The Ningbo dialect () is a dialect of

Wu Chinese , region = Shanghai, Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, parts of Anhui and Jiangxi provinces; overseas and migrant communities , ethnicity = Wu , speakers = million , date = 2021 , ref = e27 , fa ...

, one subdivision of

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

. Ningbo dialect is spoken throughout

Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...

and Zhoushan prefectures, in

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

province.

Intelligibility

Ningbo dialect native speakers generally understand

Shanghainese The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, or Hu language, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the central districts of the city of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan langua ...

, 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 ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

, 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 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 language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...

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