Shanghainese(上海話; pinyin: Shànghǎihuà, Shanghainese in IPA: ), sometimes referred to as the Shanghai dialect, is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai. Wu has 87 million speakers as of 1991, and is the second most spoken form of Chinese after Mandarin (which has some 800 million speakers). Shanghainese is the representative dialect of Northern Wu; it contains vocabulary and expressions from the entire Northern Wu area (southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang). With nearly 14 million speakers, Shanghainese is also the largest single coherent form of Wu Chinese.

Shanghainese is rich in consonants and pure vowels [i y ɿ ɥ e ø E ə ɵ a ɒ ɔ ɤ o u]. Like other northern Wu dialects, the Shanghai dialect has voiced initials [b d g z v dʑ ʑ]. Neither Mandarin nor Cantonese have voiced initials.

Shanghainese is a register language, with only two live tonal constrasts (high and low). Compare this with 4 in Mandarin, and 6 in Cantonese. The Shanghainese tonal system is instead similar to African languages; different from other Chinese languages, Thai and Vietnamese. For more information on the tonal system, visit http://www.zanhei.com/pitch.html.

Shanghainese is currently banned in schools, in newspapers, and the media is strongly discouraged to broadcast contemporary Shanghainese. However, Shanghainese can often be heard on the radio. Several television advertisements in Shanghainese have been removed shortly after airing. In 2004, a Tom and Jerry program dubbed with Shanghainese was blocked from broadcasting. The only form of Shanghainese currently allowed for public broadcast are Shanghainese Folk Opera and Orthodox Shanghainese (catering to farmers in the suburbs). Celebrities are put on billboards with slogans: "Be a modern Shanghainese, speak Mandarin."

Contents

1 Common Words and Phrases in Shanghainese 2 Initials 3 Rimes 4 Tones 4.1 Advanced tone sandhi and argument for pitch accent classification: 5 References 6 See also 7 Romanization 8 External links

Common Words and Phrases in Shanghainese

translation	Romanization VT	Lumazi	Romanization B	IPA
Shanghainese:	Zorn`hay ay`o	Zanhei-eiwo (English z)	Shanghaieau	/zɑ̃hɛ ɛ̤ʊ̤/
hello:	non hor	non hau	nonho	/nõ hɔː/
good-bye:	`tzayway	tzéiwei	zéwei (German z)	/ˈtsɛwɛ/
please:	tcin	chin	cin	/ʧʰin/
thank you:	xa`xa non	zhazha non	jaja non	/ʒaja nõ/
sorry:	Tay`vettci	teivechi	deivecie	/tɛvɐˑʧʰi/
that one:	`aytzaq	éitze	éze	/ˈɛtsɐʔ/
there:	`aytaq	éitae	édag	/ˈɛtɐʔ/
over there:	`aymitaq	éimitae	émiedag	/ˈɛmitɐʔ/
here:	gettaq	getae	geddag	/gɐˑtɐʔ/
where:	a`litaq, sa`diforn	alitae, sadifan	aliedag, ßadiedfan	/a̤ɺitɐʔ/,/sadifɑ̃/
which:	a`litzaq	alitze	alieze	/a̤ɺitsɐʔ/
what:	sa	sa	ßa	/sa/
who:	sa`jnin	sanin	ßanin	/sanin/
when:	sa`zenkworn	sazenkuan	ßasenguan	/sazənkuɑ̃/
how:	na`nen, na`na, na`nenka	nanen, nana, nanenka	nanen, nana, nanenga	/nanən/, /nana/, /nanənka/
how much?:	Txiti` a?	Cidi a?	Giedied?	/ʧidi/
yes:	ay	éi	ai	/ˈɛ/
no:	vez`zir, m`meq, vjor	vezi, mme, viau	vesi, mme, vio	/vɐˑzl/, /m̩mɐʔ/, /viɔ/
home:	qol`lican	Óelishaan	Ogliechan	/oˑɺiʃɑ̃/
Where's the bathroom?:	Tsir`sukay lella sa`teq?	Tsisukei lele alitae?	Tsißougé legle aliedag?	/tsʰlsɯkɛ ɺɐˑɺɐʔ a̤ɺitɐʔ/
I don't know:	Knu veq `corteq.	Wo veshaute.	Au vechode.	/ʊ̤ vɐˑʃɔtɐʔ/
English:	`Inven	Ínven	Engven	/ˈinvən/
Do you speak English?:	Non `Inven way`teq korn `va?	Non Ínven weite kan va?	Non Engven weide ganre va?	/nõ ˈinvən wɛtɐʔ kãː va/
I love you:	Knu qay `non.	Wo êi non.	Au aire non.	/ʊ̤ ɛː nõ/
I adore you:	Knu qay`moq non.	Wo êimoe non.	Au aimor non.	/ʊ̤ ɛmoʔ nõ/
I adore you so:	Knu qay`mossaq non!	Wo êimoesae non!	Au aimorßag non.	/ʊ̤ ɛmoˑsɐʔ nõ/
I like you a lot:	Knu lor `hwoyci non eq!	Wo lau huúshi non ge!	Au lo heuchie non e.	/ʊ̤ ɺɔː ˈhøʃi nõ ɐ̤ʔ/

