HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Suzhounese (Suzhounese: ; ), also known as the Suzhou Language, is the language belonging to the Sinitic Language Family traditionally spoken in the city of
Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...
in
Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...
, China. Suzhounese is a dialect of Wu Chinese, and was traditionally considered the Wu Chinese prestige dialect. Suzhounese has a large vowel inventory and it is relatively conservative in initials by preserving voiced consonants from
Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...
.


Distribution

Suzhou dialect is spoken within the city itself and the surrounding area, including migrants living in nearby
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
. The Suzhou dialect is mutually intelligible with dialects spoken in its satellite cities such as
Kunshan Kunshan is a county-level city in southeastern Jiangsu Province, Jiangsu province with Shanghai bordering its eastern border and Suzhou on its western boundary. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Suzhou. Name Th ...
, Changshu, and Zhangjiagang, as well as those spoken in its former satellites
Wuxi Wuxi ( zh, s=无锡, p=Wúxī, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu, China. As of the 2024 census, it had a population of 7,495,000. The city lies in the southern Yangtze delta and borders Lake Tai. Notable landmarks include Lihu Park, the Mt. Lings ...
and
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
. It is also partially intelligible with dialects spoken in other areas of the Wu cultural sphere such as
Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...
and Ningbo. However, it is ''not'' mutually intelligible with
Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
or
Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ( zh, s=现代标准汉语, t=現代標準漢語, p=Xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ, l=modern standard Han speech) is a modern standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the republican era (1912–1949). ...
; but, as all public schools and most broadcast communication in
Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...
use Mandarin exclusively, nearly all speakers of the dialect are at least bilingual. Owing to migration within China, many residents of the city cannot speak the local dialect but can usually understand it after a few months or years in the area.


History


Grammar


Personal pronouns

Second and third-person pronouns are suffixed with 笃 for the plural. The first-person plural is a separate root, 伲 .


Demonstrative

In the Suzhou dialect, ''geq8'' is a very special demonstrative that is used alongside a separate set of proximal and distal demonstratives. ''geq8'' can indicate referents appearing in a speech situation, which may be close to or far away from the deictic center, and under these conditions, ''geq8'' is always used in combination with gestures. Hence ''geq8'' can serve both proximal and distal functions. 哀 with 该 and 弯 with 归 means exactly the same thing and only differ in pronunciation. The use of neutral demonstrative pronoun became clear once proximal and neutral demonstrative pronouns are used. * 哀杯茶是吾葛,掰杯茶是僚葛,弯杯茶是俚葛。 When "搿" refers to time, there is no need to use the proximal and distal in opposition. The role of the neutral demonstrative is very obvious. * 抗战是民国二十六年到民国三十四年,掰歇(弯歇)辰光日脚勿好过。 In this sentence, "掰歇(弯歇)" cannot be replaced by "哀歇" because the Anti-Japanese War happened more than fifty years ago, so only the neutral or distal demonstrative can be used, not proximal. When not referring to time, the proximal "哀" and the neutral demonstrative "掰" can be interchanged. For example, the "掰" in "掰个人勿认得" can be replaced by "哀". "哀", "该", "掰", "弯" and "归" cannot be used as subjects or objects alone, but must be combined with the following quantifiers, locative words, etc. Example phrases: * 哀歇啥辰光则? 现在什么时候了? What time is it now? * 哀呛倷身体好啘? 现阵子你身体好吗? How are you now?


Varieties

Some non-native speakers of Suzhou speak the Suzhou dialect in a "stylized variety" to tell tales.


Phonology


Initials

The Suzhou dialect has series of voiced, voiceless, and aspirated stops, and voiceless and voiced
fricative A fricative is a consonant 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 ...
s. Moreover, palatalized initials also occur.


Finals

:Syllabic continuants: Notes: *The Suzhou dialect has a rare contrast between "fricative vowels" and ordinary vowels . * is pronounced before rounded vowels. * is a true mid vowel, . May also be transcribed with the Sinological symbol /ᴇ/. *In open syllables, is articulated close to a position for a close back vowel *Depending on the source, transcriptions differ: ** may also be transcribed as ** may also be transcribed as ; also applies to on-glide final rhymes ** may also be transcribed as **Close vowels may be analyzed as diphthongs and transcribed as


Historical Finals

The Suzhou dialect allows a nasal coda but does not distinguish between them. As such, the
Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...
nasal codas have largely either merged or been lost depending on the vowel it follows. Historical rimes following certain vowels are distinguished as the nasalized vowels , but otherwise merge into modern . Historical and rimes are entirely merged and also result in modern , or are lost after certain vowels becoming modern . Modern also results from the monophthongization of the historical diphthong rime ( in Baxter's notation, corresponding to the 咍 final). Middle Chinese rimes have become glottal stops, . Like other Northern Wu varieties, syllables with an underlying glottal stop coda usually manifest as a shortening of the vowel instead of an actual glottal stop , unless before a pause or at the end of an utterance.


