Rui'an dialect

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Ruian dialect
瑞安話
Pronunciation[zʉ˦ø˧ɦo˨]
Native toChina
RegionWenzhou prefecture, Zhejiang province
Native speakers
[citation needed]
Language codes
ISO 639-3
GlottologNone
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The Ruian dialect (Chinese: 瑞安話; pronounced [zʉ˦ø˧ɦo˨] in the Rui'an dialect; standard pinyin: Ruì'ānyǔ) is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in Ruian. It belongs to the Oujiang sub-group of Wu Chinese dialects. It is closely related to the Pingyang dialect and Lucheng dialect, generally referred to as Wenzhounese.

Phonology

Initials

  Labial Labiodental Dental Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal tenuis ʔm 猫 ʔn 嬭 ʔȵ 蛲 ʔŋ  
voiced m n ȵ ŋ  
Plosive aspirated
tenuis p t k ʔ
voiced b d ɡ
Affricate aspirated tsʰ tɕʰ  
tenuis ts  
voiced dz  
Fricative voiceless f s ɕ h
voiced v z   ɦ
Approximant tenuis ʔw ʔʋ ʔl 拉 ʔj  
voiced w l j

Finals

Rui'an has the following finals:

[m], 兒 [ŋ]

[a], 好 [ɛ], 包 [ɔ]

[e̝], 先 [i], 思 [ɿ]

[o̝], 布 [ʉ] ~ 圖 [ɘʉ] ~ 水 [ʮ]

[y], 安 [ø], 歌 [ʋ̩ʷ]

[ɐi], 走 [ɐu̜]

[ei], 六 [əu̜]

[iɛ], 關 [uɔ], 花 [uo̝]

[ɐŋ], 聽 [əŋ], 公 [oŋ].

Additional finals for older accents include

[ie̝], 橋 [yø], 頭 [iəu̜]

Tones

In the Ruian dialect, a monosyllabic word can have one of the eight tones, but there are only four phonetically distinguished tones, divided into high (陰) and low (陽) categories. In combination with another tone, it can change depending on the tone sandhi system.

Yin Ping 陰平 [˦] 44 江天飛三

Yang Ping 陽平 [˧˩] 31 來同魚球

Yin Shang 陰上 [˧˥] 35 懂紙古本

Yang Shang 陽上 [˨˦] 24 近淡厚似

Yin Qu 陰去 [˥˨] 52 對去貨歲

Yang Qu 陽去 [˨] 22 外地路住

Yin Ru 陰入 [˧˨˧] 323 七博塔各

Yang Ru 陽入 [˨˩˨] 212 六肉白石

Tone sandhi

In bisyllabic words, the Rui'an dialect phonetically has only six tones, high flat ˦, middle flat ˧, rising ˨˦, departing ˦˨, entering ˨˩˨ and short ˨. We'll now use A, B, C, D, E, and 0 for these six tones.

tones 陰平 陰上 陰去 陰入 陽平 陽上 陽去 陽入
陰平 0A AC ED AE AD Example Example Example
陰上 AB 0C D0 AE D0 Example Example Example
陰去 Example Example Example D0 Example 0C Example Example
陰入 Example Example E0 Example Example Example Example E0
陽平 AE Example 0C Example Example Example Example Example
陽上 Example Example Example Example Example Example Example Example
陽去 0A Example C0 Example Example Example C0 Example
陽入 0A 0C Example Example Example Example Example Example

Grammar

Sentence Structure

Classifiers

Verbs

Adverbs

Ruian dialect

Lexicon

Pronouns

Pronoun IPA Transcription
1st person sing. ŋ˧˦
2nd person sing. ȵi˧˦
3rd person sing. ɡe̝˧˩ 渠/佢
reflexive sing. zɿ˨
1st person plur. ŋ˨˦ le̝˨, ŋ˨˦ la˨ 吾俚, 吾啦
2nd person plur. ȵi˨˦ le̝˨, ȵi˨˦ la˨ 爾俚, 爾啦
3rd person plur. ɡe̝˦˨ le̝˨, ɡe̝˦˨ la˨ 渠/佢俚,渠/佢啦
reflexive plur. zɿ˧ le̝˨, zɿ˧ la˨ 自俚, 自啦

