Wiktionary:About Chinese/Wu
Wu is a subdivision of Chinese, spoken by about 80 million people. It is spoken to southern Jiangsu and most of Zhejiang, an area sometimes referred to as Jiangnan. The historically wealthy Lower Yangtze Delta is home to the largest branch, Northern Wu, and is also the lect area that is represented on Wiktionary. Suzhounese (zh) was the cultural capital of the area, though due to Shanghai's relative economic status, Shanghainese (zh) has, to some extent, eclipsed Suzhounese's prestige status. Characteristically Wu varieties have voiced (濁／浊 (8zoq, “muddy”)) obstruents, and all except Oujiang varieties such as Wenzhounese have final glottal stops derived from the final stops of Middle Chinese. Together, these features reduce the number of tones that are actually distinctive or phonemic.
Phonology and notation
Although no official romanization system is endorsed by any government, on Wiktionary, both of these lects are notated in Wugniu, which is the most common standardised system used in online circles nowadays. Wugniu is also available in a wide variety of localities, and correspondences between different lects tend to have the same glyph (eg. Shanghainese /ɔ/ and Suzhounese /æ/ both being "au"). Slight modifications and extensions have been made regarding features not included in Wugniu officially, such as tone sandhi and erhua. The legacy Wiktionary romanization for Shanghainese and MiniDict romanizations are accessible in the expanded pronunciation infobox.
Tone notation
Left-prominent sandhi is notated with a dash in code (-) and a space in display, whereas right-prominent sandhi is a plus (+) in code but also a space in display. To separate two chains without RPS, an ampersand (&) is used.
The inputted tone left of the syllable is always the realized sandhi tone. This may not always correspond with the underlying tone, and one should consult Module:wuu-pron/data (for now) before adding entries. If the sandhi tone and underlying tone are the same, then the module would automatically put the first syllable's number in front of the syllable and all subsequent syllables' numbers behind their respective syllables. For instance:
- Shanghainese:
1lau6 sy1→ 1lau6-sy1
Please also note that certain lects may have multiple types of directional sandhi or tone splits not accomodated for in the eight-numberal system. In those cases, a capital Latin letter is to be attatched behind the number to indicate the part of speech or tone category, eg. 3Atha or 4Rbau.
Orthography
There is no unified orthography for Wu varieties that is widely adopted. On Wiktionary, in general, all terms are listed in both their etymological spelling and their phonetic spelling. There may be more than one phonetic page, but there is typically only one etymological page. The following is a reference list of common terms and Wiktionary-specific spellings.
| Wugniu | Etymological | Phonetic |
|---|---|---|
| laq | 在 | 垃 |
| la | 拉 | |
| leq | 勒 | |
| le | 來 | |
| liq | 立 | |
| li | 裡 | |
| ke | 居 | 該 (蓋) |
| ho | 許 / 化? | 化 |
| he | 海 | |
| hoq | 霍 | |
| han | 夯 | |
| hen | 亨 | |
| laon | 丄 | 浪 |
| gnian | 娘 | |
| lau | 咾? | |
| lu | 路 | |
| taq | 𡍲 | 搭 |
| teq | 得? | |
| toq | 篤 | |
| ta | 帶 | |
| da | 埭 | |
| taon | 當 | |
| ton | 東 | |
| don | 同 | |
| tiq | 的 | |
| te | 𡍲? | 對/堆 |
| teq | 得 | |
| ti | 底 | |
| khaq | 許／居? | 客 |
| kheq | 克 | |
| (d)ze | 在 | 在 |
| (d)zeq/tseq | 則 | |
| Wugniu | Etymological | Phonetic |
|---|---|---|
| ngu/vu/(w)u | 我 | 我 (-ou: 奴?) |
| ngoq | 我? | |
| ng | 吾／唔? | |
| nge | ? | |
| a(q) | 阿 | |
| nga(q) | 𠊎? | |
| ghaq | 狹? | |
| an | 俺 | |
| n(g) | 爾 | 爾 |
| gni | 你 | |
| ne | 倷 | |
| yi(q) | 佢 | 夷† |
| i(q) | 伊 | |
| ji | 其? | |
| g(e)i | 渠 | |
| tha/tho | 他? | 他 |
| da/do | 佗 | |
| zeq- | 是 / 實? | |
| ze- | ||
| zian-/yan- | 像 | |
| don- | ? | 動 |
| weq- | ? | 活 |
| li | 佢? | 俚 |
| -la | ? | 拉 |
| -le | 倈 | |
| non | 儂 | 儂 |
| -noq | 諾 | |
| nou | 奴 | |
| na | 爾拉 | 㑚 |
| -da | 搭? | ? |
| -daq | 達 | |
| -taq | 搭 | |
| -teq | 得 | |
| -toq | 篤 | |
| -men | 們 | |
| -ten | 等 | |
| -pae | 班 | |
| -ko | 個? | |
| -s(i)e(q) | 些 | |
| Definition | Wugniu | Etymological | Phonetic |
|---|---|---|---|
| ～人 | ku | 個 | |
| possessive | keq | 个/個 | 格/個? |
| geq | 個? | ||
| gheq | |||
| deixis | keq | 箇 | 格 |
| geq | 搿 | ||
Examples
zh-pron|w=sh:1thi ze;sz:1thie ze2zh-pron|w=sh:5hu tsaon zan;sz:3hou tsaon5 zan2zh-pron|w=sh:6di zy;sz:6die zyu6zh-pron|w=sh:6ghoe koq;sz:2ghoe koq7zh-pron|w=sh:7faq liq;sz:7faq liq8zh-pron|w=sh:8zeq pen;sz:8zeq pen3Lexicography
The majority of the lexicography for Wu entries are taken from Shi & Miyata (2005) 明清吴语词典. Texts consulted in the dictionary are chronologically listed below for easy reference.
