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The Hangzhou dialect (simplified Chinese: 杭州话; traditional Chinese: 杭州話; pinyin: Hángzhōuhuà, Rhangzei Rhwa) is spoken in the city of Hangzhou, China and its immediate suburbs, but excluding areas further away from Hangzhou such as Xiāoshān (蕭山) and Yúháng (余杭) (both originally county-level cities and now the districts within Hangzhou City). The number of speakers of the Hangzhou dialect has been estimated to be about 1.2 to 1.5 million. It is a dialect of Wu, one of the Chinese varieties. The Hangzhou dialect is of immense interest to Chinese historical phonologists and dialectologists because phonologically, it exhibits extensive similarities with the other Wu dialects; however, grammatically and lexically, it shows many Mandarin tendencies.[2] The language itself has the basic characteristics of Wu language. However, several waves of migration from the north, represented by the southward relocation of the ruling centre of Song dynasty, have caused the local language system to undergo great changes and gradually take on a special character in Jiangnan region.[3] Hangzhou Dialect is classified as a "developing" language, with a rating of 5 on the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS), showing that the language is still vigorously in use, but not sustainable or widespread.[4]

Hangzhou dialect
杭州話, ɦaŋ-tsei-ɦu
Pronunciation	[ɦãtseiɦu]
Native to	People's Republic of China
Region	Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Native speakers	(1.2 million cited 1987)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Wu Taihu Hangzhou dialect
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	hgou
Glottolog	hang1257
Linguasphere	79-AAA-dbd
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Classification

The Hangzhou dialect is classified under Wu Chinese, although some western linguists claim Hangzhou is a Mandarin Chinese language.

Richard VanNess Simmons, a professor of Chinese at Rutgers University in New Jersey, United States, claims that the Hangzhou dialect, rather than being Wu as it was classified by Yuen Ren Chao, is a Mandarin variant closely related to Jianghuai Mandarin. The Hangzhou dialect is still classified under Wu. Chao had developed a "Common Wu Syllabary" for the Wu dialects. Simmons claimed that had Chao compared the Hangzhou dialect to the Wu syllabary and Jianghuai Mandarin, he would have found more similarities to Jianghuai.[5] Jianghuai Mandarin shares an "old literary layer" as a stratum with southern languages like Min Nan, Hakka, Gan and Hangzhou dialects, which it does not share with Northern Mandarin. Sino-Vietnamese also shares some of these characteristics. The stratum in Min Nan specifically consist of Zeng group and Geng group's "n" and "t" finals when an "i" initial is present.[6][7]

John H. McWhorter claimed that the Hangzhou dialect was categorized as a Wu dialect because seven tones are present in Hangzhou, which is significantly more than the typical number of tones found in northern Mandarin dialects, which is four.[8]

Geographic distribution

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2008)

It stretches from yuhang xiasha in the east to the Qiangtang River in the south. A growing number of Hangzhounese speakers is emerging overseas in New York City, United States.

The Hangzhou dialect is mainly spoken in the urban area in Hangzhou, including the urban area of Gongshu district, Shangcheng district, Xiacheng district, the urban area of Jianggan district, the urban area and seven villages of Xihu district, and part of Binjiang district.[9]

Phonology

Vowels[10]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y	ï ÿ	u
	ö		o
Mid	e
Low	œ		ô
		a

Initials

Initial consonants

		Labial	Dental/Alveolar	Alveolo-palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	tenuis	p	t		k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Affricate	tenuis		ts	tɕ
	aspirated		tsʰ	tɕʰ
	voiced		dz	dʑ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ɕ		h
	voiced	v	z			ɦ
Lateral			l

Finals

Vowel nuclei

	Front		Central	Back
	Unrounded	Rounded
Close	/i/	/y/		/u/
Close-mid	/e/			/o/
Open-mid	/ɛ/		/ə/	/ɔ/
Open			/a/

Finals[11][12]

