Shanghainese

"Shanghai dialect"
In Mandarin Chinese
Written in Traditional Chinese:	上海話
Written in Simplified Chinese:	上海话
Pronunciation in Mandarin:	Shànghǎi Huà (Pinyin)
In Shanghainese	(Native name)
Written in Traditional Chinese:	上海言話
Written in Simplified Chinese:	上海言话
Pronunciation in Shanghainese:	Zanheghaewo (Thonjon) /zɑ̃ he ɦɛ̤ ɦo ˨˦˨˩/ (IPA)

Shanghainese , sometimes referred to as the Shanghai dialect, is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai. Wu has 87 million speakers as of 1991, and is the second most spoken form of Chinese after Mandarin (which has some 800 million speakers). Shanghainese is the representative dialect of Northern Wu; it contains vocabulary and expressions from the entire Northern Wu area (southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang). With nearly 14 million speakers, Shanghainese is also the largest single coherent form of Wu Chinese.

Shanghainese is rich in consonants and pure vowels [i y ɿ ɥ e ø E ə ɵ a ɒ ɔ ɤ o u]. Like other northern Wu dialects, the Shanghai dialect has voiced initials [b d g z v dʑ ʑ]. Neither Mandarin nor Cantonese has voiced initials.

Shanghainese is a register language, with only two live tonal contrasts (high and low). Compare this with 4 in Mandarin, and 6 in Cantonese. The Shanghainese tonal system is instead similar to African languages; different from other Chinese languages, Thai and Vietnamese. For more information on the tonal system, visit http://www.zanhei.com/pitch.html.

Shanghainese is not encouraged to be spoken in schools and in newspapers, and the media are strongly discouraged from broadcasting in contemporary Shanghainese. However, Shanghainese can often be heard on the radio. Several television advertisements in Shanghainese have been removed shortly after airing. But there are some TV play series in Shanghainese, still. For example, back in 1995, a TV play series called "Nie Zhai" (the Evil Debt) was in Shanghainese. While it was broadcasted in other places in China, subtitles in Mandarin were added rather than make a Mandarin version of the TV series. Another TV comedy programme "Lao Niang Jiu" (Old Uncle) has been broadcasting for seven years now, and is still quite a popular programme among Shanghainese. In 2004, a Tom and Jerry program dubbed with Shanghainese was blocked from broadcasting. Other forms of Shanghainese for public broadcast include Shanghainese Folk Opera and Orthodox Shanghainese (catering to farmers in the suburbs). But Shanghai people are strongly encouraged to speak Mandarin and celebrities are put on billboards with slogans like "Be a modern Shanghaier, speak Mandarin."

In August 2005, there were media coverages reporting that Shanghainese will be taught in high school. This introduced great controversy. Proponents argue that this will make the students know their hometown better and help preserve local culture. Opponents argue that this will encourage discrimination based on people's origin.

In September 2005, the Shanghai municipal government also increased launched a campaign to encourage Mandarin speaking in Shanghai. Among other requirements, all service-industry workers in Shanghai will be required to greet customers in Mandarin only, and pass Mandarin-fluency test by 2010. Those with bad or heavily-accented Mandarin must enroll in remedial Mandarin classes.

Common Words and Phrases in Shanghainese

Note: Chinese characters for Shanghainese are not standardized and are provided for reference only.

