Shaoxing dialect

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The Shaoxing dialect (simplified Chinese: 绍兴话/绍兴方言; traditional Chinese: 紹興話/紹興方言; pinyin: Shàoxīnghuà/Shàoxīng fāngyán) is a Wu dialect spoken in the city of Shaoxing more specifically in the city center of Yuecheng and its surrounding areas. It is a representative Wu dialect with a tripartite distinction on voiced stop initials and a textbook register split with each of the four tonal categories of Middle Chinese being divided into upper and lower registers. Within Wu, it is classified as a Northern Wu dialect belonging to the Taihu division within which it is classified under the Linshao subdivision (臨紹小片/临绍小片).

It is the pronunciation of the Shaoxing dialect which is the standard to be used on the texts of Yue opera. It is also the native language of Cai Yuanpei and Lu Xun whose Baihua was often peppered with phrases from his native dialect.

Distribution

The suburban areas to the north and east stretching from Dongpu (东浦) to Doumen (斗门) and north of Pingshui (平水) in the southern suburban areas are basically the same as that of the city center. Outside of these areas, people may still speak "Shaoxing dialect," but there are noticeable differences between these speech forms and those of the main urban area of Shaoxing.

Research into the Shaoxing dialect

The Shaoxing dialect has received an unusually large amount of attention. Documented research for the dialect has existed since the Kangxi era in the Qing dynasty, when there were three main works dealing with the Shaoxing dialect.

• 越语肯綮录 by Mao Qiling (毛奇龄)
• 越言释 by Ru Dunhe (茹敦和)
• 越谚 by Fan Yin (范寅)

In the modern era, Chao Yuen Ren documented four regions in Shaoxing in his Modern Wu Research (现代吴语研究). Besides Chao, the Shaoxing dialect has received the most attention from Chinese dialectologist Wang Futang (王福堂) whose 1959 Shaoxinghua jiyin (绍兴话记音) was the first full-length paper in the modern era dedicated wholly to the dialect. A concise grammar, phonology, and nearly 300 page word list of the dialect has been compiled by Yang Wei (杨葳) and Yang Jun (杨浚) in Shaoxing Fangyan (绍兴方言). There is also an English-language monograph The Phonology of Shaoxing Chinese by Zhang Jisheng and a handful of other works in Chinese.

The Shaoxing dialect is also mentioned in Zhejiang Fangyan Fenqu (浙江方言分区), Zhejiang Fangyanci (浙江方言词), and Shaoxingshi yanyu juan (绍兴市谚语卷). As with most locations in China, Shaoxing is also covered in the Linguistic Atlas of Chinese Dialects.

Phonological inventory

Initials

Initials of Shaoxing dialect.

		Labial	Dental/Alveolar	Alveolo-Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	tenuis	p	t		k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Affricate	tenuis		ts	tɕ
	aspirated		tsʰ	tɕʰ
	voiced		dz	dʑ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ɕ		h
	voiced	v	z	ʑ		ɦ
Lateral			l

Finals

Finals of Shaoxing dialect

Coda		Open			Nasalized			Nasal			Glottal stop
Medial		∅	j	w	∅	j	w	∅	j	w	∅	j	w
Nucleus	u	u
	ɤ	ɤ	jɤ					əŋ			əʔ
	o	o	jo	wo	ɵ̃	jɵ̃	wɵ̃	oŋ	joŋ	woŋ	oʔ	joʔ	woʔ
	ɒ	ɒ	jɒ					ɒŋ	jɒŋ	wɒŋ
	a	a	ja	wa	ɛ̃	jɛ̃	wɛ̃	aŋ	jaŋ	waŋ	aʔ	jaʔ	waʔ
	e	e	je	we	ẽ	jẽ					eʔ		weʔ
	i	i						ɪŋ			ɪʔ
	y	y

Syllabic continuants:

Citation tones

Citation Tones (Yang, 2000)

Regiser	Ping (平)	Shang (上)	Qu (去)	Ru (入)
Upper (陰)	42	35	33	4
Lower (陽)	21	13	22	2

Citation Tones (Tu Guoping, 2012)

Regiser	Ping (平)	Shang (上)	Qu (去)	Ru (入)
Upper (陰)	52	335	33	45
Lower (陽)	231	113	11	23

Citation Tones (Huang et al., 2007)

Regiser	Ping (平)	Shang (上)	Qu (去)	Ru (入)
Upper (陰)	41	55	44	5
Lower (陽)	15	22	31	32

Syllable structure

Initials

Initial	Example characters
	奔彪宝闭
	抛普配批
	盆瓢抱毙
	盟袜摸芒
	风法幅放
	奉罚伏亡
	斗吊蹲冻
	偷挑探痛
	豆掉潭动
	闹诺挪纳
	拦率蓝勒
	钻赞照醉
	川灿操菜
	缠残赵垂
	涩送爽酸
	十字嚷善
	将经机举
	腔青启躯
	墙近旗具
	虚洗仙勋
	如自贱像
	鸽甲广哥
	渴掐筐科
	柜轧狂溃
	外呆饿岸
	荒轰黑夯
	员养荣药
Zero initial (, , or no initial)	衣乌挨汪

Rhymes

Rhyme	Example characters
	资纸自治
	地替弟贰
	补都附簿
	吕靴需语
	爸他楷挨
	夜爷斜鸦
	拐快槐哇
	还眉贝台
	柜会亏威
	谋否走口
	秋酒流右
	报盗曹高
	飘吊捞妖
	把多罗假
	瘸厦肉加
	挂花话跨
	碰撑冷生
	仰央抢粮
	光梗横
	萌凳乘恒
	民亭津引
	胖汤窗抗
	亮降像象
	黄旺眶往
	红翁东奉
	琼穷胸咏
	百折客赫
	掠削约捏
	豁掴划括
	泼物撒舌
	凸虱脱捋
	德特刻值
	鳖匹叠悉
	博落摸诺
	局蓄役穴
	哭获惑国
	扮凡碳蓝
	鲇年念验
	贯甩弯环
	奔门吻参
	棉点甜盐
	算半盘满
	软悬娟冤
	碗缓欢管
	姆（~妈
	呒（~得去）
	午鱼五
*	尔而饵儿

*Literary reading only.

References

Citations

1. ^ Tu, Guoping 屠国平 (2012). 绍兴方言语音特征与越地语言文化 (in Chinese). Beijing: 中国社会科学出版社. p. 1.
2. ^ Zhang (2006), pp. 24, 33, 35.
3. ^ Zhang (2006), pp. 40–44, 61, 78, 99.
4. ^ Yang, Wei 杨葳; Yang, Naijun 杨乃浚 (2000). 绍兴方言 (in Chinese). Shangyu: 国际文化出版社. p. 4.
5. ^ Huang, Borong 黄伯荣; Liao, Xudong 廖序东; et al. (2007). 现代汉语 (in Chinese). Beijing: 高等教育出版社. p. 69.

Works cited

• Zhang, Jisheng (2006). The Phonology of Shaoxing Chinese (Doctoral thesis). Leiden University. hdl:1887/4279.

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