Coda		Open			Nasal			Glottal stop
Medial		∅	j	w~ʮ	∅	j	w~ʮ	∅	j	w~ʮ
Nucleus	i	i			iɲ			jɛʔ
	y	y			yɲ			ɥɛʔ
	u	u
	e	ei		wei
	o	ou	jo	wo~ʮo	oŋ	joŋ		oʔ	joʔ
	ɛ	ɛ	jɛ	wɛ~ʮɛ
	ə				ən		wən~ʮən
	ɔ	ɔ	jɔ
	a	a	ja	wa~ʮa	ã	jã	wã~ʮã	aʔ		waʔ~ʮaʔ

Syllabic continuants: [z̩] [z̩ʷ] [m̩] [ŋ̩] [l̩]

Notes:

• The Hangzhou dialect has a rare "apical glide" [ʮ] which is an allophone of /w/ after sibilant initials.
• /j/ is pronounced [ɥ] before rounded vowels.
• Contrast can be found to justify most of these vowels as distinct phonemes in Hangzhou dialect. /i, y/ and /ï, ÿ/, however, are in complementary distribution. /ï/ and /ÿ/ are only found following sibilants /ts, ts', dz, s/ and /z/, where /i/ and /y/ does not.

The Middle Chinese [-ŋ] rimes are retained, while [-n] and [-m] are either retained or have disappeared in the Hangzhou dialect. Middle Chinese [-p -t -k] rimes have become glottal stops, [-ʔ].

Phonological features

Contrast

In HZD, bilabial fricatives [ɸ] and [β] are allophone of bilabial fricatives /f/ and /v/ after [u].[13]

Character	IPA	Gloss
符	[βu334]	symbol
付	[ɸu213]	pay

Vowels /y/ and /ʏ/ are contrastive, representing different characters with different meaning.[14]

Character	IPA	Gloss
流	[lʏ13]	moving of liquid
虑	[ly13]	concerns

Glottalization of initial nasals and laterals

Some initial nasals and laterals are glottalized.[13]

Character	IPA	Gloss
缕	[ʔlɪ53]	thin line
你	[ʔni53]	you
我	[ʔŋo13]	I
奶	[ʔnE53]	grandmother

Syllable Patterns and Tones

In Hangzhou dialect (hereafter: HZD), phonetic symbol is divided into onsets and rhymes using onset-rhyme model. Onsets are simple and not mandatory, vowels can appear initially if [m], [n] and [əl] appear in the rhyme. HZD does not allow codas, but nasals are permitted at the end of the syllable, if they are part of the complex nucleus.[15]

The old Hangzhou dialect has 53 rhymes</ref>.

Rhymes in old HZD
ɿ	ə	ɑ	ɛ	ɔ	o	ø	ei
i	m̩	iɑ	iɛ	iɔ		iø
u	n̩	uɑ	uɛ		uo		ui
ɥ	əl	ɥɑ	ɥɛ				ɥei
y
		en	ɑŋ	oŋ	ɑʔ	əʔ	oʔ
ɛ̃		in	iɑŋ	ioŋ	iɑʔ	iəʔ	ioʔ
iɛ̃	uõ	un	uɑŋ		uɑʔ		uoʔ
	ɥõ	ɥen	ɥɑŋ		ɥɑʔ	ɥəʔ
	yõ	yn				yəʔ

The Hangzhou tonal system is similar to that of the Suzhou dialect, in that some words with shàng tone in Middle Chinese have merged with the yīn qù tone. Since the tone split dating from Middle Chinese still depends on the voicing of the initial consonant, these constitute just three phonemic tones: pin, shang, and qu. (Ru syllables are phonemically toneless.)