Tones

Suzhou is considered to have seven tones. However, since the tone split dating from Middle Chinese still depends on the voicing of the initial consonant. Yang tones are only found with voiced initials, namely   d ɡ z v dʑ ʑ m n nʲ ŋ l ɦ while the yin tones are only found with voiceless initials. These constitute just three phonemic tones: ''ping'', ''shang,'' and ''qu.'' (''Ru'' syllables are phonemically toneless.) In Suzhou, the Middle Chinese 阳上 tone and 阳去 tones have fully merged as (2)31. The original 阳去 313 tone still occurs in tone sandhi patterns as the second element of a chain, following a 阴入 syllable. Therefore, 买 and 卖 has exactly the same pronunciation in literary and colloquial readings.


Tone Sandhi

The tone sandhi present in Suzhou dialect introduces 4 completely new tones. (33), (21), (212), and (2) A. Stop final + stop final The both two-character in this combination do not change tone. * 脚色 tɕiɑʔ˦ səʔ˦ * 吃力 tɕʰiəʔ˨˧ liəʔ˨˧ * 白虱 bɑʔ˨˧ səʔ˦ * 特别 dəʔ˨˧ biəʔ˨˧ B. Stop final + clear final The first character do not change tones. The second character do not change tone if it has a yin (阴) tone. * 作兴 tsoʔ˦ ɕin˦ * 铁饼 tʰiəʔ˦ pin˥˨ * 国庆 kuəʔ˦ tɕʰin˦˩˨ If the second character is yangping (阳平), it becomes (44), the same as yinping (阴平). * 失眠 səʔ˦ miɪ˦ * 黑魚 həʔ˦ ŋ˦ If the second character is yangqu (阳去), it becomes (21) or (212). * 赤佬 tsʰəʔ˦ læ˨˩ * 吃饭 tɕʰiəʔ˦ ve˨˩˨ C. Clear final + stop final The second character's tone becomes (2). The first character does not change tone if it has a ping (平) or yinshang (阴上) tone. * 书桌 sʮ˦ tsoʔ˨ * 牛角 nʲiʏ˨˨˦ koʔ˨ * 海蛰 he˥˨ zəʔ˨ If the first character is yinqu (阴去) it becomes (44) similar to yinping or (52) similar to yinshang. * 信壳 sin˦ kʰoʔ˨ * 半日 pø˥˨ zəʔ˨ 前字阳去多数变 (224) 调, 即与阳平同调; 少数不变。 * 料作 liæ˨˨˦ tsoʔ˨ * 满月 mø˨˨˦ ŋəʔ˨ * 技术 dʑi˦˩˨ zəʔ˨ D. Clear final + clear final The first character does not change tone if it has a ping (平) or yinshang (阴上) tone. If the first character is yinqu (阴去) it becomes (44) similar to yinping or (52) similar to yinshang. If the first character is yangqu (阳去) it becomes (224) similar to yangping. The second character becomes (21) after yinping tones. The second character becomes (33), (21) after yinshang, yinqu, yangping, yangqu tones.


Suzhou dialect in literature

Ballad-narratives A "ballad–narrative" () known as "The story of Xue Rengui crossing the sea and Pacifying Liao" (), which is about the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
hero Xue Rengui is believed to have been written in the Suzhou dialect. Novels Han Bangqing wrote '' The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai'', one of the earliest novels in Wu dialect, in Suzhou dialect. Suzhou serves as an important drive for Han to write the novel. Suzhou dialect is used in innovative methods to demonstrate urban space and time, as well as the interrupted narrative aesthetics, making it an integral part of an effort, which is presented as a fundamental and self-conscious new thing. Han's novel also inspired other authors to write in Wu dialect.


See also

* Wu Chinese ** Shanghainese ** Hangzhounese ** Ningbonese *
List of varieties of Chinese The following is a list of Sinitic languages and their dialects. For a traditional dialectological overview, see also varieties of Chinese. Classification "Chinese" is a blanket term covering many different varieties spoken across China. Ma ...


References


External links


Wu Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suzhou Dialect Languages of China Wu Chinese Culture in Suzhou City colloquials