translation	Romanization VT	Thonjon	Lumazi	IPA	Simplified Chinese
Shanghainese:	Zorn`hay ay`o	Zanheghaewo	Zanheireiwo	zɑ̃hɛ ɛ̤ʊ̤	上海言话
I		wo, gnou	wo, ngu		我
we or I		álá	aelae		阿拉
he/she		ji	yi		伊
they		jila	yila		伊拉
you (sing.)		non	non		侬
you (plural)		na	na		人那
hello:	non hor	non ho	non ho	nõ hɔː	侬好
good-bye:	`tzayway	tsewe	tseiwei	ˈtsɛwɛ	再会
please:	tcin	tshin	chin	ʧʰin	请
thank you:	xa`xa non	ziaja non	zhaya non	ʒaja nõ	谢谢侬
sorry:	Tay`vettci	tevéchi	teivechi	tɛvɐˑʧʰi	对不起/对勿起
that one:	`aytzaq	etsá	eitsae	ˈɛtsɐʔ
there:	`aytaq	etá	eitae	ˈɛtɐʔ
over there:	`aymitaq	emitá	eimitae	ˈɛmitɐʔ
here:	gettaq	gétá	getae	gɐˑtɐʔ	搿搭
where:	a`litaq, sa`diforn	ghalitá, sadifan	ralitae, sadifan	a̤ɺitɐʔ, sadifɑ̃	何里搭
which:	a`litzaq	ghalitsá	ralitsae	a̤ɺitsɐʔ	何里只
what:	sa	sa	sa	sa	啥
who:	sa`jnin	sagnin	sanin	sagnin	啥人
why:	waysa	wesa	weisa	wɛsa	为啥
when:	sa`zenkworn	sazencuan	sazenkuan	sazənkuɑ̃	啥辰光
how:	na`nen, na`na, na`nenka	nanen, nana, nanenca	nanen, nana, nanenka	nanən, nana, nanənka	哪能, 哪哪, 哪能家
how much?:	Txiti` a?	Cidie a?	Cidi a?	ʧidi	几钿啊?
yes:	ay	eh	ei	ˈɛ	哎
no:	vez`zir, m`meq, vjor	vézu, mmé, vio	vezi, mme, vio	vɐˑzl, m̩mɐʔ, viɔ	勿是、呒没
home:	qol`lican	ólihian	oelishan	oˑɺiʃɑ̃	屋裏向
Where's the restroom?:		Daseucae lélá ghalitá?	Dasoukei lelae ralitae?	das7kɛ ɺɐˑɺɐʔ a̤ɺitɐʔ	汏手间勒勒阿里搭?
Have you eaten dinner?:		Javae chícoulé va?	Yavei chiekule va?		夜饭吃过了伐?
I don't know:	Knu veq `corteq.	Wo véhioté.	Wo veshote.	ʊ̤ vɐˑʃɔtɐʔ	我勿晓得
Do you speak English?:	Non `Inven way`teq korn `va?	Non Inven weté can va?	Non Inven weite kan va?	nõ ˈinvən wɛtɐʔ kãː va	侬英文会得讲伐?
I love you:	Knu qay `non.	Wo e non!	Wo ei non.	ʊ̤ ɛː nõ	我爱侬！
I adore you:	Knu qay`mu non.	Wo emou non.	Wo eimu non.	ʊ̤ ɛmoʔ nõ	我爱慕侬
I like you a lot:	Knu lor `hwoyci non eq!	Wo lo huoehi non ghe!	Wo lo hueushi non re.	ʊ̤ ɺɔː ˈhøʃi nõ ɐ̤ʔ	我老欢喜侬个！

Unlike Mandarin, Shanghainese actually has the direct "yes" (ay/éi/ei) similar to English.

About the romanizations:

• Romanization VT: Hui LI, Center for Anthropological Studies, Fudan University (Shanghai)
• Lumazi (上海言话罗马字）, Thonjon (通用北部吴语拼音方案）: W.Z. Yin, University of Chicago

Initials

	Labials	Dentals	Silibants	Palatals	Velars	Glottals
Unvoiced unaspirated stops	p	t	ʦ	ʨ	k	(ʔ)
Aspirated stops	pʰ	tʰ	ʦʰ	ʨʰ	kʰ
Slack voiced stops	b̻	d̻		dʑ̻	g̻
Nasals	m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Unvoiced fricatives	f		s	ɕ		h
Slack voiced fricatives	v̻		z̻	ʑ̻		ɦ̻
Liquids	(w)	l		(j)

Shanghai dialect has a set of voiced initials and exhibits unvoiced unaspirated and aspirated stops. Moreover, there are unvoiced and voiced fricatives sets. Palatized initials also feature in Shanghai dialect. The /l/ consonant is also particular in that there is a slight flapping of the tongue during speech, somewhat similar to the Japanese r (although lateral and not post-alveolar). The sound may be made by lightly placing the tongue on the back of the upper set of teeth. However this flapping is not present when each character is individually pronounced.

