phenomenon can be seen withMin varieties.
Wu is divided into two major groups:Northern Wu (Chinese:北部吳語;pinyin:Běibù Wúyǔ) and Southern Wu (Chinese:南部吳語;pinyin:Nánbù Wúyǔ), which are not mutually intelligible.[96] Individual words spoken in isolation may be comprehensible among these speakers, but the flowing discourse of everyday life mostly is not. Another lesser group,Western Wu, is synonymous with the Xuanzhou division, which not only has a larger influence from the surroundingMandarin varieties than much of Northern Wu,[97] but also has very unique phonetic innovations,[98] making it typologically quite different to the rest of Wu. Southern Wu is well known amonglinguists andsinologists as being one of the most internally diverse among theSinitic groups, with very little mutual intelligibility between varieties across subgroups.[99]
Map of the main subgroups of Wu in its core area. Note that this map does not align with that of the originalLanguage Atlas of China, but instead with the second edition of theAtlas
Taihu (太湖片) (ie. varieties aroundLake Tai): Spoken in southernJiangsu and northernZhejiang provinces, namely inChangzhou,Wuxi,Suzhou, easternNantong,Jiaxing, most ofHuzhou, most ofHangzhou,Shaoxing, most ofNingbo, andZhoushan prefectures,Shanghai municipality, as well as parts ofZhenjiang,Taizhou, andNanjing prefectures in Jiangsu. This group makes up the largest population among all Wu speakers.[100] The local varieties of this region are mostly mutually intelligible among each other. This group is also often referred to asNorthern Wu (北部吳語),[101] as well asYunhe Wu (運河片).[102] TheAtlas further divides this group into the following subgroups (小片):
Taizhou (台州): A pluricentric variety, spoken in and aroundTaizhou prefecture,Zhejiang. Taizhounese, as it is also called,[103] is the closest to Northern Wu among the Southern varieties.[104]
Oujiang (甌江): Spoken in and around theWenzhou prefecture,Zhejiang. This variety is the very distinctive and is both internally and externally highly mutually unintelligible. Some dialectologists even treat it as a variety separate from the rest of Wu by using the monosyllableOu, the abbreviated form of Wenzhou, suffixed with the term "language", henceOu Chinese (甌語).[105] It is also dubbedDong'ou (東甌) byZhengzhang Shangfang.[106]
Chu–Qu (處衢): Spoken in and aroundLishui andQuzhou prefectures inZhejiang as well as in eastern parts ofShangrao prefecture inJiangxi. It is further subdivided into Longqu (龍衢) and Chuzhou (處州) subbranches in theAtlas.
Xuanzhou (宣州): spoken in the linguistically highly diverse southern parts ofAnhui province, as well as inGaochun andLishui counties,Nanjing prefecture. TheAtlas divides the branch into Taigao (太高), Tongjing (銅涇), and Shiling (石陵) subbranches.
Cao Zhiyun rearranged some of the Southern Wu divisions based on a larger corpus of data. According to Cao, it can be divided into three broad divisions:[107]
Jinqu (金衢), which contains much ofJinhua prefecture, eastern parts ofQuzhou prefecture (including Quzhou itself), andJinyun county inLishui prefecture
Shangli (上麗), which has two subdivisions:
Shangshan (上山), which contains the Wu-speaking parts ofShangrao prefecture and westernQuzhou prefecture
Oujiang (甌江), which contains the remaining parts ofWenzhou prefecture (excluding the Min-speaking regions ofPingyang andCangnan counties).
Taizhounese remained unchanged as it was not included in the study. This was later adopted by the second edition of Li'sAtlas. Minor adjustments were also made regarding Northern Wu subdivisions.[2]
Wu varieties typically possess a largerphonological inventory than manySinitic languages. Many varieties also havetone systems known for highly complextone sandhi.[108] Phonologies of Wu varieties are diverse and hard to generalize. As such, only typologically significant features will be discussed here. For more information, refer to individual varieties' pages.
