Jinhui dialect

{{Short description|Wu Chinese dialect}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Jinhui dialect

| altname = Dônđäc

| nativename = 偒傣

| states = China

| region = Jinhui, Fengxian, Shanghai

| ethnicity = Han Chinese

| speakers = 100,000

| date = 2012

| ref =

| familycolor = Sino-Tibetan

| fam2 = Sinitic

| fam3 = Wu

| fam4 = Taihu

| fam5 = Suzhou–Shanghai–Jiaxing

| isoexception = dialect

| glotto = none

| pronunciation = {{IPA|zh|ˀɟɪ̃˦ ve˥˧ fɒ̃˦ ɦi˥˧|}}

}}

The Jinhui dialect ({{lang-zh|s=金汇方言|p=Jīnhuì fāngyán}}), also known as Dônđäc ({{lang-zh|c=偒傣|p=Dàngdǎi}}), is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the town of {{ill|Jinhui|lt=|zh|金汇镇}}, China in Shanghai's suburban Fengxian District. It has about 100,000 native speakers.{{cite web |url=http://sh.eastday.com/m/20120214/u1a6362051.html |script-title=zh:奉贤金汇方言"语音最复杂" 元音巅峰值达20个左右 |date=14 February 2012 |publisher=Eastday |language=Chinese |accessdate=27 April 2012 |archive-date=14 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214163858/http://sh.eastday.com/m/20120214/u1a6362051.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.people.com.cn/h/2012/0331/c25408-2602800436.html |script-title=zh:寻找人类语言巴别塔 |language=Chinese |publisher=people.com.cn |date=31 March 2012 |accessdate=27 April 2012 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222912/http://www.people.com.cn/h/2012/0331/c25408-2602800436.html |url-status=dead }} Jinhui is located near the border of the ancient states of Wu and Yue during the Spring and Autumn period. Like other Wu dialects, Dônđäc has preserved many special features of the Old Yue language.

Dônđäc has 20 oral vowel qualities, plus many nasal and rhotic ones. According to a Fudan University study that was published in the journal Science, Dônđäc has the largest oral vowel quality inventory in the world (phonemically speaking), and ranks highest in overall phonemic diversity among all languages studied in the research.{{cite journal|author1=Chuan-Chao Wang |author2=Qi-Liang Ding |author3=Huan Tao |author4=Hui Li |title=Comment on "Phonemic Diversity Supports a Serial Founder Effect Model of Language Expansion from Africa" |journal=Science |year=2012 |volume=335 |issue=6069 |page=657 |doi=10.1126/science.1207846 |pmid=22323803|bibcode=2012Sci...335..657W |s2cid=31360222 |doi-access= }}{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2012/02/09/335.6069.657-c.DC1/Wang.SOM.pdf |title=Supporting Online Material for Comment on "Phonemic Diversity Supports a Serial Founder Effect Model of Language Expansion from Africa" |author1=Chuan-Chao Wang |author2=Qi-Liang Ding |author3=Huan Tao |author4=Hui Li |date=10 February 2012 |publisher=Science}}{{cite news|title=China tops dialect complexity |url=http://english.eastday.com/e/120214/u1a6361803.html |accessdate=2014-06-25 |newspaper=Eastday |date=2012-02-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531020252/http://english.eastday.com/e/120214/u1a6361803.html |archivedate=2014-05-31 }} According to linguist Qian Nairong, who spent eight years teaching in Fengxian and studying its dialects, the reason Dônđäc has so many vowels is because Jinhui is the place where five isoglosses intersect.{{cite news |title=奉贤金汇方言"偒傣话"入小学课堂 |author=Zhou Shengjie |url=http://news.fudan.edu.cn/2012%2F0924%2F31548.html |accessdate=2014-06-25 |publisher=Fudan University |date=2012-09-24}}