Unlike Mandarin, Shanghainese actually has the direct "yes" (ay/éi/ai) similar to English.

About the romanizations:

• Romanization VT: Hui LI, Center for Anthropological Studies, Fudan University (Shanghai)
• Lumazi: W. Yin, University of Chicago

Initials

	Labials	Dentals	Silibants	Palatals	Velars	Glottals
Unvoiced Unaspirated Stops	p	t	ʦ	ʨ	k	(ʔ)
Unvoiced Aspirated Stops	pʰ	tʰ	ʦʰ	ʨʰ	kʰ
Voiced Stops	b	d		dʑ	g
Nasals	m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Unvoiced Fricatives	f		s	ɕ		h
Voiced Fricatives	v		z	ʑ		ɦ
Liquids	(w)	l		(j)

Shanghai dialect has a set of voiced initials and exhibits unvoiced unaspirated and aspirated stops. Moreover, there are unvoiced and voiced fricatives sets. Palatized initials also feature in Shanghai dialect. The /l/ consonant is also particular in that there is a slight flapping of the tongue during speech, somewhat similar to the Japanese r (although lateral and not post-alveolar). The sound may be made by lightly placing the tongue on the back of the upper set of teeth. However this flapping is not present when each character is individually pronounced.

Rimes

Vowel	Diphthong	Nasal Ending	Nasalised Rime	Glottal Stop
		(m, n) ŋ
ɿ
ɥ
i	ii, iɪ, iɯ, iE, iɔ, ia	iŋ, iiŋ, ioŋ	iã	iɪʔ, iɤʔ, ioʔ, iaʔ
y	yø	yiŋ		yɪʔ
u	uE, uø, uo, ua	uəŋ	uã, uɒ̃	uɤʔ, uoʔ, uaʔ
ɪ				ɪʔ
ø
ɤ	ɤɯ			ɤʔ
o	ou	oŋ		oʔ
	ei
ɚ
		əŋ
E
ɔ
a		aŋ	ã	aʔ
			ɒ̃

The Middle Chinese [ -m ] ending rimes in Shanghai dialect have merged with [ -n ], some of which subsequently dropped off. Some Middle Chinese [ -ŋ ] ending rime characters have become rimes with a nasalised ending, [ iã, uã, uɒ̃ ]. Middle Chinese [ -p -t -k ] rimes have become glottal stops [ -ʔ ].

In certain variants, the [ u ] is pronounced unrounded (close back unrounded, [ ɯ ]).

Tones

陰 Yin	陰平 Yin Ping	(陰上 Yin Shang)	陰去 Yin Qu	陰入 Yin Ru
	53	(55)	34	55
陽 Yang	陽舒 Yang Shu			陽入 Yang Ru
	13			13

The Yang Shu tone is composed of Yang registers of the Ping, Shang and Qu tone characters. The Yin Ru and Yang Ru tones are abrupt tones, and apply only to those rimes in Shanghai dialect, which end in the glottal stop [ ʔ ]. The Yin Shang tone (/55/) is not common in today's variants of the Shanghai dialect, having merged into the Yin Qu tone. If the Ru tone and tones automatically related to the voiced initials (b d g z v dʑ ʑ) are not considered (as they are fixed into the syllabic structure), then the Shanghai dialect has only 2 live tonal contrasts (/53/ and /34/). This makes it especially unique amongst Chinese dialects.

Advanced tone sandhi and argument for pitch accent classification:

In polysyllabic words or set phrases, all syllables after the first lose their original tones and are pronounced based on the table below as "neutral" syllables. Even the first syllable that determines subsequent pitches is altered in a polysyllabic word. The patterns vary depending on the number of syllables in the word or set short phrase.

