The Ningbo dialect () is a dialect of

Wu Chinese The Wu languages (; Wu romanization and IPA: ''wu6 gniu6'' [] ( Shanghainese), ''ng2 gniu6'' [] (Suzhounese), Mandarin pinyin and IPA: ''Wúyǔ'' []) is a major group of Sinitic languages spoken primarily in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Zhejiang Provi ...

, one subdivision of

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...

. Ningbo dialect is spoken throughout

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

and Zhoushan prefectures, in

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by ...

province.

Intelligibility

Ningbo dialect native speakers generally understand Shanghainese, another dialect of Wu. However, Shanghainese speakers do not always have full understanding of the Ningbo dialect. It is not mutually intelligible with

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

, or any other subdivision of the Chinese languages. The Ningbo dialect is considered a Yongjiang dialect or Mingzhou dialect (as both terms are synonymous), and is closely related to the

Taihu Wu dialects Taihu Wu () or Northern Wu () is a Wu Chinese language spoken over much of southern part of Jiangsu province, including Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, the southern part of Nantong, Jingjiang and Danyang; the municipality of Shanghai; and the northern p ...

of Zhoushan. In terms of inter-intelligibility between dialects within the Yong-Jiang subgroup, they can be more accurately described as 'accents' () as these dialects are relatively uniform and almost identical to each other aside from pronunciation differences and some minor lexical differences.

Phonology

Initials

Finals

:Syllabic continuants: Notes: *The table contains two additional finals . These have merged with respectively in younger generations. * are similar in pronunciation, differing slightly in lip rounding ( respectively). The two are merged in younger generations. * is pronounced before rounded vowels. The

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...

rimes are retained, while and are either retained or have disappeared in the Ningbo dialect. Middle Chinese rimes have become glottal stops, .

Tones

Examples

唱月亮 :月亮菩薩彎彎上，彎到小姑進后堂。 :后堂空，拜相公， :相公念經，打一天井， :天井隔笆，打一稻花， :稻花耘田，打一團箕。火瑩頭 :火瑩頭，夜夜紅， :阿公挑擔賣碗蔥， :新婦織麻糊燈籠， :阿婆箝牌捉牙虫， :兒子看鴨撩屙虫。

References

{{Zhejiang topics
Ningbo dialect Video on YouTube
Wu Chinese