The Ruian dialect (; pronounced in the Rui'an dialect; standard ) is a
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
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 Provin ...
spoken in
Ruian
Rui'an (, Wenzhounese: ''zy iu'') is a county-level city along the southern coast of Zhejiang province, China, and is under the administration of Wenzhou City. It has a population of 1,125,000 people and covers a land area of , when including wat ...
. It belongs to the Oujiang sub-group 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 Provin ...
dialects. It is closely related to the Pingyang dialect and Lucheng dialect, generally referred to as
Wenzhounese
Wenzhounese (), also known as Oujiang (), Tong Au () or Au Nyü (), is the language spoken in Wenzhou, the southern prefecture of Zhejiang, China. Nicknamed the "Devil's Language" () for its complexity and difficulty, it is the most divergent div ...
.
Phonology
Initials
Finals
Rui'an has the following finals:
嘸 , 兒
姹 , 好 , 包
海 , 先 , 思
下 , 布 ~ 圖 ~ 水
全 , 安 , 歌
會 , 走
李 , 六
涼 , 關 , 花
經 , 聽 , 公 .
Additional finals for older accents include
天 , 橋 , 頭
Tones
In the Ruian dialect, a monosyllabic word can have one of the eight tones, but there are only four phonetically distinguished tones, divided into high (陰) and low (陽) categories. In combination with another tone, it can change depending on the
tone sandhi
Tone sandhi is a phonological change occurring in tonal languages, in which the tones assigned to individual words or morphemes change based on the pronunciation of adjacent words or morphemes.
It usually simplifies a bidirectional tone into a ...
system.
Yin Ping 陰平 44 江天飛三
Yang Ping 陽平 31 來同魚球
Yin Shang 陰上 35 懂紙古本
Yang Shang 陽上 24 近淡厚似
Yin Qu 陰去 52 對去貨歲
Yang Qu 陽去 22 外地路住
Yin Ru 陰入 323 七博塔各
Yang Ru 陽入 212 六肉白石
Tone sandhi
In bisyllabic words, the Rui'an dialect phonetically has only six tones, ''high flat'' ˦, ''middle flat'' ˧, ''rising'' ˨˦, ''departing'' ˦˨, ''entering'' ˨˩˨ and ''short'' ˨. We'll now use A, B, C, D, E, and 0 for these six tones.
Grammar
Sentence Structure
Classifiers
Verbs
Adverbs
;Ruian dialect
Lexicon
Pronouns
Numerals
:
1 used when are alone or follow 第 to form ordinal numerals, and the later three lectures are cardinal numerals and are generally followed by a classifier.
:
2 the first lecture is considered literal, the second colloquial.
Vocabulary
Below is a list of the most common vocabulary in Ruian dialect.
Readings
Like other Wu dialects, in the Ruian dialect a Chinese character can have more than one reading, divided into vernacular readings (白讀) and literary readings (文讀), in comparison with other Wu dialects, the Ruian dialect has relatively few multiple readings.
Below are some samples.
See also
*
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 Wu Chinese dialect
*
Suzhou dialect
Suzhounese (; Suzhounese: ''sou1 tseu1 ghe2 gho6'' [] ), also known as the Suzhou dialect, is the Varieties of Chinese, variety of Chinese traditionally spoken in the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu, Jiangsu Province, China. Suzhounese is a varie ...
*
Ruian
Rui'an (, Wenzhounese: ''zy iu'') is a county-level city along the southern coast of Zhejiang province, China, and is under the administration of Wenzhou City. It has a population of 1,125,000 people and covers a land area of , when including wat ...
, the city
*
Wenzhounese
Wenzhounese (), also known as Oujiang (), Tong Au () or Au Nyü (), is the language spoken in Wenzhou, the southern prefecture of Zhejiang, China. Nicknamed the "Devil's Language" () for its complexity and difficulty, it is the most divergent div ...
, of which the variety of Rui'an is considered a dialect
References
A Study on the Phonetics of Ruian Dialect
Wu Chinese
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