Wenzhounese

Wenzhounese is part of the Wu group of Chinese dialects, sharing many linguistic features with them.{{Cite journal |last=Lin |first=Jingxia |date=2021 |title=Typological Shift in Lexicalizing Motion Events: The Case of Wenzhou |journal=Linguistic Typology |language=en |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=1–38 |doi=10.1515/lingty-2020-5002|hdl=10356/148947 |s2cid=219072573 |hdl-access=free }}{{Cite book |last=Norman |first=Jerry |title=Chinese |date=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-22809-3 |location=Cambridge |page=199 |language=en}} These are spoken over the Zhejiang and south Jiangsu provinces.{{Cite book |last=Pan |first=Wuyun |title=Languages and Dialects of China |date=1991 |publisher=Chinese University Press |editor-last=Wang |editor-first=William S.-Y. |series=Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series, No. 33 |pages=235–291 |chapter=An Introduction to the Wu Dialects |issue=3 |jstor=23827040 |author-link=Pan Wuyun}} Wenzhounese is seen as a typical representative of southern Wu.{{Cite journal |last1=Cao |first1=Jianfen |last2=Maddieson |first2=Ian |date=1992 |title=An Exploration of Phonation Types in Wu Dialects of Chinese |journal=Journal of Phonetics |language=en |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=82 |doi=10.1016/S0095-4470(19)30255-4|doi-access=free }}

Wenzhounese is spoken primarily in Wenzhou and the surrounding southern portion of Zhejiang, China. To a lesser extent, it is also spoken in scattered pockets of Fujian in southeastern China. Overseas, it is spoken in increasingly larger communities in the United States in Flushing Chinatown in the Queens borough of New York City, and the Chinatowns in Brooklyn in New York City.{{Cite book |last=Zhao |first=Xiaojian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6glk5aF8FQYC&pg=PA103 |title=The New Chinese America: Class, Economy, and Social Hierarchy |date=2010 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-4691-9 |location=New Brunswick |page=103 |language=en |author-link=Xiaojian Zhao}}{{Cite web |title=WenZhounese in New York |url=https://wenzhounese.angelfire.com/wholesales.html |access-date=2010-10-01 |publisher=WenZhounese.info |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Wenzhounese in NYC |url=http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2205129966&topic=1706 |access-date=2010-09-30 |website=Facebook |language=en}} Wenzhounese is also spoken by some Overseas Chinese communities in Europe, in particular Italy, France, and Spain.{{Cite book |last1=Dinh |first1=Hinh T. |title=Tales from the Development Frontier: How China and Other Countries Harness Light Manufacturing to Create Jobs and Prosperity |last2=Rawski |first2=Thomas G. |last3=Zafar |first3=Ali |last4=Wang |first4=Lihong |last5=Mavroeidi |first5=Eleonora |date=September 2013 |publisher=World Bank |location=Washington, DC |doi=10.1596/978-0-8213-9988-0 |language=en |hdl=10986/15763 |isbn=978-0-8213-9988-0 |hdl-access=free}} It is used more widely among the Chinese people in Italy than Mandarin.{{Cite journal |last=Paciocco |first=Adua |date=2018 |title=Performing Chinese Diasporic Identity through Mandarin: The Case of Italian-Schooled Chinese Migrant Youth in Prato (Italy) |journal=Journal of Language, Identity & Education |language=en |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=207–221 |doi=10.1080/15348458.2018.1437348|s2cid=149952501 }}{{Cite book |last1=Deng |first1=Grazia Ting |date=2016 |url=https://fupress.com/archivio/pdf/3367_10318.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809030847/https://www.fupress.com/archivio/pdf/3367_10318.pdf |archivedate=August 9, 2021 |title=Transcending Borders: Selected Papers in East Asian Studies |last2=Xiao |first2=Allen Hai |publisher=Firenze University Press |editor-last=Sagiyama |editor-first=Ikuko |location=Firenze |pages=3–25 |language=en |chapter=Aspiring to Motility: Chinese Petty Entrepreneurs in Italy |editor-last2=Pedone |editor-first2=Valentina}} Over 80% of the Chinese diaspora that are resident in the city of Prato, Tuscany, were born in Zhejiang Province.{{Cite book |last1=Denison |first1=Tom |last2=Arunachalam |first2=Dharmalingam |last3=Johanson |first3=Graeme |last4=Smyth |first4=Russell |chapter=The Chinese Community in Prato |editor1-first=G. |editor1-last=Johanson |editor2-first=R. |editor2-last=Smyth |editor3-first=R. |editor3-last=French |title=Living Outside the Walls: The Chinese in Prato |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |date=2009 |isbn=978-1-4438-0356-4 |pages=2–24 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242205374}}

Wenzhounese can be generally divided into the following three dialects:

• Northern Dialect, including dialects spoken in Wenzhou, Ouhai, Yongqiong, Yongjia.
• Southern Dialect, including Rui'an dialect, Wencheng dialect, Longgang dialect, Pingyang dialect, etc.
• Northeastern Dialect, which is spoken in the city of Yueqing.

