Northern Wu, also known as Taihu Wu, is the largest branch of the Wu Chinese languages, spoken by around half of the Wu speakerbase, in southern Jiangsu, Shanghai, and northern Zhejiang. Many cities, such as Suzhou (the cultural capital of the region), Shanghai (the economic centre and largest city of China), and Hangzhou (the Southern Song capital), are home to Northern Wu varieties.
Although no official romanization system is endorsed by any government, on Wiktionary, both of these lects are notated in Wugniu, which is the most common standardised system used in online circles nowadays. Wugniu is also available in a wide variety of localities, and correspondences between different lects tend to have the same glyph (eg. Shanghainese /ɔ/ and Suzhounese /æ/ both being "au"). Slight modifications have been made regarding tone notation, as Wugniu does not officially have a way to notate tone sandhi. The legacy Wiktionary romanization for Shanghainese is accessible in the expanded pronunciation infobox, and its use is now not recommended.
Currently supported varieties in zh-pron
include:
As most Northern Wu lects share the same set of initials, the following will be a pan-Northern Wu table. Irregularities will be listed in the footnotes. Discrepancies between the legacy Wiktionary system and Wugniu for Shanghainese are shown in bold.
Wugniu | Wiktionary Romanisation |
Voiced? | Qian's Romanisation |
Wu-Chinese MiniDict |
IPA | Examples |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
p | p | no | b | p | /p/ | 布幫北 / 布帮北 |
ph | ph | no | p | ph | /pʰ/ | 怕胖劈 |
b | b | yes | bh | b | /b/ | 步盆拔 |
m | m | yes | m | m | /m/ | 命梅門 / 命梅门 |
f | f | no | f | f | /f/ | 飛粉福 / 飞粉福 |
v | v | yes | fh | v | /v/ | 扶奉服 |
t | t | no | d | t | /t/ | 膽懂德 / 胆懂德 |
th | th | no | t | th | /tʰ/ | 透聽鐵 / 透听铁 |
d | d | yes | dh | d | /d/ | 地動奪 / 地动夺 |
n | n | yes | n | n | /n/ | 糯內男 / 糯内男 |
l | l | yes | l | l | /l/ | 賴領立 / 赖领立 |
ts | ts | no | z | ts | /t͡s/ | 煮增質 / 煮增质 |
tsh | tsh | no | c | tsh | /t͡sʰ/ | 處倉出 / 处仓出 |
dz | n/a | yes | n/a | dz | /d͡z/ | 柴戎坐 |
s | s | no | s | s | /s/ | 書松色 / 书松色 |
z | z | yes | sh | z | /z/ | 樹從石 / 树从石 |
c | j | no | j | c, ts | /t͡ɕ/ | 鬼京腳 / 鬼京脚 |
ch | q | no | q | ch, tsh | /t͡ɕʰ/ | 丘輕吃 / 丘轻吃 |
j | jj | yes | jh | j | /d͡ʑ/ | 旗群劇 / 旗群剧 |
gn | ny | yes | ny | ny | /n̠ʲ/ | 兒扭泥 / 儿扭泥 |
sh | x | no | x | s, sh | /ɕ/ | 修勛血 / 修勋血 |
zh | xx | yes | xh | z, zh | /ʑ/ | 徐秦絕 / 徐秦绝 |
k | k | no | g | k | /k/ | 乾公夾 / 干公夹 |
kh | kh | no | k | kh | /kʰ/ | 開墾擴 / 开垦扩 |
g | g | yes | gh | g | /ɡ/ | 葵共軋 / 葵共轧 |
ng | ng | yes | ng | ng | /ŋ/ | 我外鵝 / 我外鹅 |
h | h | no | h | h | /h/ | 花荒忽 |
no | hh | - | /ʔ/ | 衣烏鴨 / 衣乌鸭 | ||
gh | hh | yes | wh | gh | /ɦ/ | 鞋移雨 |
Finals in Northern Wu lects vary from lect to lect. The following are tables for Shanghainese, Suzhounese and Hangzhounese finals. For other lects, refer to Module:wuu-pron/data.
