Information about Shanghainese

Shanghainese (上海言话)
Spoken in:	People's Republic of China, Fiji, California (USA)
Region:	Shanghai
Total speakers:	14 million
Ranking:
Genetic classification:
Official status
Official language of:	none
Regulated by:
Language codes
ISO 639-1	zh
ISO 639-2
SIL
See also: Language – List of languages

Shanghainese (上海言话 [zɑ̃˨.'he˦.ɦɛ˨.ɦʊ˩] in Shanghainese), sometimes referred to as the Shanghai dialect, is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai. Shanghainese, like other Wu dialects, is not mutually intelligible with other Chinese dialects such as Standard Mandarin (see Mutually intelligible languages). Shanghainese is the representative dialect of Northern Wu; it contains vocabulary and expressions from the entire Northern Wu area (southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang). With nearly 14 million speakers, Shanghainese is also the largest single coherent form of Wu Chinese. In Western sources, the term "Shanghainese" often refers to all Wu dialects and not specifically the particular Wu dialect spoken in Shanghai. The total number of Wu speakers is over 80 million, the second largest Chinese language after Mandarin.

Shanghainese is rich in consonants and pure vowels [i y ɪ ɥ e ø ɛ ə ɐ a ɑ ɔ ɤ o ʊ u]. Like other northern Wu dialects, the Shanghai dialect has voiced initials [b d g ɦ z v ʥ ʑ] (although technically these are slack voiced, adding a slightly breathy quality to a following vowel). Neither Mandarin nor Cantonese has voiced initials. The Shanghainese tonal system is significantly different from other Chinese languages. Shanghainese is a language with two live tonal contrasts (high and low), while Mandarin and Cantonese are contour tonal languages.

Language policy

Shanghainese is not encouraged to be spoken in schools and written in newspapers, and the media are strongly discouraged from broadcasting in contemporary Shanghainese. There is a lot of uncertainty between what gets aired in Shanghainese and what becomes censored (due to government fears of regionalism), thus most producers do not take this risk and only produce in Mandarin. Several television advertisements in Shanghainese have been removed shortly after airing. But there have been some TV series in Shanghainese that were approved since the mid-1990s. Back in 1995, a TV play series called "Nie Zhai" (the Evil Debt) was in Shanghainese; when it was broadcast in other places in China, mainly in adjacent Wu-speaking provinces, subtitles in Mandarin were added rather than make a Mandarin version of the TV series. Another TV comedy programme "Lao Niang Jiu" (Old Uncle) has been broadcast since 1999, and is still quite popular among Shanghainese residents. In 2004, a Tom and Jerry cartoon program dubbed with Shanghainese was blocked from broadcasting. Older and more rural forms of Shanghainese are still heard on the radio (catering to farming communities in the suburbs). But the Shanghainese are strongly encouraged by the government to speak Mandarin and celebrities are put on billboards with slogans like "Be a modern Shanghai person, speak Mandarin."

In August 2005, there was media coverage reporting that Shanghainese would be taught in secondary school. This introduced great controversy. Proponents argue that this will make the students know their hometown better and help preserve local culture. Opponents argue that this will encourage discrimination based on people's origin.

In September 2005, the Shanghai municipal government also launched a campaign to encourage Mandarin speaking in Shanghai. Among other requirements, all service-industry workers in Shanghai will be required to greet customers in Mandarin only, and pass Mandarin-fluency test by 2010. Those with bad or heavily-accented Mandarin must enroll in remedial Mandarin classes.

Sounds

The sounds of Shanghainese are categorized in initials and rimes. Initial is the first part of syllable, usually a consonant, and rime is the part that follows. Tone is also a phonological feature in Shanghainese. Syllabic tone, which is typical to the other Sinitic languages, has largely become verbal tone in Shanghainese.

Initials

	Labials	Dentals	Sibilants	Palatals	Velars	Glottals
Unvoiced unaspirated stops	p	t	ʦ	tɕ	k	ʔ
Aspirated stops	pʰ	tʰ	ʦʰ	tɕʰ	kʰ
Slack voiced stops	b̻	d̻	(dz̻)	dʑ̻	g̻
Nasals	m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Unvoiced fricatives	f		s	ɕ		h
Slack voiced fricatives	v̻		z̻	ʑ̻		ɦ̻
Liquids	(w)	l		(j)

Shanghai dialect has a set of voiced initials and exhibits unvoiced unaspirated and aspirated stops. Moreover, there are unvoiced and voiced sets of fricatives. Palatalized initials also feature in Shanghai dialect. The /l/ consonant is also particular in that there is a slight flapping of the tongue during speech, somewhat similar to the Japanese /ɺ/ (which is romanized as r). The sound may be made by lightly placing the tongue on the back of the upper set of teeth. However this flapping is not present when each character is individually pronounced.