The most important difference between eastern Wenzhounese dialects such as Wencheng and Wenzhou proper are tonal differences (Wencheng has no falling tones) and the retention of {{IPA|/f/}} before {{IPA|/o/}}:

The tones of all other Oujiang dialects are similar to Wenzhounese. (Wenzhounese puu transcribes the lengthened entering tone.)

{{See also|Wenzhounese romanisation}}

{{IPAslink|l}} is lateral, and {{IPAslink|j}} is palatal.

The only coda is the velar nasal, in {{IPA|/aŋ eŋ oŋ/}} and syllabic {{IPA|[ŋ̩]}}.

Wenzhou has three phonemic tones. While it has eight phonetic tones, most of these are predictable: The yīn–yáng tone split dating from Middle Chinese still corresponds to the voicing of the initial consonant in Wenzhou, and the shǎng tones are abrupt and end in glottal stop (this has been used as evidence for a similar situation independently posited for Old Chinese).{{Cite journal |author1-link=Mei Tsu-lin |last=Mei |first=Tsu-lin |date=1970 |title=Tones and Prosody in Middle Chinese and the Origin of the Rising Tone |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |volume=30 |pages=86–110 |doi=10.2307/2718766 |jstor=2718766}} The rù tones, however, are unusual in being distinct despite having lost their final stops; in addition, the vowel has lengthened, and the tone has become more complex than the other tones (though some speakers may simplify them to low falling or rising tones).{{Cite book |last=Rose |first=Phil |chapter=17. Oujiang Wu tones and acoustic reconstruction |title=Morphology and Language History: In Honour of Harold Koch |date=2008 |publisher=John Benjamins |editor-last=Bowern |editor-first=Claire |location=Amsterdam |page=237 |language=en |series=Current Issues in Linguistic Theory |volume=298 |doi=10.1075/cilt.298.21ros |isbn=978-90-272-4814-5 |editor-last2=Evans |editor-first2=Bethwyn |editor-last3=Miceli |editor-first3=Luisa}}

The shǎng and rù tones are barely distinguishable apart from the voicing of the initial consonant, and so are phonetically closer to two tones than four. Chen (2000) summarizes the tones as M & ML (ping), MH (shǎng), HM & L (qu), and dipping (MLM, rù); not only are the píng and qù pairs obviously distinct phonetically, but they behave as four different tones in the ways they undergo tone sandhi.{{clarify|date=September 2015}}

As in Shanghainese, in Wenzhounese only some of the syllables of a phonological word carry tone. In Wenzhounese there may be three such syllables, with the tone of any subsequent (post-tonic) syllables determined by the last of these. In addition, there may be pre-tonic syllables (clitics), which take a low tone. However, in Wenzhounese only one tonic word may exist in a prosodic unit; all other words are reduced to low tone.

Up to three tonic syllables may occur together, but the number of resulting tones is reduced by tone sandhi. Of the six phonetic tones, there are only fourteen lexical patterns created by two tonic syllables. With one exception, the shǎng and qù tones reduce to HM (yīn qù) before any other tone, and again with one exception, the rù tone does not interact with a following tone. The shǎng and rù tones change a preceding non-rù tone to HM, and are themselves never affected.

(Sandhi that are exceptions to the generalizations above are in bold.)

With a compound word of three syllables, the patterns above apply to the last two. The antepenultimate tonic syllable takes only two possible tones, by dissimilation: low if the following syllable (in sandhi form) starts high (HM), high otherwise. So, for example, the unusually long compound noun "daily necessities" (lit., 'firewood-rice-oil-salt-sauce-vinegar-tea') has the underlying tones

:|ML.MH.ML.ML.HM.HM.ML|

Per sandhi, the last two syllables become L.L. The antepenult then dissimilates to H, and all pre-tonic syllables become L, for:

:/L.L.L.L.H.L.L/

At a phrasal level, these tones may separate, with a HM tone, for example, shifting to the beginning of a phrase. In the lexicalized phrase "radio receiver" ('wireless telephone tube'), the underlying tones are

:|ML.HM.L.L.ML|

Per sandhi, the last two become HM.ML. There is no dissimilation, explained by this being grammatically a lexicalized phrase rather than a compound. The HM shifts forward, with intermediate syllables becoming M (the tone the HM leaves off at):

:/HM.M.M.M.ML/

Although checked (MLM) syllables rarely change in compound words, they can change in phrases: "tall steel case" is underlyingly M.MLM.HM. The middle syllable shifts to HM, and sandhi operates on this *HM.HM sequence to produce HM.ML. The HM then shifts back, yielding /HM.M.ML/.

Such behaviour has been used to support arguments that contour tones in languages like Chinese are single units and they are independent of vowels or other segments.