Wugniu | Wiktionary Romanisation |
Qian's Romanisation |
Wu-Chinese MiniDict |
IPA | Examples |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | a | a | a | /a̠/ | 太柴鞋 |
o | o | o | o | /o/ | 花模蛇 |
au | au | ao | au | /ɔ/ | 寶朝高 / 宝朝高 |
eu | eu | eu | /ɤ/ | 鬥醜狗 / 斗丑狗 | |
e | e | e | e, ai, ae | /e/ | 雷來蘭 / 雷来兰 |
oe | oe | oe | oe | /ø/ | 乾最亂 / 干最乱 |
i | i | i | i, ie | /i/ | 基錢微 / 基钱微 |
ia | ia | ia | ia | /ia/ | 野寫亞 / 野写亚 |
iau | iau | iao | iau | /iɔ/ | 條蕉搖 / 条蕉摇 |
ieu | ieu | ieu | /iɤ/ | 流尤休 | |
ie | ie | ie | iae | /ie/ | 廿械 |
u | u | u | u | /u/ | 波歌做 |
ua | ua | ua | ua | /ua/ | 怪淮娃 |
ue | ue | ue | ue | /ue/ | 回貫彎 / 回贯弯 |
uoe | uoe | uoe | /uø/ | 官歡緩 / 官欢缓 | |
iu | y | yu | iu | /y/ | 居女羽 |
ioe | yoe | ioe | /yø/ | 軟園權 / 软园权 | |
an | an | ang | an | /ã/ | 冷長硬 / 冷长硬 |
aon | aan | ang | aon | /ɑ̃/ | 黨放忙 / 党放忙 |
en | en | en | en | /ən/ | 奮登論 / 奋登论 |
on | on | ong | on | /oŋ/ | 翁蟲風 / 翁虫风 |
aq | aq | ak | ah | /aʔ/ | 辣麥客 / 辣麦客 |
oq | oq | ok | oh | /oʔ/ | 北郭目 |
eq | eq | ek | eh | /əʔ/ | 舌色割 |
ian | ian | ian | /iã/ | 良象陽 / 良象阳 | |
iaon | iaan | iaon | /iɑ̃/ | 旺(白) | |
in | in | in | in | /in/ | 緊靈人(白) / 紧灵人(白) |
ion | ion | ion | /ioŋ/ | 窮榮濃 / 穷荣浓 | |
iaq | iaq | iah | /iaʔ/ | 藥腳略 / 药脚略 | |
ioq | ioq | ioh | /ioʔ/ | 肉浴玉 | |
iq | iq | ik | ih | /iɪʔ/ | 筆亦吃 / 笔亦吃 |
uan | uan | uan | /uã/ | 橫光~火 / 横光~火 | |
uaon | uaan | uaon | /uɑ̃/ | 廣狂況 / 广狂况 | |
uen | un | uen | /uəŋ/ | 困魂溫 / 困魂温 | |
uaq | uaq | uah | /uaʔ/ | 挖劃刮 / 挖划刮 | |
ueq | ueq | ueh | /uəʔ/ | 活擴骨 / 活扩骨 | |
iun | yn | iuin | /yn/ | 均雲訓 / 均云训 | |
iuq | yq | iuih | /yɪʔ/ | 血缺悅 / 血缺悦 | |
er | er | er | r | /əl/ | 而(文)爾(文)耳(文) / 而(文)尔(文)耳(文) |
y | r | y | y | /z̩/ | 知次住 |
m | mm | m | /m̩/ | 姆(白)畝(白)嘸~沒 / 姆(白)亩(白)呒~没 | |
n | nn | n | /n̩/ | 爾~奶 / 尔~奶 | |
ng | ngg | n | ng | /ŋ̍/ | 五(白)魚(白)午(白) / 五(白)鱼(白)午(白) |
Wugniu | Wu-Chinese MiniDict |
IPA | Examples |
---|---|---|---|
a | a | /ɑ/ | 茄家(白)奶 |
o | o | /o/ | 馬畫化 / 马画化 |
au | au | /æ/ | 刀好高 |
eu | eu | /øy/ | 頭州歐 / 头州欧 |
e | e | /e/ | 來最三 / 来最三 |
oe | oe | /ø/ | 暗軟川 / 暗软川 |
ie | ie | /ɪ/ | 仙念天 |
ou | ou | /əu/ | 河數過 / 河数过 |
i | i | /i/ | 李肺呂 / 李肺吕 |
ia | ia | /iɑ/ | 佳夜茄(文) |
io | io | /io/ | 靴亞(白) / 靴亚(白) |
ieu | ieu | /ʏ/ | 九舊友 / 九旧友 |
ioe | ioe | /iø/ | 圓圈鴛 / 圆圈鸳 |
u | u | /u/ | 破付 |
iu | iu | /y/ | 女貴(白)予 / 女贵(白)予 |
an | an | /ã/ | 長商盛(白) / 长商盛(白) |
aon | aon | /ɑ̃/ | 糖窗膀 |
en | en | /ən/ | 深門正 / 深门正 |