Numerals

Numerals IPA Transcription
0 ləŋ˧˩, dø˧˦ 零, 斷1
1 ʔja˧˨˧, i˧˨˧ 1 2
2 ŋ˨, la˧˦ 二, 兩1
3 sɔ˦
4 sɿ˥˨
5 ŋ˧˦
6 ləu̜˧˨˧
7 tsʰa˧˨˧
8 po̝˧˨˧
9 tɕɐu̜˧˥
10 za˨˩˨
20 ȵiɛ˨ 廿
30 sɔ˧ za˧ 三十
100 i˨ pa˧˨˧ 一百
1000 i˨ tɕʰi˧ 一千
10.000 i˨ mɔ˧ 一萬
1 used when are alone or follow 第 to form ordinal numerals, and the later three lectures are cardinal numerals and are generally followed by a classifier.
2 the first lecture is considered literal, the second colloquial.

Vocabulary

Below is a list of the most common vocabulary in Ruian dialect.

Meaning IPA Transcription Mandarin equivalent
to see, to look [tsʰɿ˥˨]
to hear, to listen [tʰəŋ˦]
to ask [mɐŋ˨]
to look for [zɐŋ˧˩] 找, 尋找
to smell [hoŋ˥˨]
to know [sei˧˨˧] 認識
to say, to speak [ko̝˧˥]
to curse [kɐŋ˥˨]
to eat [tɕʰi˧˨˧]
to drink [hɔ˧˨˧]
chopstick [dzei˨] 筷子
to stand [ɡe̝˧˦]
pocket [tɐu̜˦] 口袋
salted vegetables [tsʰe̝˨˩˨ ɦɔ˨] 菜鹹 鹹菜
chopping block [pɔ˧ tsɐŋ˨˦] 板砧 砧板
icing sugar [do̝˨ ɕo̝˧] 糖霜 糖霜
thing, object [ʔmʉ˦ zɿ˧] 物事 東西
rice spoon [vɔ˦ tɕiɛ˧] 飯槳 飯勺
radish [tsʰe̝˨˩˨ dəu̜˨] 菜頭 蘿蔔
trouble [sa˦ zəu̜˨˦] 生受 麻煩
doctor [i˧ sɿ˧] 醫師 醫生
blind [ʔmo̝˨˩˨ do̝˨] 盲瞊 瞎子
wife [lɛ˦ ʔø˧] 老安 老婆
unfamiliar [ta˦ sa˧] 打生 陌生
eagle [ta˧ ʔjɐŋ˧] 咄鷹 貓頭鷹
mole cricket [tʰɘʉ˦ kɐu̜˨˦] 土狗 蝼蛄
bicycle [dɔ˨ tɕɔ˦ tsʰo̝˧] 踏腳車 自行车
instrument [ko̝˨ sa˦ fʋ̩ʷ˨˦] 家生货 家具
young, teenager [ɦɐu̜˧ sa˨˩˨ ŋ˨] 後生兒 年輕人
serious, powerful [dəu̜˦ bei˨ tɕiɛ˧] 肚皮掌 厲害

Readings

Like other Wu dialects, in the Ruian dialect a Chinese character can have more than one reading, divided into vernacular readings (白讀) and literary readings (文讀), in comparison with other Wu dialects, the Ruian dialect has relatively few multiple readings. Below are some samples.

Hanzi Vernacular Literary
reading transcription meaning reading transcription meaning
sɐŋ ȵɐŋ 新人 bride koŋ zɐŋ 工人 worker
ne̝ tsɿ 日子 day za dʑi 日期 date
mɐŋ ɦɛ 問號 question mark vɐŋ dei 問題 question
ŋ tɔ 無膽 despondent vʋ̩ʷ jo̝ 無用 useless
tsei lo̝ 紙龍 kite kʰoŋ loŋ 恐龍 dinosaur
na ŋ 女兒 daughter ȵy zɿ 女士 lady

See also

References