Huzhou dialect

Huzhounese
Huzhou dialect
湖州闲话; 湖州閒話; ghou-cieu-ghe-o
Pronunciation[ɦə̀u tɕiʏ̀ ɦè ó]
Native toPeople's Republic of China
RegionHuzhou
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
Glottologhuzh1239
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Huzhounese, or the Huzhou dialect (simplified Chinese: 湖州话; traditional Chinese: 湖州話; pinyin: Húzhōuhuà, known locally as 湖州闲话; 湖州閒話), is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Huzhou, Zhejiang. It belongs to either the Suhujia (蘇湖嘉) or Tiaoxi (also spelt Shaoxi, 苕溪) cluster of Northern Wu, making it highly mutually intelligible with other Northern Wu varieties such as Suzhounese and Shanghainese.

Phonology

The romanization used henceforth is Wugniu. For cross-linguistic information, see Northern Wu phonology.

Initials

Initial Consonants
Labial Dental/
Alveolar		 Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ɲ ⟨gn⟩ ŋ ⟨ng⟩  
Plosive plain p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ k ⟨k⟩ (ʔ)
aspirated pʰ ⟨ph⟩ tʰ ⟨th⟩ kʰ ⟨kh⟩  
voiced b ⟨b⟩ d ⟨d⟩ ɡ ⟨g⟩  
Affricate plain ts ⟨ts⟩ tɕ ⟨c⟩
aspirated tsʰ ⟨tsh⟩ tɕʰ ⟨ch⟩  
voiced dz (dz) dʑ ⟨j⟩  
Fricative voiceless f ⟨f⟩ s ⟨s⟩ ɕ ⟨sh⟩   h ⟨h⟩
voiced v ⟨v⟩ z ⟨z⟩     ɦ ⟨gh⟩, ⟨y⟩, ⟨w⟩
Lateral l ⟨l⟩

Much like other Northern Wu varieties, all voiced phones in Huzhounese carry breathy voice. Sonorants can further be realised with glottalization when paired with dark (陰) tones. The voiced glottal fricative /ɦ/ and null initial form a voicing pair, though unlike other Northern Wu varieties, this initial cannot co-occur with the light rising (陽上) and light departing (陽去) tones, instead only truly surfacing when co-occurring with the light level (陽平) and light checked (陽入) tones. Compare 號: Huzhounese au5, Shanghainese ghau6, Ningbonese ghau6.

Alveolo-palatals, when appearing before -ieu, has been suggested to instead be realised as postalveolars [tʃ tʃʰ dʒ ʃ ʒ]. Note that this is fed by the frication of -ieu.

Finals

Final rimes
MedialNucleus
∅aɔo ʏ e ei əu ã ɑ̃ ən oŋ aʔ oʔ əʔ
∅ ɿ ⟨y⟩ a ⟨a⟩ ɔ ⟨au⟩ o ⟨o⟩ øʏ ⟨eu⟩ e ⟨e⟩ ei ⟨ei⟩ əu ⟨ou⟩ ã ⟨an⟩ ɑ̃ ⟨aon⟩ ən ⟨en⟩ oŋ ⟨on⟩ aʔ ⟨aq⟩ oʔ ⟨oq⟩ əʔ ⟨eq⟩
i i ⟨i⟩ ia ⟨ia⟩ iɔ ⟨iau⟩ iʏ ⟨ieu⟩ ie ⟨ie⟩ iã ⟨ian⟩ iɑ̃ ⟨iaon⟩ in ⟨in⟩ ioŋ ⟨ion⟩ iaʔ ⟨iaq⟩ ioʔ ⟨ioq⟩ iɪʔ ⟨iq⟩
u u ⟨u⟩ ua ⟨ua⟩ ue ⟨ue⟩ uei ⟨uei⟩ uã ⟨uan⟩ uɑ̃ ⟨uaon⟩ uən ⟨uen⟩ uaʔ ⟨uaq⟩ uəʔ ⟨ueq⟩

Huzhounese also has liquid rimes /əl ~ ɚ/, /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/.