Rimes

monophthong			diphthong with unrounded onglide			diphthong with rounded onglide
pure	checked	nasal	pure	checked	nasal	pure	checked	nasal
a	ɐʔ	ã	ia	iɐʔ	iã	ua	uɐʔ	uã
ɛ	əʔ	əɲ	iɛ	iəʔ	iəɲ	uɛ	uəʔ	uɛɲ
ɔ	ɔʔ	oŋ	iɔ	iɔʔ	ioŋ	uo
i	ɪʔ	iɲ		iɪʔ		y	yɪʔ	yɪɲ
ø						yø
ɤ			iɤ			ɯ

The Middle Chinese [-m] ending rimes in Shanghai dialect have merged with [-n], some of which subsequently dropped off. Some Middle Chinese [-ŋ] ending rime characters have become rimes with a nasalised ending, [iã, uã, uɒ̃]. Middle Chinese [-p -t -k] rimes have become glottal stops [-ʔ].

In certain variants, the [u] is pronounced unrounded (close back unrounded, [ɯ]).

Tones

Yin (陰)	Yin Ping (陰平)	Yin Shang Qu (陰上去)	Yin Ru (陰入)
	52	335	5
Yang (陽)	Yang Shu (Yang Qu) (陽舒（陽去）)		Yang Ru (陽入)
	113		23

The Yang Shu tone is composed of Yang registers of the Ping, Shang and Qu tone characters. The Yin Ru and Yang Ru tones are abrupt tones, and apply only to those rimes in Shanghai dialect, which end in the glottal stop [ʔ]. If the Ru tone and tones automatically related to the voiced initials (b d g z v dʑ ʑ) are not considered (as they are fixed into the syllabic structure), then the Shanghai dialect has 2 live tonal contrasts (/52/ and /335/).

Advanced tone sandhi and argument for pitch accent classification:

In polysyllabic words or set phrases, all syllables after the first lose their original tones and are pronounced based on the table below as "neutral" syllables. Even the first syllable that determines subsequent pitches is altered in a polysyllabic word. The patterns vary depending on the number of syllables in the word or set short phrase.

1st syllable original tone	2 syllables	3 syllables	4 syllables	5 syllables
52	55 - 21	55 - 22 - 21	55 - 22 - 22 - 21	55 - 22 - 22 - 22 - 21
	H - L	H - L - L	H - L - L - L	H - L - L - L - L
335	33 - 44	33 - 55 - 21	33 - 55 - 22 - 21	33 - 55 - 22 - 22 - 21
	L - H	L - H - L	L - H - L - L	L - H - L - L - L
113	22 - 44	22 - 55 - 21	22 - 55 - 22 - 21	22 - 55 - 22 - 22 - 21
	L - H	L - H - L	L - H - L - L	L - H - L - L - L
5	3 - 44	3 - 55 - 21	3 - 55 - 22 - 21	3 - 55 - 22 - 22 - 21
	L - H	L - H - L	L - H - L - L	L - H - L - L - L
23	2 - 34	2 - 22 - 34	2 - 22 - 22 - 34	2 - 22 - 22 - 22 - 34
	L - H	L - L - H	L - L - L - H	L - L - L - L - H

Note: H = relative high pitch; L = relative low pitch.

Notice that these patterns are quite similar to Japanese pitch accent patterns. Tone sandhi of polysyllabic compounds in the Shanghai dialect has attracted the interest of many scholars, who have previously given only careful consideration to the tone of the monosyllable while trying to describe the rules of tone sandhi for polysyllabic compounds. It has been argued that the number of tones of the Shanghai dialect, generally held to be five under previous analyses, can be reduced to only two underlying tone patterns, or tonemes, by recognizing the existence of the phoneme "voiced h" (Xiaowen Shen, University of Tokyo).

Common Words and Phrases in Shanghainese

Note: Chinese characters for Shanghainese are not standardized and are provided for reference only. IPA transcription is for the Middle period of modern Shanghainese (中派上海话), pronunciation of those between 20 and 60 years old.