Wu languages have typologically high numbers ofvowels and are on par withGermanic languages in having the largestvowel quality inventories in the world. TheJinhui variety, spoken in Shanghai'sFengxian District, can be analyzed to have 20 vowel qualities.[119][120] The abnormal number of vowels in Wu is due in part to rimes ending in glottal stops may be analysed as ashort vowel in many varieties,[121][122] as well as unique sound shifts, such as thetensing of Qieyun systemshan (山) andxian (咸) rimes,[123][124] among other factors.
Bothbreathy andcreaky voice are also found in Wu varieties. Breathy voice appears inNorthern Wu and may act as a depressor that lowers the pitch of the entire syllable's realization.[4][125][126][127][128] Creaky voice, on the other hand, is found inTaizhounese, and is associated with the rising tone category (上聲).[129][130]
Xuanzhou Wu is phonologically very unique and has a host of complex syllables, such as:
Wu varieties typically have 7-8tonemes though varieties may have as many as 12 tones or as few as 5.[133][134] Many merge thehistorical light rising category (陽上) with the light departing (陽去).[135][136] The reflexes of thechecked tone categories (入聲) may be complex.Jinhuanese irregularly merge it with other tone categories,[137] whileWenzhounese haslengthened tone contours rather than the typological norm of short, contourless tones.[138]
Tone sandhi inSinitic languages can occur due tophonological,syntactic, ormorphological reasons, though most varieties only employ it to a limited extent. This stands in stark contrast with Wu, in which all three can trigger tone sandhi.[139][140] Examples of situations that can trigger unique tone sandhi chains include (but are not limited to):
Tone sandhi in Sinitic languages can typically be classified as left- or right-dominant systems, depending on whether the leftmost or rightmost item keeps its tone. Both systems exist in Wu Chinese, with most varieties having both concurrently.[109][148] Right-dominant is more associated with changes inpart of speech, whereas left-dominant is typically seen in polysyllabic terms.[108][141] Minimal pairs between types of sandhi also exist, such as/tsʰɑ33vɛ̃213/炒飯; 'to fry rice' and/tsʰɑ334vɛ̃51/炒飯; 'fried rice' inZhenhainese [zh],[149] or/tɕiɵ42ʔʋ33/九壺; 'nine flasks' and/tɕiɵ42ʔʋ55/酒壺; 'wine flask' inChongmingese.[144]
Wu languages' grammar is largely similar to that ofStandard Chinese, though they do diverge in quite striking ways, such as inverb-object-complementizer phrases. Since differences exist between varieties, only general trends will be included below.
Topic-fronting is more common in Northern Wu than in most other Sinitic languages.[150] It is commonly seen inclosed questions, in which the topic is dislocated in order to avoid confusion.[151][152]
yesterday-night Xiaozhang have CL big-fish catch-PTCL
Xiaozhang caught a big fish yesterday night. (Wenzhounese)
Word order at times differs between Wu and other Chinese varieties. In the aforementionedverb-object-complementizer (VOC) phrases, VOC is common in Wu whereas VCO is dominant in Mandarin.[153][154][155][156]
We'll go after we finish our meal. (Xiaoshanese [zh])
Elision of thenegation particle inclosed question constructions is also common inNorthern Wu but ungrammatical in Standard Chinese.[153] In some varieties, this triggers its own tone sandhi patterns.