on | on | /oŋ/ | 風蓬農 / 风蓬农 |
aeq | aeh | /aʔ/ | 鴨發甲(白) / 鸭发甲(白) |
aq | ah | /ɑʔ/ | 麥着格(白) |
eq | eh | /əʔ/ | 黑十脫 / 黑十脱 |
oq | oh | /oʔ/ | 落福北 |
ian | ian | /iã/ | 羊醬氧 / 羊酱氧 |
iaon | iaon | /iɑ̃/ | 旺(白)腔 |
in | in | /in/ | 尋冰聽 / 寻冰听 |
ion | ion | /ioŋ/ | 榮濃永 / 荣浓永 |
iaeq | iaeh | /iaʔ/ | 甲(文)夾(文)鴨(文) / 甲(文)夹(文)鸭(文) |
iaq | iah | /iɑʔ/ | 腳約卻 / 脚约却 |
iq | ih | /iəʔ/ | 立雪接 |
ioq | ioh | /ioʔ/ | 確玉育 / 确玉育 |
iun | iuin | /yn/ | 雲君裙 / 云君裙 |
iuaeq | - | /yaʔ/ | 曰 |
iuq | iuih | /yəʔ/ | 缺橘疫 |
er | r | /əl/ | 而(文)爾(文)耳(文) / 而(文)尔(文)耳(文) |
y | y | /z̩/ | 四斯次 |
yu | yu | /z̩ʷ/ | 住世水(白) |
m | m | /m̩/ | 畝(白)嘸~沒 / 亩(白)呒~没 |
n | n | /n̩/ | 唔~篤 / 唔~笃 |
ng | ng | /ŋ̍/ | 五(白)魚(白)午(白) / 五(白)鱼(白)午(白) |
Wugniu | Wu-Chinese MiniDict |
IPA | Examples |
---|---|---|---|
a | a | /ɑ/ | 媽哈沙 / 妈哈沙 |
e | e | /ɛ/ | 開台海 |
au | au | /ɔ/ | 包刀好 |
o | o | /o/ | 波我多 |
eu | ei | /ey/ | 溝口扣 / 沟口扣 |
ei | ei | /ei/ | 斗頭手 |
i | i | /i/ | 西衣皮 |
ia | ia | /iɑ/ | 家鴉下 / 家鸦下 |
ie | ie | /iɛ/ | 街界鞋 |
iau | iau | /iɔ/ | 交小妖 |
ieu | iu | /iø/ | 丟酒求 / 丢酒求 |
u | u | /u/ | 烏布蘇 / 乌布苏 |
ua | ua | /uɑ/ | 瓜花畫 / 瓜花画 |
/zʷɑ/ | 抓耍~雜技 / 抓耍~杂技 | ||
ue | ue | /uɛ/ | 拐快外 |
/zʷɛ/ | 摔帥率 / 摔帅率 | ||
uo | uo | /uo/ | 話動詞 / 话动词 |
uei | uei | /ui/ | 位鬼灰 |
/zʷei/ | 車蛇水 / 车蛇水 | ||
en | en | /en/ | 分成很 |
aen | e | /ẽ̞/ | 板山安 |
an | an | /ɑŋ/ | 方港杭 |
on | on | /oŋ/ | 東送共 / 东送共 |
in | in | /in/ | 心丁引 |
ien | ie | /iẽ̞/ | 煙田邊 / 烟田边 |
ian | ian | /iɑŋ/ | 江亮想 |
ion | ion | /ioŋ/ | 永 |
uen | uen | /un/ | 溫滾坤 / 温滚坤 |
/zʷen/ | 村准順 | ||
uan | uan | /uɑŋ/ | 光黃狂 / 光黄狂 |
/zʷɑŋ/ | 雙窗床 / 双窗床 | ||
iun | iuin | /yn/ | 雲運勻 / 云运匀 |
uon | uon | /uõ/ | 彎亂半 / 弯乱半 |
/zʷõ/ | 酸船圈 | ||
aq | eh | /ɑʔ/ | 法集踏 |
eq | eh | /əʔ/ | 德汁色 |
oq | oh | /oʔ/ | 六叔福 |
iaq | ih | /iɑʔ/ | 腳削藥 / 脚削药 |
iq | ih | /iəʔ/ | 筆一力 / 笔一力 |
ioq | ioh | /ioʔ/ | 吃玉育 |
uaq | ueh | /uɑʔ/ | 挖刮挖 |
/zʷɑʔ/ | 刷 | ||
iuq | iuih | /yəʔ/ | 月浴鬱 / 月浴郁 |
/zʷəʔ/ | 卒説熱 / 卒说热 | ||
er | er | /əl/ | 兒爾二 / 儿尔二 |
y | y | /z̩/ | 知次市 |
yu | yu | /z̩ʷ/ | 朱居樹 / 朱居树 |
m | m | /m̩/ | 呣~媽 / 呣~妈 |
n | n | /n̩/ | 爾~娘 / 尔~娘 |
Unlike other varieties such as Beijing Mandarin (right-prominent, limited but systematic), Guangzhou Cantonese (rare and non-systematic, but with certain patterns) or Taiwanese Hokkien (right-prominent, widespread and systematic), the tone sandhi rules in Northern Wu comprise two parts—a left-prominent word tone sandhi rule, and a right-prominent phrase tone sandhi rule. Words of fossilised nature follow the first rule, and analysable phrases (usually of verb + noun composition) follow the second rule.