Rimes

Vowel	Diphthong	Nasal Ending	Nasalised Rime	Glottal Stop
		(m, n) ŋ
ɿ
ɥ
i	ii, iɪ, iɯ, iE, iɔ, ia	iŋ, iiŋ, ioŋ	iã	iɪʔ, iɤʔ, ioʔ, iaʔ
y	yø	yiŋ		yɪʔ
u	uE, uø, uo, ua	uəŋ	uã, uɒ̃	uɤʔ, uoʔ, uaʔ
ɪ				ɪʔ
ø
ɤ	ɤɯ			ɤʔ
o	ou	oŋ		oʔ
	ei
ɚ
		əŋ
E
ɔ
a		aŋ	ã	aʔ
			ɒ̃

The Middle Chinese [ -m ] ending rimes in Shanghai dialect have merged with [ -n ], some of which subsequently dropped off. Some Middle Chinese [ -ŋ ] ending rime characters have become rimes with a nasalised ending, [ iã, uã, uɒ̃ ]. Middle Chinese [ -p -t -k ] rimes have become glottal stops [ -ʔ ].

In certain variants, the [ u ] is pronounced unrounded (close back unrounded, [ ɯ ]).

Tones

陰 Yin	陰平 Yin Ping	(陰上 Yin Shang)	陰去 Yin Qu	陰入 Yin Ru
	53	(55)	34	55
陽 Yang	陽舒 Yang Shu			陽入 Yang Ru
	13			13

The Yang Shu tone is composed of Yang registers of the Ping, Shang and Qu tone characters. The Yin Ru and Yang Ru tones are abrupt tones, and apply only to those rimes in Shanghai dialect, which end in the glottal stop [ ʔ ]. The Yin Shang tone (/55/) is not common in today's variants of the Shanghai dialect, having merged into the Yin Qu tone. If the Ru tone and tones automatically related to the voiced initials (b d g z v dʑ ʑ) are not considered (as they are fixed into the syllabic structure), then the Shanghai dialect has only 2 live tonal contrasts (/53/ and /34/). This makes it especially unique amongst Chinese dialects.

Advanced tone sandhi and argument for pitch accent classification:

In polysyllabic words or set phrases, all syllables after the first lose their original tones and are pronounced based on the table below as "neutral" syllables. Even the first syllable that determines subsequent pitches is altered in a polysyllabic word. The patterns vary depending on the number of syllables in the word or set short phrase.

1st syllable original tone	2 syllables	3 syllables	4 syllables	5 syllables
53	55 - 21	55 - 33 - 31	55 - 33 - 33 - 31	55 - 33 - 33 - 33 - 31
	H - L	H - L - L	H - L - L - L	H - L - L - L - L
34	33 - 44	33 - 55 - 31	33 - 55 - 33 - 31	33 - 55 - 33 - 33 - 31
	L - H	L - H - L	L - H - L - L	L - H - L - L - L
13	22 - 44	22 - 55 - 31	22 - 55 - 33 - 31	22 - 55 - 33 - 33 - 31
	L - H	L - H - L	L - H - L - L	L - H - L - L - L
5	33 - 44	33 - 55 - 31	33 - 55 - 33 - 31	33 - 55 - 33 - 33 - 31
	L - H	L - H - L	L - H - L - L	L - H - L - L - L
2	11 - 23	11 - 22 - 23	11 - 22 - 22 - 23 or 22 - 55 - 33 - 31 depending on word	22 - 55 - 33 - 33 - 31
	L - H	L - H - H	L - H - H - H or L - H - L - L	L - H - L - L - L

