The Quzhou dialect (衢州話; pronounced in the Quzhou dialect) is a

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

Wu Chinese The Wu languages (; Wu romanization and IPA: ''wu6 gniu6'' [] ( Shanghainese), ''ng2 gniu6'' [] (Suzhounese), Mandarin pinyin and IPA: ''Wúyǔ'' []) is a major group of Sinitic languages spoken primarily in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Zhejiang Provin ...

spoken in Quzhou, China.

Phonology

Initials

Finals

Tones

The Quzhou dialect is considered to have seven tones. However, since the tone split from Middle Chinese, characters still depend on the voicing of the initial consonant. These constitute just three phonemic tones: ''ping'', ''shang'', and ''qu.'' (''Ru'' syllables are phonemically toneless.)

Grammar

Sentence structure

The first example can be compared with Japanese: あなたは私の友達だよ。(anata wa watashi no tomodachi dayo.) Here, 啘 resembles Japanese だよ (dayo).

Lexicon

Pronouns

* 我 1st person singular * 你 2nd person singular * 渠[ 3rd person singular * 我達 , 我拉 (我耷) 1st person plural * 你達 , 你拉 , 爾耷- 2nd person plural * 渠達 , 渠拉 (渠耷) 3rd person plural

References

Wu Chinese {{St-lang-stub