Translation	IPA	Chinese character
Shanghainese (language)	[zɑ̃.'he.ɦɛ.ɦʊ]	上海言话 or 上海闲话
Shanghainese (people)	[zɑ̃.'he.ɲɪɲ]	上海人
I	[ɦʊ], [ŋu]	我
we or I	[ɐˑ.lɐʔ]	阿拉（我拉）
he/she	[ɦi]	伊（其）
they	[ɦi.la]	伊拉
you (sing.)	[noŋ]	侬（儂）
you (plural)	[na]	乃 or 亻那
hello	[noŋ hɔ]	侬好（儂好）
good-bye	[ˈtse.ɦue]	再会（再會）
thank you	[ʑ̻iaja noŋ]or[ʑ̻iaʑ̻ia noŋ]	谢谢侬（謝謝儂）
sorry	[te.vəˑ.ʨʰi]	对勿起（對勿起）
but, however	[dɛ.zɿ], [dɛ.zɿ.ni]	但是, 但是呢
please	[ʨʰɪɲ]	请（請）
that one	[ˈe.tsɐʔ], [i.tsɐʔ]	哎只, 伊只
there	[ˈe.tɐʔ], [i.tɐʔ]	哎垯, 伊垯
over there	[ˈe.mi.tɐʔ], [i.mi.tɐʔ]	哎面垯, 伊面垯
here	[gəˑ.tɐʔ]	箇垯（搿垯）
to have	[ɦiɤɯ.təʔ]	有得
to exist, here, present	[lɐˑ.he]	辣嗨
now, current	[ɦi.ze]	现在（現在）
what time is it?	[ɦi.ze ʨi.ti 'tsoŋ]	现在几点钟？（現在幾點鐘?）
where	[ɦa.ɺi.tɐʔ], [sa.di.fɑ̃]	何里耷（何裏耷）, 啥地方
what	[sa ɦəʔ]	啥个,做啥
who	[sa.ɲɪɲ]	啥人
why	[ɦue.sa]	为啥（為啥）
when	[sa.zəɲ.kuɑ̃]	啥辰光
how	[na.nəɲ, na.nəɲ.ka]	哪能, 哪能介
how much?	[ʨi.di]	几钿?几块洋钿?（幾鈿?幾塊銀頭?）
yes	[ˈe]	哎
no	[m̩], [vəˑ.zɿ], [m̩məʔ], [viɔ]	呒、弗是、呒没
telephone number	[di.ɦʊ ɦɔ.dɤɯ]	电话号头（電話號頭）
home	[oˑ.ɺi.ɕiã]	屋里向（屋裏向）
Come to our house and play.	[tɔ ɐˑ.lɐʔ oˑ.ɺi.ɕiɑ̃ le bəˑ.ɕiã]	到阿拉屋里向来孛相（白相）！（到阿拉屋裏向來孛相!）
Where's the restroom?	[da.sɤɯ.kɛ ɺəˑ.ɺɐʔ ɦa.ɺi.tɐʔ]	汏手间勒勒阿里耷?（汏手間勒勒阿裏耷?）
Have you eaten dinner?	[ɦia.vɛ ʨʰɪˑ.ku.ləʔ va]	夜饭吃过了��?（夜飯吃過了��?）
I don't know	[ŋɯ; vəˑ.ɕiɔ.təʔ]	我弗晓得.（我弗曉得.）
Do you speak English?	[noŋ ˈɪn.vəɲ kãtəʔle va]	侬英文讲得来��?
I love you	[ŋɯ; e noŋ]	我爱侬！（我愛儂!）
I adore you	[ŋɯ; e.mɯ noŋ]	我爱慕侬.（我愛慕儂!）
I like you a lot	[ŋɯ; ɺɔ ˈhuø.ɕi noŋ ɦəʔ]	我老欢喜侬个！（我老歡喜儂個）
news	[ɕɪɲ.vəɲ]	新闻（新聞）
dead	[ɕi.tʰəˑ.ləʔ]	死脱了
alive	[ɦuəˑ.lɐˑ.he]	活辣海（活着）
very		交关（邪气）
very bad		交关坏（邪气坏）
inside, within	[ɺi.ɕiã]	里向
outside		外頭

References

• Lance Eccles, Shanghai dialect: an introduction to speaking the contemporary language. Dunwoody Press, 1993. ISBN 1-881265-11-0. 230 pp + cassette. (An introductory course in 29 units).

See also

• Shanghainese people
• Wu (linguistics)
• List of Chinese dialects
• Hangzhou dialect
• Suzhou dialect

External links

• Phonetics-alphabet Shanghaïen (Latin phonetic method of Shanghaïen, Fawu) Phonetics-alphabet Shanghaïen
• Shanghainese PronunciationShanghainese Pronunciation
• [http://www.tour-cities.com/shanghai.html Simple Shanghainese Words and Phrases]: Shanghai>Learn Shanghainese
• Shanghainese Dictionary: Glossika's Searchable Shanghai Wu Dictionary
• Project to Introduce and Promote Shanghainese: Background, audio, lessons, phonology, and forums. In English.
• Shanghai Dialect: Resources on Shanghai dialect including a Web site (in Japanese) that gives common phrases with sound files
• Shanghainese-Mandarin Soundboard: A soundboard (requires Flash) of common Mandarin Chinese phrases with Shanghainese equivalents.
• Wu Association

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