Quzhou dialect

Quzhou dialect (衢州話; pronounced [dʒytɕiɯɦuɑ] in Quzhou dialect) is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in Quzhou.

Quzhou dialect
衢州話
Pronunciation	[dʒy tɕiɯ ɦuɑ]
Native to	People's Republic of China
Region	Quzhou prefecture, Zhejiang province
Native speakers	approx. 2 million
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Wu Chuqu Quzhou dialect
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	chuz1238[1]

Phonology

Initials

		Labial	Dental	Palatal	Postalveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m 迷	n 拿	ɲ 寧		ŋ 咬
Plosive	voiceless	p 巴	t 丁			k 公	ʔ 愛
	aspirated	pʰ 怕	tʰ 聽			kʰ 空
	slack voice	b̥ 爬	d̥ 停			ɡ̊ 共
Affricate	voiceless		ts 增	tɕ 九	tʃ 真
	aspirated		tsʰ 寸	tɕʰ 秋	tʃʰ 春
	slack voice		d̥z̥ 存	d̥ʑ̊ 求	d̥ʒ̊ 陳
Fricative	voiceless	f 方	s 森	ɕ 心	ʃ 雙	x 好
	slack voice	v̥ 房	z̥ 時	ʑ̊ 尋	ʒ 床	ɣ 或
Approximant			l 來	(j) 移		(w) 吳	ɦ 或

Finals

There are at least the following finals: 姆 [m], 魚 [ŋ], 爾 [ɫ], 試 [ʐ]

水 [ɥ], 去 [i], 布 [u], 雨 [y]

家 [ɑ], 謝 [iɑ], 瓜 [uɑ]

菜 [e̞], 快 [ue̞]

走 [ɘɪ], 會 [uɘɪ]

包 [ɔ], 表 [iɔ]

勾 [ɤ], 九 [iɯ]

南 [ə], 官 [uə], 捐 [yə]

變 [ie]

三 [æ], 慣 [uæ]

本 [ən], 金 [iɲ], 昏 [uən], 運 [yɲ]

打 [ã], 兩 [iã], 昌 [uã]

方 [ɒ̃], 旺 [iɒ̃], 光 [uɒ̃]

公 [oŋ], 窘 [ioŋ]

六 [əʔ], 业 [iɘʔ], 國 [uəʔ], 肉 [yəʔ]

脱 [ənʔ], 衢 [ɥ]

白 [ɐ̞ʔ] -aq, 弱 [iɐ̞ʔ], 划 [uɐ̞ʔ]

Tones

Quzhou dialect is considered to have seven tones. However, since the tone split from Middle Chinese, characters still depend on the voicing of the initial consonant. These constitute just three phonemic tones: ping, shang, and qu. (Ru syllables are phonemically toneless.)

Tone chart of Jiangshan dialect

Number	Tone name	Tone contour	Examples
1	陰平 yīn píng	[˦] (44)	江天飛空
2	陽平 yáng píng	[˩˩˨] (112)	來同魚頭
3	陰上 yīn shàng	[˧˦] (34)	懂紙古口
4	陽去 yáng qù	[˧˩] (31)	外地路道
5	陰去 yīn qù	[˥˨] (52)	對去馬你
6	陽入 yīn rù	[˩˨̚] (12)	六肉白石
7	陽入 yáng rù	[˥̚] (5)	各黑出脫

Grammar

Sentence structure

	You are my friend	He/she is your teacher, and you have to respect him/her.	Can I borrow a pencil?	If you want to eat more, then eat more if you'd like.	Have you taken your cold medicine yet? Don't forget to take it!
Sentence	你 我 個 朋友 啘。	渠(其) 你 老師 啘，要 尊重 人家。	鉛筆 借 支 我 好伐？	飯 再 喫 碗 添，多 吃 些兒 啊。	感冒藥 喫嘞 朆 你，覅 記弗着 掉 唻！
IPA	[ni ŋu kəʔ põjɤ ue]	[ɡi ɳi lɔsʐ ue, iɔ tseɳd͡ʒõ niŋkɒ]	[kæpiəʔ t͡ʃiɒ t͡sʐ ŋu xɔfɐ̞ʔ]	[væ t͡se t͡ɕʰiəʔ uə tʰie, tu t͡ɕʰiəʔ ʃin o]	[kəmɔjɐ̞ʔ t͡ɕʰiəʔləʔ vən ɳi, fiɔ t͡ɕʰifəʔt͡ʃɐ̞ʔ tɔ le]
Structure	(2nd person singular) (1st person singular) (genitive) (friend) (particle)	(3rd person singular) (2nd person singular) (teacher) (particle), (have) (respect) (other)	(pencil) (borrow) (measure word for pencil) (1st person singular) (interrogative)	(rice/meal) (again) (eat) (bowl) (particle?), (more) (eat) (more+) (particle)	(cold medicine) (taking/eating) (interrogative) (2nd person singular), (negative) (verb-remember/negative) (particle) (imperative)

The first example can be compared with Japanese: あなたは私の友達だよ。(anata wa watashi no tomodachi dayo.) Here, 啘 resembles Japanese だよ (dayo).

Lexicon

Pronouns

• 我 [ŋu˥˨] 1st person singular
• 你 [ɳi˥˨] 2nd person singular
• 渠[ ɡi˩˩˨] 3rd person singular
• 我達 [ŋu˥˨.dɐ̞ʔ˩˨], 我拉 [ŋu˥˨.lɐ̞ʔ˩˨] (我耷) 1st person plural
• 你達 [ɳi˥˨.dɐ̞ʔ˩˨, 你拉 [ɳi˥˨.lɐ̞ʔ˩˨], 爾耷- [n][tAʔ]/[dAʔ], [lAʔ] 2nd person plural
• 渠達 [ɡi˩˩˨.dɐ̞ʔ˩˨], 渠拉 [ɡi˩˩˨lɐ̞ʔ˩˨] (渠耷) 3rd person plural

References

1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Quzhou". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.