1st syllable original tone	2 syllables	3 syllables	4 syllables	5 syllables
53	55 - 21	55 - 33 - 31	55 - 33 - 33 - 31	55 - 33 - 33 - 33 - 31
	H - L	H - L - L	H - L - L - L	H - L - L - L - L
34	33 - 44	33 - 55 - 31	33 - 55 - 33 - 31	33 - 55 - 33 - 33 - 31
	L - H	L - H - L	L - H - L - L	L - H - L - L - L
13	22 - 44	22 - 55 - 31	22 - 55 - 33 - 31	22 - 55 - 33 - 33 - 31
	L - H	L - H - L	L - H - L - L	L - H - L - L - L
5	33 - 44	33 - 55 - 31	33 - 55 - 33 - 31	33 - 55 - 33 - 33 - 31
	L - H	L - H - L	L - H - L - L	L - H - L - L - L
2	11 - 23	11 - 22 - 23	11 - 22 - 22 - 23 or 22 - 55 - 33 - 31 depending on word	22 - 55 - 33 - 33 - 31
	L - H	L - H - H	L - H - H - H or L - H - L - L	L - H - L - L - L

H = relative high pitch; L = relative low pitch

Notice that these patterns are quite similar to Japanese pitch accent patterns. Tone sandhi of polysyllabic compounds in the Shanghai dialect has attracted the interest of many scholars, who have previously given only careful consideration to the tone of the monosyllable while trying to describe the rules of tone sandhi for polysyllabic compounds. It has been argued that the number of tones of the Shanghai dialect, generally held to be five under previous analyses, can be reduced to only two underlying tone patterns, or tonemes, by recognizing the existence of the phoneme "voiced h" (Xiaowen Shen, University of Tokyo).

References

• Lance Eccles, Shanghai dialect: an introduction to speaking the contemporary language. Dunwoody Press, 1993. ISBN 1-881265-11-0. 230pp + cassette. (An introductory course in 29 units).

See also

• List of Chinese dialects

Romanization

(Vottay Da`oq复旦大学)

Initials

	Labials	Dentals	Silibants	Palatals	Velars	Glottals
Unvoiced Unaspirated Stops	p	t	tz	tx	k	q
Unvoiced Aspirated Stops	ph	th	ts	tc	kh
Voiced Stops	b	d		dx	g
Nasals	m	n		jn	kn
Unvoiced Fricatives	f		s	c		h
Voiced Fricatives	v		z	x		’
Liquids	w	l		j

Rimes

		Vowel	Semivowel	Nasal Ending	Glottal Stop	exemplum	meaning
				n	q
ɿ,l	î	ir				`tzirseq	knowledge
i	j	j	je,jay,jor,ja	jon	jeq,joq,jaq	je`ci	game
y	ü	uy	yoy	yn	yq	uyn`ton	sports
u	u	u	way,woy,wo,wa	un,wan,worn	weq,woq,waq	worn`ti	emperor
I	i	i		in	iq	`injon	hero
ø	ö	oy				`qoyba	arrange
ɤ,ə	e	e		en	eq	elli	reasonable
o	o	o		on	oq	o`te	underside
	ë	ey				qey`	hi
ɚ		er				er	while
E,ɛ	ä	ay				`fayga	tomato
ɔ	ô	or		orn		zorzorn	upward
a	a	a		an	aq	a`can	shoe-cabinet
single				m		`mma	mom
				ng		kng	fish

Glottal Stop “q” can be replaced by double writing the following consonantal letter except for”m,n,h”.

There shall be only one of the vocalic letters (A,E,I,O,U) in one monosyllable,as there are no true diphthongal syllables in Shanghai dialect.

Rimes "UYN", "UYQ" can be shortened by "YN", "YQ".

Tones

	Long	Short	Light	Stop
High	55	53		5
High	`lon	lon`		`loq
Low	334	34	33	13	2
Low	lon	lon	lon	loq	loq

The short high tone is only used in a monosyllable or the last syllable of a polysyllable. Long or short low tones are almost the same. Light low tone is always used in a polysyllable.

H-L	L-H	H-L-L	L-H-L	L-L-H	H-L-H
`lonlon	lon`lon	`lonlonlon	lon`lonlon	lonlonlon`	`lonlonlon`
55-33	334-55	55-33-334	33-55-33	334-33-53	55-33-53

This romanisation was designed by LI Hui, Center for Anthropological Studies at Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

External links

• Project to Introduce and Promote Shanghainese: Background, audio, lessons, phonology, and forums. In English.
• Shanghai Dialect: Resources on Shanghai dialect including to a Web site (in Japanese) that gives common phrases with sound files
• Conversational Shanghai Chinese: An online textbook of Shanghainese, with audio.