Wu dialects

E84960
Chinese dialect group Sinitic language group

Wu dialects are a major group of Sinitic languages spoken primarily in the Yangtze River Delta region of eastern China, including areas such as Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, and parts of Zhejiang and Anhui.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (6)

Surface form Occurrences
Jinhua dialect 1
Suzhou dialect 1
Taizhou dialect 1

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Chinese dialect group ⓘ
Sinitic language group ⓘ
country China ⓘ
developedFrom Old Chinese ⓘ
glottologCode wuch1236 ⓘ
hasAlternativeName Wu ⓘ
Wu Chinese ⓘ
hasLinguisticTypology SVO word order ⓘ
analytic language ⓘ
hasMajorVariety Hangzhounese ⓘ
Ningbonese ⓘ
Shanghainese ⓘ
Suzhounese ⓘ
Wenzhounese ⓘ
hasNumberOfSpeakers tens of millions of speakers ⓘ
hasPhonologicalFeature checked syllables ⓘ
complex tone sandhi ⓘ
large vowel inventory ⓘ
tone ⓘ
voiced obstruents ⓘ
hasStandardVariety Shanghainese ⓘ
surface form: Shanghainese (de facto urban prestige variety)
hasSubgroup Oujiang Wu ⓘ
Taihu Wu ⓘ
Taizhou Wu ⓘ
Wuzhou Wu ⓘ
historicalOrigin Middle Chinese ⓘ
influencedBy Standard Mandarin (lexicon and usage) ⓘ
influences local culture in the Yangtze River Delta ⓘ
isoCode wuu ⓘ
languageFamily Sino-Tibetan languages ⓘ
surface form: Sino-Tibetan
mutuallyIntelligibleWith other Wu dialects to varying degrees ⓘ
notMutuallyIntelligibleWith Cantonese ⓘ
Standard Chinese ⓘ
surface form: Standard Mandarin
region eastern China ⓘ
surface form: East China

Yangtze River Delta ⓘ
surface form: Lower Yangtze region
spokenIn Shanghai ⓘ
Yangtze River Delta ⓘ
Zhejiang NERFINISHED ⓘ
eastern China ⓘ
parts of Anhui ⓘ
southern Jiangsu ⓘ
subclassOf Chinese language ⓘ
Chinese language ⓘ
surface form: Sinitic languages
usedAs vernacular language in Shanghai ⓘ
vernacular language in parts of Zhejiang ⓘ
vernacular language in southern Jiangsu ⓘ
usedIn local media in Shanghai region ⓘ
local opera traditions such as Yue opera ⓘ
writingSystem Chinese characters ⓘ

Referenced by (7)

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

Anhui → hasDialectGroup → Wu dialects ⓘ
Wu Chinese → hasEndonym → Wu dialects ⓘ
this entity surface form: 吳語
Wu Chinese → hasEndonym → Wu dialects ⓘ
this entity surface form: 吴语
Wu Chinese → hasMajorVariety → Wu dialects ⓘ
this entity surface form: Jinhua dialect
Wu Chinese → hasMajorVariety → Wu dialects ⓘ
this entity surface form: Taizhou dialect
Wu Chinese → hasMajorVariety → Wu dialects ⓘ
this entity surface form: Yongkang dialect
this entity surface form: Suzhou dialect