Changzhou dialect
| Changzhou dialect | |
|---|---|
| Piling | |
| 常州话 zaon-tsei-who | |
| Pronunciation | [sɑŋ.z̥ei.wu] |
| Native to | People's Republic of China |
| Region |
Changzhou, Jiangsu Province Shanghai Overseas, in the United States (New York City) |
|
Native speakers
|
3–4 million (date missing) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| ISO 639-6 | plig |
| Glottolog |
pili1238 (Piling)
|
| Linguasphere | 79-AAA-dba |
Changzhou dialect (Simplified Chinese: 常州话; Traditional Chinese: 常州話; Pinyin: Chángzhōu huà), sometimes called Changzhounese, is a dialect of Wu, a Sino-Tibetan language family, and belongs to the Taihu dialect group. It is spoken in the city of Changzhou and surrounding areas in Jiangsu province of China. It has many similarities with the Shanghainese and Suzhou dialect. It is not at all mutually intelligible with Mandarin, China's official language. It is much more closely related to the neighboring Wuxi dialect with which it is mostly mutually intelligible.
Phonetically, the Changzhou dialect makes use of a number of voiced or slack voiced initials [b̥ d̥ ɡ̊ d̥z̥ d̥ʑ̊ v̥ z̥ ɦ̥] that are not found in Mandarin as well as a larger number of vowel sounds [ɑ ɐ ɔ o æ ə ɨ ɨʷ ɛ ɤɯ e i u y]. The tone system also is of greater complexity, using 7 tones based on the classical tonal system. It also has a more complex tone sandhi than found in most other Chinese varieties.
The Changzhou dialect is centered around the city of Changzhou and is spoken throughout the prefecture. It is notable as being one of the last places one hears Wu when traveling West before it gives way to the Southern Mandarin dialects, with the possible exception of the Gaochun dialect spoken in Southern Nanjing county.
Within the prefecture, there are also small but noticeable distinctions in pronunciation between the city center and the more rural surroundings which can be easily detected by native speakers. It is likely that as most residents have remained in the same village for many generations and have been locally educated these variations have managed to persist.
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Wikipedia