The transcriptions above are broad and primarily based on that of Akamatsu (1991). The following are some phonetic and phonotactic notes regarding the rimes.

Tones

Monosyllable tones
WugniuCategoryValue
1Dark level (陰平)˦ 44
2Light level (陽平)˩˨ 12
3Dark rising (陰上)˦˨ 42
4Light rising (陽上)˧˩ 31
5Dark departing (陰去)˧˥ 35
6Light departing (陽去)˨˦ 24
7Dark checked (陰入)˥ 5
8Light checked (陽入)˨˧ 23

In general, light tones only appear with voiced initials, whereas dark tones only appear with voiceless initials. Note, however, that sonorants tend to appear with dark instead of light tones. Further notes are as follows:

Tone sandhi

Like other Northern Wu varieties, Huzhounese has a complex system of tone sandhi. Bisyllabic chain patterns are as follows. Columns show the underlying tone category of the first syllabe, whereas rows show the underlying tone category of the second syllable.

Monosyllable tones
12345678
1 44 44
˦ ˦		44 4
˦ ˦
2 11 23
˩ ˨˧		11 23
˩ ˨˧
3 42 23
˦˨ ˨˧		42 23
˦˨ ˨˧
4 33 11
˧ ˩		33 11
˧ ˩		33 11
˧ ˩		33 1
˧ ˩
11 31
˩ ˧˩
5 33 35
˧ ˧˥		33 35
˧ ˧˥
6 21 24
˨˩ ˨˦		21 24
˨˩ ˨˦		21 24
˨˩ ˨˦
21 53
˨˩ ˥˧
7 3 55
˧ ˥		3 53
˧ ˥˧		5 23
˥ ˨˧		3 53
˧ ˥˧
8 1 44
˩ ˦		1 44
˩ ˦		1 4
˩ ˦
3 12
˧ ˩˨

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Fei (2023), pp. 1.
  2. ↑ Li (2012), p. 104.
  3. 1 2 3 Fei (2023), pp. 8.
  4. 1 2 Li (2019), pp. 7.
  5. ↑ Wang (1999), pp. 330.
  6. ↑ Akamatsu (1991), pp. 33–34.
  7. 1 2 Fu & Zhengzhang (2015), pp. 191.
  8. ↑ Akamatsu (1991), pp. 33.
  9. 1 2 3 Akamatsu (1991), pp. 34.
  10. ↑ Fei (2023), pp. 8–9.
  11. ↑ Li (2019), pp. 7–8.
  12. 1 2 3 Wang (1999), pp. 331.
  13. ↑ Fu & Zhengzhang (2015), pp. 191–192.
  14. ↑ Fei (2023), pp. 8, 47–48.
  15. ↑ Akamatsu (1991), pp. 34–35.
  16. ↑ Fei (2023), pp. 9.
  17. ↑ Li (2019), pp. 8.
  18. ↑ Fu & Zhengzhang (2015), pp. 192–193.
  19. ↑ Akamatsu (1991), pp. 36.

Works cited

  • Akamatsu, Yuuko (1991), "湖州音系", 均社論叢 (in Traditional Chinese) (17): 33–56
  • Fei, Cheng (2023), 湖州市区方言语音研究 [The Phonetic Study on Huzhou Urban Dialect] (in Simplified Chinese), Hangzhou Normal University
  • Fu, Guotong; Zhengzhang, Shangfang (2015), 浙江省语言志 (in Simplified Chinese) (1 ed.), Zhejiang People's Publishing House, ISBN 9787213069550
  • Li, Mengyue (2019), 湖州方言语音研究 [A Study on the Phonological System of Huzhou Dialect] (in Simplified Chinese), Northwest Normal University
  • Wang, Kewen (1999), 湖州市志 (in Simplified Chinese), Kunlun Press