| Shanghainese | |
|---|---|
| 上海閒話 / 上海闲话, zaon-he ghe-gho 滬語 / 沪语, wu-gniu | |
| Pronunciation | [zɑ̃̀hɛ́ ɦɛ̀ɦó], [ɦùɲý] |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Shanghainese proper traditionally in the urban center of Shanghai; Bendihua varieties spoken throughout Shanghai and parts of nearby Nantong |
| Ethnicity | Shanghainese |
Native speakers | 14 million (2013)[citation needed] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
| Chinese characters | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| ISO 639-6 | suji |
wuu-sha | |
| Glottolog | shan1293 Shanghainese |
| Linguasphere | > 79-AAA-dbb > |
| Shanghainese | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 上海話 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 上海话 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Shanghai language | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Shanghainese | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 上海閒話 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 上海闲话 | ||||||||||
| Shanghainese Romanization | Zaon6 he5 ghe6 gho6 [zɑ̃̀hɛ́ ɦɛ̀ɦò] | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Shanghai speech | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Hu language | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 滬語 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 沪语 | ||||||||||
| Shanghainese Romanization | Wu6 gniu6 [ɦùȵỳ] | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Hu (Shanghai) language | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, or Hu language, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the central districts of the city of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Shanghainese, like the rest of the Wu language group, is mutually unintelligible with other varieties of Chinese, such as Mandarin.[1]
Shanghainese belongs to a separate group of the Taihu Wu subgroup. With nearly 14 million speakers, Shanghainese is also the largest single form of Wu Chinese. Since the late 19th century it has served as the lingua franca of the entire Yangtze River Delta region, but in recent decades its status has declined relative to Mandarin, which most Shanghainese speakers can also speak.[2]
Like other Wu varieties, Shanghainese is rich in vowels and consonants, with around twenty unique vowel qualities, twelve of which are phonemic. Similarly, Shanghainese also has voiced obstruent initials, which is rare outside of Wu and Xiang varieties. Shanghainese also has a low number of tones compared to other languages in Southern China and has a system of tone sandhi similar to Japanese pitch accent.