For Northern Wu romanizations in the template {{zh-pron}}
, the romanisation is made up of the sandhi chain's tone value (often the same as the tone category of the first character), followed by romanizations of the initial and final of each character (separated by spaces); 6zaon he
would be the input for 上海 (6zaon-he5) in Shanghainese. If the underlying tone category of a syllable is not the same as the sandhi chain's realization, the underlying tone is written to the right of the syllable; 6veq8 khu5 i5
would be the input for 勿可以 (6veq8-khu5-i5) in Shanghainese. This is largely only used in Suzhounese, though note that in Shanghainese, the negator 勿 (8veq) uses tone 6's sandhi chain.
Wugniu's tone categories span from 1 to 8 for all lects, though not all are used in every lect. These numbers correspond to the four Middle Chinese tones—level, rising, departing and checked—and are further split in two based on voicing (voiceless—dark, voiced—light) of the initial of the character.
Level | Rising | Departing | Checked | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dark | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
Light | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
Right-prominent sandhi can be inputted through the use of +
: 6ne+3hau
for 倷好 in Suzhounese.
0
forces a null tone onto a syllable, and -
forces a mid-tone onto a syllable. These are both useful in usage examples and idioms, where tone nullification often occurs based on syntax.
There are five tone categories (or "tones") in Middle and New (中派與新派) Shanghainese, a reduction from the six to eight in Old (老派) Shanghainese. The tone category a character belongs to can essentially be inferred from its Middle Chinese pronunciation, or pronunciations from other Chinese varieties. Middle Chinese had four tones—level, rising, departing and checked. In the development to Shanghainese, each of the four Middle Chinese tones split in two, conditioned by the voicing (voiceless—dark, voiced—light) of the initial of the character. Three of the resultant eight tone categories then merged with other categories, producing five tone categories in total today.
