Wu Chinese

E82322

Wu Chinese is a major Sinitic language group spoken primarily in Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, known for its rich tonal system and significant phonological differences from Mandarin.

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Statements (61)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Chinese language group
Sinitic language
language continuum
geographicalCenter Yangtze River Delta
surface form: Jiangnan region

Yangtze River Delta
hasAlternativeName Shanghainese and related varieties
Wu
Wu dialects
hasEndonym Wu dialects
surface form: 吳語

Wu dialects
surface form: 吴语
hasEthnologueEntry Wu Chinese self-link
hasGlottocode wu__1234
hasISOCode wuu
hasLinguisticAncestor Middle Chinese
Old Chinese
hasMajorVariety Hangzhounese
Wu dialects
surface form: Jinhua dialect

Ningbonese
Shanghainese
Shanghainese
surface form: Shaoxing dialect

Shanghainese
surface form: Suzhounese

Wu dialects
surface form: Taizhou dialect

Wenzhounese
Wu dialects
surface form: Yongkang dialect
hasNameOrigin named after the historical state of Wu
hasNotableFeature distinct lexicon compared to Mandarin
significant phonological differences from Standard Mandarin
strong regional identity in the Jiangnan area
hasPhonologicalFeature checked tones in some varieties
complex tone sandhi
large vowel inventory in many dialects
preservation of Middle Chinese voiced initials in some varieties
rich tonal system
voiced obstruents in many dialects
hasRepresentativeDialect Shanghai dialect
Wu dialects
surface form: Suzhou dialect
hasScriptUsage primarily written with Standard Chinese grammar and vocabulary
hasSociolinguisticStatus often considered a dialect group rather than a separate language in China
hasStandardForm no officially standardized spoken form for all Wu
hasWritingSystem Chinese characters
isOneOf major Chinese topolect groups
seven traditional major Chinese dialect groups
languageBranch Chinese language
surface form: Sinitic
languageFamily Sino-Tibetan languages
surface form: Sino-Tibetan
mutualIntelligibility largely unintelligible with Cantonese
largely unintelligible with Mandarin
partially intelligible among its own varieties
spokenIn Jiangsu Province NERFINISHED
Shanghai
Shanghai
surface form: Shanghai municipality

Zhejiang NERFINISHED
Zhejiang Province NERFINISHED
eastern China
parts of Anhui Province
parts of Jiangxi Province
southern Jiangsu
subclassOf Chinese
Sino-Tibetan languages
usedAs vernacular language in Shanghai
vernacular language in much of Zhejiang
usedBy ethnic Han Chinese

Referenced by (11)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Northern Mandarin contrastedWith Wu Chinese
Wu dialects hasAlternativeName Wu Chinese
Wu Chinese hasEthnologueEntry Wu Chinese self-link
Jiangsu hasLocalDialectGroup Wu Chinese
Chinese language hasPart Wu Chinese
eastern China language Wu Chinese
subject surface form: Eastern China
Yangtze River Delta language Wu Chinese
Zhejiang Province language Wu Chinese
Zhoushan Archipelago language Wu Chinese
Changzhou localDialect Wu Chinese
Han Chinese primaryLanguage Wu Chinese