Changzhou dialect

The Changzhou dialect (Simplified Chinese: 常州话; Traditional Chinese: 常州話; IPA: [z̥ɑŋ.tsei.ɦu] (pronunciation in the Changzhou dialect)), sometimes called Changzhounese, is a dialect of Wu, a Sino-Tibetan language family, and belongs to the Taihu dialect group. It is spoken in the city of Changzhou and surrounding areas in Jiangsu province of China. It has many similarities with the Shanghainese and Suzhou dialect. It is not at all mutually intelligible with Mandarin, China's official language. It is much more closely related to the neighboring Wuxi dialect with which it is mostly mutually intelligible.

Phonetically, the Changzhou dialect makes use of a number of voiced or slack voiced initials [b̥ d̥ ɡ̊ d̥z̥ d̥ʑ̊ v̥ z̥ ɦ̥] that are not found in Mandarin as well as a larger number of vowel sounds [ɑ ɐ ɔ o æ ə ɨ ɨʷ ɛ ɤɯ e i u y].^[1] The tone system also is of greater complexity, using 7 tones based on the classical tonal system. It also has a more complex tone sandhi than found in most other Chinese varieties.

Changzhou dialect is the representative of the small dialect in the northernmost part of the Wu dialect area and the Jianghuai mandarin dialect area. Influenced by the dialect habits, Changzhou Mandarin presents its own characteristics that are different from standard Mandarin in terms of pronunciation. Mr. Zhao Yuanren was the first person who used modern linguistic methods to study Changzhou dialect, and especially made a pioneering and outstanding contribution to the research on Changzhou dialect phonetics. In the early 20th century and even earlier, gentleman's talk and streets appeared in Changzhou city When talking about Changzhou dialect with two accents, the people who use it are different. The two accents have similarities in common, but also have distinct distinctive features.