Shanghainese

Shanghainese
上海話 / 上海话 Zaanhehho 上海閒話/上海闲话 Zaanheh-hehho 滬語 / 沪语 Hu nyy
Pronunciation	[z̥ɑ̃̀héɦɛ̀ɦʊ̀], [ɦùɲý]
Native to	China, overseas communities
Region	City of Shanghai and surrounding Yangtze River Delta
Ethnicity	Shanghainese people
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Wu Taihu Suzhou–Shanghai–Jiaxing (Su–Hu–Jia) Shanghainese
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	suji
Linguist list	wuu-sha
Glottolog	None
Linguasphere	79-AAA-dbb >
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Shanghainese
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Shanghainese Romanization	Zaanhehho [z̥ɑ̃̀héɦʊ̀]
Literal meaning	Shanghai speech
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shànghǎihuà Wu Shanghainese Romanization Zaanhehho [z̥ɑ̃̀héɦʊ̀]
Shanghainese
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Shanghainese Romanization	Shanghe Hhehho [z̥ɑ̃̀hé ɦɛ̀ɦʊ̀]
Literal meaning	Shanghai speech
Transcriptions Wu Shanghainese Romanization Shanghe Hhehho [z̥ɑ̃̀hé ɦɛ̀ɦʊ̀]
Huyu
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Shanghainese Romanization	[ɦuɲy]
Literal meaning	Hu (Shanghai) language
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hùyǔ Wu Shanghainese Romanization [ɦuɲy]

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Shànghǎihuà
Wu
Shanghainese Romanization	Zaanhehho [z̥ɑ̃̀héɦʊ̀]

Transcriptions
Wu
Shanghainese Romanization	Shanghe Hhehho [z̥ɑ̃̀hé ɦɛ̀ɦʊ̀]

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Hùyǔ
Wu
Shanghainese Romanization	[ɦuɲy]

The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect or Hu language, is a variant 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 language family. Shanghainese, like other Wu variants, is mutually unintelligible with other varieties of Chinese outside of the Wu area such as Mandarin, sharing just 29% lexical similarity with the Mandarin heard in Beijing.

In English, "Shanghainese" sometimes refers to all Wu languages and variants, although they are only partially intelligible with one another. Shanghainese proper is a representative dialect of Northern Wu; it contains vocabulary and expressions from the entire Northern Wu area of southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. With nearly 14 million speakers, Shanghainese is also the largest single form of Wu Chinese. It serves as the lingua franca of the entire Yangtze River Delta region.

Shanghainese is rich in vowels [i y ɪ ʏ eⁱ ø ɛ ə a ɑ ɔ ɤᵚ o ʊ u] (twelve of which are phonemic) and in consonants. Like other northern Wu dialects, Shanghainese has voiced initials [b d ɡ ɦ z v dʑ ʑ]. Neither Cantonese nor Mandarin has voiced initial stops or affricates. The Shanghainese tonal system is also significantly different from other Chinese varieties, sharing more similarities with the Japanese pitch accent. Shanghainese has two level tonal contrasts (high and low), while Cantonese and Mandarin are typical of contour tonal languages.

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Wikipedia