{{Expand section|date=May 2008}}

Wenzhou has a tonal deictic morpheme. To convey the sense of "this", the classifier changes its tone to rù (dipping), and a voiced initial consonant is devoiced. For example, from {{IPA|/pa˧/}} 'group' there is {{IPA|/pa˧˨˧/}} 'this group', and from {{IPA|/le˧˩/}} 'some (people)' there is {{IPA|/l̥e˧˨˧/}} 'these (people)'.{{Cite book |last=Bao |first=Zhiming |title=The Structure of Tone |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-511880-4 |location=New York |page=119 |language=en}}

{{Main|Wenzhounese romanisation}}

Wenzhounese is reputed to have been used during the Second Sino-Japanese War during wartime communication via code talkers and in the Sino-Vietnamese War for programming military code.{{Cite web |title=Wǎngyǒu zǒngjié zuì nán dǒng fāngyán: Wēnzhōuhuà ràng dí jūn qiètīng yě tīng bù dǒng |script-title=zh:网友总结最难懂方言:温州话让敌军窃听也听不懂 |url=http://news.163.com/14/0517/12/9SEQN8RN00014AEE.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210063342/http://news.163.com/14/0517/12/9SEQN8RN00014AEE.html |archive-date=2018-12-10 |access-date=2019-01-20 |website=Wǎngyì xīnwén |language=zh-hans |script-website=zh:网易新闻}}关于越南战争期间中方使用的密码语言，有一说认为并不是温州话，而是来自温州苍南县（当时仍属平阳县）钱库一带的蛮话，参见 [http://www.cngdj.net/msql/show1.php?bt=%B7%C3%BD%F1%D1%B0%B9%C5%D6%AE%C8%FD%A3%BA%C6%CB%CB%B7%C3%D4%C0%EB%CB%B5%C2%F9%BB%B0&lb=%B1%BE%B5%D8%D0%C2%CE%C5 访今寻古之三：扑朔迷离说蛮话]{{Dead link|date=March 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}，苍南广电网 {{in lang|zh-hans}} There is a common rhymed saying in China that reflects this comprehension difficulty: "Fear not the Heavens, fear not the Earth, but fear the Wenzhou man speaking Wenzhounese" ({{Lang-zh|c={{linktext|天|不|怕}}，{{linktext|地|不|怕|}}，{{linktext|就怕|温州人|说|温州话}}|labels=no}}).

There are several sub-branches of Oujiang dialects, and some are not mutually intelligible with the Wenzhou city dialect and the Wencheng dialect, but neighboring dialects are often mutually intelligible. For example, there are 2 dialects spoken in Li'ao Village in the Ouhai District of Wenzhou: one spoken in Baimen ({{lang|wuu|白門}}), where the local people have {{lang|wuu|姜}} as their surname, and one spoken in Wangzhai ({{lang|wuu|王宅}}), where local people have normally {{lang|wuu|王}} or {{lang|wuu|黄}} as their surname. Their dialects are almost fully mutually intelligible, except for a few vocabulary items. An example would be the word for "garbage" ({{lang|wuu|垃圾}}), which is {{IPA|/ʔlutsuu/}} in the Baimen dialect and {{IPA|/ʔladʒee/}} in the Wangzhai dialect.

Numbers in Oujiang Dialects

(The long vowels transcribe the lengthened ru tone.)

A translation of part of the New Testament, specifically the four gospels and the book of Acts, was published in 1894 under the title "Chaò-Chḯ Yi-sû Chī-tuh Sang Iah Sing Shī: Sz̀ fuh-iang tà sź-du 'ae-djüe fa üe-tsiu t'û¹-'ò", with the entire book in Romanized Wenzhou dialect.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iqIwAAAAYAAJ |title=Chaò-Chḯ Yi-sû Chī-tuh Sang Iah Sing Shī: Sz̀ fuh-iang tà sź-du 'ae-djüe fa üe-tsiu t'û¹-'ò |date=1894 |publisher=Dà-ìang sing-shï whaỳi yiáng-ge |page=564 }} (in Wenzhounese).

{{portal|China|New York City}}

• List of varieties of Chinese
• Wenzhounese romanisation
• Suzhou dialect
• Shanghainese
• Hangzhou dialect

{{Reflist}}

• Qian Nairong (1992). Dāngdài Wúyǔ yánjiū. (Contemporary Wu linguistics studies). Shanghai: Shanghai jiaoyu chubanshe. (錢乃榮. 1992. 當代吳語研究. 上海敎育出版社) {{ISBN|7-5320-2355-9}}
• Shen, Kecheng (2009). Wēnzhōuhuà cíyǔ kǎoshì. Ningbo: Ningbo chubanshe. (宁波 : 宁波出版社, 2009.)
• {{citation|last=Li|first=Rong|title={{lang|zh|中國語言地圖集}}|author-link=Li Rong (linguist)|trans-title=Language Atlas of China|edition=2|publisher=The Commercial Press|language=zh|year=2012|isbn=978-7-100-07054-6|postscript=.}}

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