AABadjectivalreduplication, where it has an intensive meaning as seen in terms such as筆筆直; 'very straight',石石硬; 'very firm', is more common in Wu than Standard Chinese.[150][171]
Wu Chinese varieties share a number of lexical innovations and retentions, though it does also have a considerable number of loanwords fromOld Mandarin via the literary layer from theSouthern Song dynasty.[172]
Due to foreign influence in the port ofShanghai, Wu varieties, especially in theNorth, gained a number of loanwords from languages such asEnglish andFrench throughChinese Pidgin English. Some of these loanwords even entered mainstream Chinese, and thus can also be found in other Chinese languages. Such loanwords include:[175]
Wu, like other Chinese languages, haveliterary and colloquial readings of many characters. The literary layer was brought to the region during theSouthern Song dynasty when the imperial court was moved toLin'an, today Hangzhou.[176] Common features of literary sound changes include:
Words do not necessarily have to use only literary or only colloquial pronunciations, eg.大學; 'university';da-ghoq/da11ɦoʔ44/ (Shanghainese):da is literary, whereasghoq is colloquial.[109]
Wu Chinese is primarily written inSinographs. Due to most speakers being located within thePeople's Republic of China,Simplified Chinese characters are often used. Phonetic matching is often used due to the lack of knowledge regarding the etymologies of many terms,[185] though texts such as theGreat Dictionary of Shanghainese (上海話大詞典)[175] serve asde facto recommended standardized forms,[186] as is seen in government media.[85]
Wu Chinese does not have any government-recognizedromanization system. Adapted forms ofHanyu Pinyin are commonly seen due to the relative familiarity of the system among the Wu Chinese speakerbase.[185][186] Online communities such as Wu-Chinese and Wugniu have created pluricentric romanization systems, largely based on 19th and 20th century Western textual sources.[187][188]
The genres ofkunqu opera andtanci song, appearing in theMing dynasty, were the first instances of the use of Wu dialect in literature. By the turn of the 20th century it was used in several novels that had prostitution as a subject.[189] In many of these novels, Wu is mainly used as dialogue of prostitute characters. In one work,Shanghai Flowers byHan Bangqing, all of the dialogue is in Wu.[190] Wu originally developed in genres related to oral performance. It was used in manners related to oral performance when it proliferated in written literature and it was widely used in fiction about prostitutes, a particular genre, and not in other genres. Donald B. Snow, author ofCantonese as Written Language: The Growth of a Written Chinese Vernacular, compared the development of Wu in this manner to the patterns ofBaihua and Japanese vernacular writing.[190]
According to Jean Duval, author of "The Nine-Tailed Turtle: Pornography or 'fiction of exposure", at the timeThe Nine-tailed Turtle byZhang Chunfan [zh] (張春帆) was published, it was one of the most popular novels written in the Wu dialect.[191]Magnificent Dreams in Shanghai (海上繁華夢) bySun Jiazhen (孫家振) was another example of a prostitute novel with Wu dialogue from the turn of the 20th century.[190]
Snow wrote that Wu literature "achieved a certain degree of prominence" by 1910. After 1910 there had been no novels which were as popular asThe Nine-tailed Turtle or the critical acclaim garnered byShanghai Flowers. In the popular fiction of the early 20th century the usage of Wu remained in use in prostitute dialogue but, as asserted by Snow, "apparently" did not extend beyond that. In 1926Hu Shih stated that of all of the Chinese dialects, within literature, Wu had the brightest future. Snow concluded that instead Wu dialect writing became "a transient phenomenon that died out not long after its growth gathered steam."[190]
Snow argued that the primary reason was the increase of prestige and importance in Baihua, and that one other contributing reason was changing market factors since Shanghai's publishing industry, which grew, served all of China and not just Shanghai. Duval argued that many Chinese critics had a low opinion of Wu works, mainly originating from the eroticism within them, and that contributed to the decline in Wu literature.[190]
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^阙政 (19 November 2012), 第三种语言从娃娃抓起,新民周刊[Xinmin Weekly],"page 34"(PDF).,"page 35"(PDF).. Reprinted alongside other articles in the same issue as:"媒体呼吁拯救方言：要从孩子做起". 16 November 2012. pp. 1–3.Archived from the original on 20 November 2012. Retrieved6 August 2021 – via Sina News.
^ab现在真正会讲老派上海话的人，早已不在上海了。现在上海五十岁以下的男女，基本都不会说上海话。二十岁以下的，是完全不会讲了。.Rolia. Retrieved2 September 2024.ha sai wo si [...] liang ba ni se ni? > should be: liang ba nie ni [...]老底子上海闲话伐好，侬盐才杠勒蛮好，阿拉伐弄送侬，帮侬做棚友上海闲话 ~ sang hai ai wo? [...]么想到，侬鞋是上海宁 [...]阿拉没嘎度力道。 [...] wo ni ? a la?
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A BBS set up in 2004, in which topics such as phonology, grammar, orthography and romanization of Wu Chinese are widely talked about. The cultural and linguistic diversity within China is also a significant concerning of this forum.
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A website aimed at modernization of Wu Chinese, including basics of Wu, Wu romanization scheme, pronunciation dictionaries of different dialects, Wu input method development, Wu research literatures, written Wu experiment, Wu orthography, a discussion forum etc.
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