15th c.
Exact dates
Approximate dates
- 便民圖篡: completed in the middle of the Wanli era (1573-1620), but work may have started as early as the Chenghua (1465-1487) or Hongzhi era (1488-1505)
- 焚香記: author lived during the Wanli era (1573-1620)
16th c.
Exact dates
Approximate dates
- 蠶經: author became a juren in 1531
17th c.
Exact dates
- 鉢中蓮: first published in 1619
- 禪真後史: first published in 1629
- 二刻拍案驚奇 (二拍) first published in 1632
- 醋葫蘆, 飛英聲: written during the Ming-Qing transition
- 二刻醒世恆言: 1668 cppy known. Not written by Feng Menglong
- 北墅抱瓮錄: first published in 1690
Approximate dates
- 長物志: author lived between 1585-1645
- 禪真逸史: written before 禪真後史 (ie. before 1629)
- 黨人碑: author born in 1617
- 別本拍案驚奇: author lived between 1580-1644
- 燈月緣: likely completed in the early years of the Qing dyansty (ie. after 1644)
- 飛花詠: known copy from the early years of the Qing dyansty (ie. after 1644)
- 豆棚閒話: written some time in the 1660's or 1670's (胡適 (2013). 胡適古典文学研究 下)
- 不下帶編・巾箱說: author lived between 1663-1740
- 風箏誤: a copy from the Kangxi era (1662-1722) exists
- 翡翠園: author died in 1701
18th c.
Exact dates
- 飛龍全傳: 1768 stated in preface
- 大雙蝴蝶: written in 1769
Approximate dates
- 訂訛類編: author lived between 1696-1773
- 風流悟: Japanese copy from 1784 known, often assumed to be written in the early years of the Qianlong era (ie. 1730's or 1740's)
- 丹午筆記: author lived in the Qianlong era (1736-1796)
- 白雪遺音: either at the end of the Qianlong era (1736-1796) or the start of the Jiaqing era (1796-1820)
- 巢林筆談: author lived between 1704-1769
- 浮生六記: author lived between 1763-?1807
19th c.
Exact dates
- 常言道: carving dated to 1804
- 芙蓉洞: 1836 copy exists
- 蕩寇志: completed in 1847
- 邇言等五種: 邇言 first printed in 1849; 1877 edition of 常語尋源 exists
- 葛雲閣曲譜: furst copied in 1893
Approximate dates
- 邇言等五種: 釋諺, 語竇 , 俗說: all written in the mid-late 19th century
- 方言別錄: author lived between 1846-1921
20th c.
Exact dates
- 負曝閒談: published between 1903-1904
- 毒蛇圈: 1904 edition known
- 重訂合聲簡字譜（吳音譜）: drafted in 1905
- 地府志: published in 1908
Approximate dates
- 二十年目睹之怪現狀: author lived between 1866-1910, moved to Shanghai in 1884, first started publication in 1903
Century unknown
- 定情人: some time in the Qing dyansty
Other texts
- 爾雅
- 方言
Resources
- For checking the pronunciation of words, use The Comprehensive Dictionary of Shanghainese (《上海话大词典》), which uses IPA notations throughout the book. Wugniu also has a Shanghainese dictionary listed under 松江 Songjiang. However, note that Wugniu's dictionary spills into lect areas outside of Puxi
- For checking the pronunciation of characters, use Wugniu or Wu Chinese MiniDict
- Note that MiniDict uses a different romanisation system than the one implemented here. Their romanisation scheme is as listed on their website
See also
- Category:Wu language
- Category:Northern Wu
- Category:Shanghainese Wu
- Category:Suzhounese Wu
- Wiktionary:About Chinese/Wenzhounese, Wiktionary:About Wu/Northern Wu
If unsure, hassle User:ND381 or User:Musetta6729.