Suzhou dialect
Suzhou dialect (蘇州話; pinyin: su zhou hua) is a dialect of Wu, spoken in Suzhou, in the Jiangsu province of China.
It is typical of the Wu dialects, being rich in vowels,and conservative in having a many initials, and has many similarities with the Shanghai accent.
Suzhou Phonology
Initials
|
| Labials
| Dentals
| Silibants
| Palatals
| Velars
| Laryngeals
|
| Unvoiced Unaspirated Stops
| p
| t
| ʦ
| ʨ
| k
| (ʔ)
|
| Unvoiced Aspirated Stops
| pʰ
| tʰ
| ʦʰ
| ʨʰ
| kʰ
|
|
| Voiced Stops
| b
| d
|
| ʥ
| g
|
|
| Nasals
| m
| n
|
| ɲ
| ŋ
|
|
| Unvoiced Fricatives
| f
|
| s
| ɕ
|
| h
|
| Voiced Fricatives
| v
|
| z
|
|
| ɦ
|
| Liquids
|
| l
|
|
|
|
|
Suzhou dialect has a set of voiced initials and exhibits unvoiced unaspirated and aspirated stops, there are unvoiced and voiced fricatives sets. Moreover, palatized initials also feature.
Rimes
| Vowels
| Diphthongs
| Tripthongs
| Nasals
| Glottals
|
|
|
|
| m, ŋ, l
|
|
| ɿ
|
|
|
|
|
| ɥ
|
|
|
|
|
| i
| iø, iɤ, io, iæ, iɒ
| iøy
| in, iŋ, ioŋ, iaŋ, iɒŋ
| iəʔ, iɤʔ, ioʔ, iɔʔ, iaʔ, iɒʔ
|
| y
|
|
| yən
| yɤʔ
|
| u
| uø, uE, uɒ
|
| uən, uɒŋ, uaŋ
| uɤʔ, uoʔ, uaʔ
|
| ɪ
|
|
|
|
|
| ø
| øy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ɤʔ
|
| o
|
|
| oŋ
| oʔ
|
|
| əu
|
| ən
| əʔ
|
| E
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ɔʔ
|
| æ
|
|
|
|
|
| a
|
|
| aŋ
| aʔ
|
| ɑ
|
|
|
|
|
| ɒ
|
|
| ɒŋ
| ɒʔ
|
Suzhou has one tripthong rime, [ iøy ]. Unlike Shanghai, it has no nasalised rimes, although it does have a set of rimes which end in a nasal stop. Middle Chinese ru tone characters which end in [ -p -t -k ] end as a glottal stop [ -ʔ ] in Suzhou. Middle Chinese nasal endings [ -m ] have merged with rimes which end with [ -n ] in Suzhou. Middle Chinese [ -ŋ ] ending rimes have split into two types in Suzhou. Those which have a high fronted main vowel merge with [ -n ] ending rimes. Those which possess a palatising medial [ -i- ] and back main vowel, retain the [ -ŋ ] ending.
Tones
| Yin Ping
| Yang Ping
| Shang
| Yin Qu
| Yang Qu
| Yin Ru
| Yang Ru
|
| 陰平
| 陽平
| 上聲
| 陰去
| 陽去
| 陰入
| 陽入
|
| 44
| 24
| 52
| 412
| 31
| 4
| 23
|
In Suzhou, part of the Middle Chinese Shang tone characters has merged with the modern yin qu tone.
See also