Several of these tone categories are non-phonemic; that is, they are predictable from the voicing of the initial consonant and from whether the syllable is checked (ending in a glottal stop). Only tones 1 and 5 are contrastive: they both occur in syllables with voiceless initials and no final glottal stop.
Wugniu tone number | Legacy tone number | Tone name (tone category) |
Voicing | Tone value | Example characters | Ancestral MC tones |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | dark level 陰平/阴平 |
voiceless | ˥˧ 53 | 刀漿司東 / 刀浆司东 | dark level |
5 | 2 | dark departing 陰去/阴去 |
voiceless | ˧˦ 34 | 島到獎醬 / 岛到奖酱 | dark rising, dark departing |
6 | 3 | light departing 陽去/阳去 |
voiced | ˨˧ 23 | 桃導道牆 / 桃导道墙 | light level, light rising, light departing |
7 | 4 | dark checked 陰入/阴入 |
voiceless | ˥ʔ 55 | 雀削說足 / 雀削说足 | dark checked |
8 | 5 | light checked 陽入/阳入 |
voiced | ˩˨ʔ 12 | 嚼石曲食 | light checked |
Each of these five categories then has a tone sandhi pattern, depending on the number of syllables in the word. In Shanghainese, left-prominent sandhi patterns are always analysed to be entirely dependent on (ie. predictable from) the tone of the first syllable (except 勿 (8veq)), and as such, subsequent syllables' tones are unmarked.
Tonal category | Monosyllabics | Disyllabics | Trisyllabics | Tetrasyllabics | Pentasyllabics |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Dark level (1) | 53 | 55+21 | 55+33+21 | 55+33+33+21 | 55+33+33+33+21 |
2. Dark departing (5) | 34 | 33+44 | 33+55+21 | 33+55+33+21 | 33+55+33+33+21 |
3. Light departing (6) | 23 | 22+44 | 22+55+21 | 22+55+33+21 | 22+55+33+33+21 |
4. Dark checked (7) | 55 | 33+44 | 33+55+21 | 33+55+33+21 | 33+55+33+33+21 |
5. Light checked (8) | 12 | 11+23 | 11+22+23 | 11+22+22+23 22+55+33+21 |
22+55+33+33+21 |
When words combine form a phrase, the following right-prominent sandhi rules apply. In short, when the word A in appears non-finally in a phrase, its last syllable (A-x) changes to a flat (level) tone. The tone sandhi value that syllable A-x changes to is conditioned by three factors: (1) the tonal category of syllable A-x, (2) the number of syllables in word A, and if the number of syllables in A is 1 – (3) whether word A is "tightly associated" with the word preceding word A. The exact realization of the phenomenon varies from person to person, and as such, right-prominent sandhi is only visible in the IPA realization of the input.
Word undergoing sandhi (i.e. word A) | Tonal category of last syllable of word undergoing sandhi (i.e. syllable A-x) | Example | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tone 1 | Tone 5 | Tone 6 | Tone 7 | Tone 8 | ||
Monosyllabic word unbound to any word preceding it | 44 | 33 | 44 | 22 | 儂好/侬好 (6non+5hau) 炒魷魚/炒鱿鱼 (5tshau+6yeu ng) | |
Monosyllabic word tightly bound to a monosyllabic word preceding it | 硬碰硬 (6ngan+-phan+6ngan) | |||||
Multisyllabic word | 33 | 33 | 嘸著嘸落/呒着呒落 (6m zaq+6m loq) | |||
Monosyllabic word tightly bound to a multisyllabic word preceding it | 前世作孽 (6zhi sy+7tsoq+8gniq) |
MiniDict | Wugniu | Voicing of initial | Wiktionary tone category |
---|---|---|---|
平 | 6 | voiced | 3 |
1 | voiceless | 1 | |
上 | 6 | voiced | 3 |
5 | voiceless | 2 | |
去 | 6 | voiced | 3 |
5 | voiceless | 2 | |
入 | 8 | voiced | 5 |
7 | voiceless | 4 |
Tone sandhi in Suzhounese is usually analysed as a system in which every underlying tone contributes to the chain's contour. However, some generalizations can be made. On Wiktionary, the system as described in A Study on Suzhounese Phonetics (蘇州方言語音研究) is used.
