Taihu Wu

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Taihu Wu
吳語太湖片
Native to
Cangnan county in southern Zhejiang province.
Native speakers
(47 million cited 1987)[1]
Chinese characters
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
ISO 639-6taiu
tupn
Glottologtaih1244
Linguasphere79-AAA-db

Taihu Wu (吳語太湖片) or Northern Wu (北部吳語) is a

mutually intelligible
even for L2 Taihu speakers.

History

Linguistic affinity has also been used as a tool for regional identity and politics in the

Yangzi River. Once Yangzhou
's wealth and prosperity were gone, it was then considered to be part of Jiangbei, the "backwater".

After Yangzhou was removed from Jiangnan, many of its residents switched from

Jianghuai Mandarin, the dialect of Yangzhou, to Taihu Wu dialects. In Jiangnan itself, multiple subdialects of Wu competed for the position of prestige dialect.[2]

In 1984, around 85 million speakers are mutually intelligible with Shanghainese.[3]

Phonology

Main article: Northern Wu phonology

Taihu Wu varieties tend to preserve historical voiced initials.[4] The number of phonemic vowels can reach numbers higher than that of some Germanic languages.[5] Taihu Wu varieties typically have phonemic 7-8 tones,[6] though some can go as high as 12 or as low as 5,[7][8] and they all have highly complex tone sandhi.[9]

List of Taihu Wu dialect subgroups

  • Su–Jia–Hu (Suzhou–Jiaxing–Huzhou, 蘇嘉湖小片), also known as Su–Hu–Jia (Suzhou–Shanghai–Jiaxing, 蘇滬嘉小片) – 23 million speakers in 1987[1]
  • Tiaoxi (苕溪小片, now considered to be a subbranch or sister group to Suzhou–Shanghai–Jiaxing) – 3 million speakers in 1987[1]

Northwestern Wu

  • Piling (毗陵小片, spoken in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces) – 8 million speakers in 1987[1]
  • Hangzhou (杭州小片) – 1.2 million speakers in 1987[1]

Northern Zhejiang

  • Lin–Shao (臨紹小片) – 7.8 million speakers in 1987[1]
  • Yongjiang 甬江小片 or Mingzhou (明州小片) – 4 million speakers in 1987[1]
  • Jinxiang dialect (金鄉話, appears to be an isolate, but closely related to the Taihu Wu varieties of Northern Zhejiang.)

List of Taihu Wu dialects

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Sinolect.org. "Untitled" (Pie Chart) (in Chinese). Archived from the original (GIF) on 2013-05-13.
  2. ISBN 0-8047-2359-1
    . jianghuai mandarin.
  3. ^ DeFrancis, John (1984). The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
  4. ISBN 90-272-3694-1
  5. ISBN 978-7-309-09153-3
  6. ^ Chappell, Hilary; Lan, Li (2017), "Mandarin and other Sinitic languages", Routledge Encyclopedia of the Chinese language, Oxford: Taylor & Francis, p. 605-628
  7. ^ Xu, Zhen (2009), 吴江方言声调研究 [A Study on the Tones of the lect of Wujiang] (thesis), Shanghai Normal University, p. 9
  8. ISBN 978-7-5326-2248-1
  9. ^ Rose, Phil; Toda, Takako (1994), "A Typology of Tone Sandhi Rules in Northern Wu", Current Issues in Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, Ōsaka: 267–273

Further reading

[Lili Wu is near the confluence of Suzhou, Jiaxing and Shanghai dialects]


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