H = relative high pitch; L = relative low pitch

Notice that these patterns are quite similar to Japanese pitch accent patterns. Tone sandhi of polysyllabic compounds in the Shanghai dialect has attracted the interest of many scholars, who have previously given only careful consideration to the tone of the monosyllable while trying to describe the rules of tone sandhi for polysyllabic compounds. It has been argued that the number of tones of the Shanghai dialect, generally held to be five under previous analyses, can be reduced to only two underlying tone patterns, or tonemes, by recognizing the existence of the phoneme "voiced h" (Xiaowen Shen, University of Tokyo).

Fudan Romanization

(Vottay Da`oc复旦大学) Initials

	Labials	Dentals	Silibants	Palatals	Velars	Glottals
Unvoiced Unaspirated Stops	p	t	tz	tx	k	q
Unvoiced Aspirated Stops	ph	th	ts	tc	kh
Voiced Stops	b	d		dx	g
Nasals	m	n		jn	kn
Unvoiced Fricatives	f		s	c		h
Voiced Fricatives	v		z	x		’
Liquids	w	l		j

Rimes

		Vowel	Semivowel	Nasal Ending	Glottal Stop	Example	Meaning
				n	c
ɿ,l	î	ir				`tzirsec	knowledge
i	j	j	je,jay,jor,ja	jon	jec,joc,jac	je`ci	game
y	ü	uy	yoy	yn	yc	yn`ton	sports
u	u	u	way,woy,wo,wa	un,wan,worn	wec,woc,wac	worn`ti	emperor
I	i	i		in	ic	`injon	hero
ø	ö	oy				`qoyba	arrange
ɤ,ə	e	e		en	eq	elli	reasonable
o	o	o		on	oc	o`te	underside
	ë	ey				qey`	hi
ɚ		er				er	while
E,ɛ	ä	ay				`fayga	tomato
ɔ	ô	or		orn		zorzorn	upward
a	a	a		an	ac	a`can	shoe-cabinet
single				m		`mma	mom
				gn		gn	fish

Glottal Stop “c” can be replaced by double writing the following consonantal letter except for”m,n,h”.

There shall be only one of the vocalic letters (A,E,I,O,U) in one monosyllable,as there are no true diphthongal syllables in Shanghai dialect.

Rimes "UYN", "UYQ" can be shortened by "YN", "YC".

Tones

	Long	Short	Light	Stop
High	55	53		5
High	`lon	lon`		`loq
Low	334	34	33	13	2
Low	lon	lon	lon	loq	loq

The short high tone is only used in a monosyllable or the last syllable of a polysyllable. Long or short low tones are almost the same. Light low tone is always used in a polysyllable.

H-L	L-H	H-L-L	L-H-L	L-L-H	H-L-H
`lonlon	lon`lon	`lonlonlon	lon`lonlon	lonlonlon`	`lonlonlon`
55-33	334-55	55-33-334	33-55-33	334-33-53	55-33-53

This romanisation was designed by LI Hui (a frosh), Center for Anthropological Studies at Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

References

• Lance Eccles, Shanghai dialect: an introduction to speaking the contemporary language. Dunwoody Press, 1993. ISBN 1-881265-11-0. 230pp + cassette. (An introductory course in 29 units).

See also

• List of Chinese dialects

External links

• Project to Introduce and Promote Shanghainese: Background, audio, lessons, phonology, and forums. In English.
• Shanghai Dialect: Resources on Shanghai dialect including a Web site (in Japanese) that gives common phrases with sound files
• Conversational Shanghai Chinese: An online textbook of Shanghainese, with audio.
• Shanghainese-Mandarin Soundboard: A soundboard (requires Flash) of common Mandarin Chinese phrases with Shanghainese equivalents.