Disclaimer: as Suzhounese has many irregular sandhi chains, and this system drastically simplifies sandhi, many words are irregular. Please transcribe realised tones using the sandhi chain with the closest pitch contour.
It is widely agreed upon that Suzhounese has seven tones.
Wugniu tone number | Tone name (tone category) |
Voicing | Tone value | Example characters | Ancestral MC tones |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | dark level 陰平/阴平 |
voiceless | ˦ 44 | 廳千芭篩 / 厅千芭筛 | dark level |
2 | light level 陽平/阳平 |
voiceless | ˨˨˧ 223 | 排尋同廊 / 排寻同廊 | light level |
3 | rising 上聲/上声 |
voiceless | ˥˩ 51 | 耍總朵孔 / 耍总朵孔 | dark rising |
5 | dark departing 陰去/阴去 |
voiceless | ˥˨˧ 523 | 誘鈵贊介 / 诱𰽥赞介 | dark departing |
6 | light departing 陽去/阳去 |
voiced | ˨˧˩ 231 | 戀晚稻共 / 恋晚稻共 | light rising, light departing |
7 | dark checked 陰入/阴入 |
voiceless | ˦˧ʔ 43 | 戚鉑掬客 / 戚铂掬客 | dark checked |
8 | light checked 陽入/阳入 |
voiced | ˨˧ʔ 23 | 十薄達曆 / 十薄达历 | light checked |
The left-prominent sandhi system used on Wiktionary works quite similarly to Shanghainese. For tones 1-6, only the first syllable is taken into account, whereas in tones 7 and 8, the first two syllables determine the chain. The 0's listed below are not displayed in the IPA as it is considered non-standard.
Tone category | Monosyllabics | Disyllabics | Trisyllabics | Tetrasyllabics |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dark level (1) | 44 | 44 0 | 44 44 0 | 44 44 44 0 |
Light level (2) | 223 | 22 33 | 22 33 0 | 22 33 44 0 |
Rising (3) | 51 | 55 11 | 55 11 0 | 55 11 11 0 |
Dark departing (5) | 523 | 52 33 | 52 33 0 | 52 33 44 0 |
Light departing (6) | 231 | 23 11 | 23 11 0 | 23 11 11 0 |
Tone category | Disyllabics | Trisyllabics | Tetrasyllabics | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st syl | 2nd syl | |||
Dark checked (7) | Level (1, 2) | 44 23 | 44 23 0 | 44 44 23 44 0 |
Rising (3) | 55 51 | 55 51 0 | 55 51 11 0 | |
Departing (5, 6) | 55 523 | 55 52 33 | 55 52 22 33 | |
Checked (7, 8) | 44 44 | 44 44 0 | 44 44 44 22 | |
Light checked (8) | Level (1, 2) | 22 33 | 22 33 0 | 22 33 44 0 |
Rising (3) | 22 51 | 22 51 0 | 22 51 11 0 | |
Departing (5, 6) | 22 523 | 22 52 33 | 22 52 22 33 | |
Checked (7, 8) | 33 44 | 33 44 0 | 33 44 22 0 |
Suzhounese only has Shanghai-style right-prominent sandhi in monosyllabic dark departing terms. The dark departing syllabe mutates from 523 to 51: 笑別人 is pronounced as /siæ523>51 bəʔ22 ȵin33/ replace ȵ with n̠ʲ, invalid IPA characters (523>51<>22</>ȵ33).
In example sentences, all Northern Wu lects with Wugniu romanization are permitted. Other Wu lects are to be further investigated as to the potential for their inclusion. The Northern Wu localities with Wugniu notation are:
zh-pron|w=sh:1thi ze6;sz:1thie ze2
zh-pron|w=sh:5hu tsaon5 zan6;sz:3hou tsaon5 zan2
zh-pron|w=sh:6di zy6;sz:6die zyu6
zh-pron|w=sh:6ghoe koq7;sz:2ghoe koq7
zh-pron|w=sh:7faq liq8;sz:7faeq liq8
zh-pron|w=sh:8zeq pen5;sz:8zeq pen3