Tone chart

Tone number	Tone name	Tone letters	Description
1	yin ping (陰平)	˧˨˧ (323)	mid dipping
2	yang ping (陽平)	˨˩˨ (212)	low dipping
3	shang (上)	˥˩ (51)	falling
4	yin qu (陰去)	˧˦ (334)	mid rising
5	yang qu (陽去)	˩˧ (113)	low rising
6	yin ru (陰入)	˥ʔ (5)	high checked
7	yang ru (陽入)	˩˨ʔ (12)	low checked

In HZD, the tones will change not only because of the nearby tones, but also due to the phrase structures.[15]

Vocabulary

Time

gemore (箇卯) – now

deimore (头卯) – just now

yalidei (夜里头) – at night

rizong (日中) – at noon

relidei (日里头) – in the day

zaogedei (早间头) – in the morning

yadaobian (夜到边) – in the evening

Expression of person, categorized by generation

agong (阿公) – mother's father

abo (阿婆) – mother's mother

diadia (爷爷) – father's father

nene (奶奶) – father's mother

popo (婆婆) – grandfather's sister

xiaodiadia (小爷爷) – grandfather's sister's husband

aba (阿爸)/baba (爸爸) – papa

muma (姆妈)/mama (妈妈) – mom

bobo (伯伯) – father's brother

damuma (大姆妈) – wife of father's oldest brother

xiaoboubou (小伯伯) – father's younger brother

senniang (婶娘) – wife of father's little brother

ayi (阿姨) / gugu (姑姑) – father's sister

guvu (姑夫) – father's sister's husband

niangjiu (娘舅)/ajiu (阿舅)/jiujiu (舅舅) – mother's brother

jiumu (舅妈) – wife of mother's brother

zangren (丈人) – wife's father

zangmuniang (丈母娘) – wife's mother

yiniang (姨娘) – mother's sister

ganyi (干姨) – mother's sister's husband

agou (阿哥) – elder brother

adi (阿弟) – little brother

ajie (阿姐) – elder sister

amei (阿妹) – little sister

biaogou/biaodi (表哥/表弟) – male older/younger cousin who does not share surname

biaojie/biaomei (表姐/表妹) – female older/younger cousin who does not share surname

danggou/dangdi (堂哥/堂弟) – male older/younger cousin who shares the same surname

dangjie/dangmei (堂姐/堂妹) – female older/younger cousin who shares the same surname

xiaoya'er (小伢儿) – child

History

The most important event to have impacted Hangzhou's dialect was the city's establishment as Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. When the Northern Song Dynasty was conquered by the Jin Dynasty in 1127, large numbers of northern refugees fled to what is now Hangzhou, speaking predominantly Mandarin of the Henan variety. Within 30 years, contemporary accounts record that immigrants outnumbered natives in Hangzhou. This resulted in Mandarin influences in the pronunciation, lexicon and grammar of the Hangzhou dialect.

Further influence by Mandarin occurred after the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. The local Manchu garrisons were dissolved, adding significant numbers of the Beijing dialect Mandarin speakers to the population.

Because of the frequent commerce and intercourse between Hangzhou and Shaoxing, the Hangzhou dialect is also influenced by the Shaoxing dialect.

In recent years, with the standardization of Mandarin, the vitality of the Hangzhou dialect is decreasing.[4] As Kandrysawtz concluded, the Hangzhou dialect is spoken in fewer places and by fewer people, especially the younger generation.[4] Some people also hold the attitude that the Hangzhou dialect is not appropriate in official occasions.[4]

See also

• Wu Chinese
  • Shanghainese
  • Suzhounese
  • Ningbonese
• List of varieties of Chinese
• Chinatowns in Queens § Flushing

References

• Boltz, William G. (2000–2001). "Notes on Richard VanNess Simmons: Chinese Dialect Classification" (PDF). Oriens Extremus. 42.
• Qián, Nǎiróng 錢乃榮 (1992). 當代吳語研究 Dāngdài Wúyǔ yánjiū [Contemporary Wu linguistics studies]. Shanghai: 上海敎育出版社 Shànghǎi jiàoyù chūbǎnshè. ISBN 7-5320-2355-9.
• Simmons, Richard VanNess (1995). "Distinguishing characteristics of the Hangzhou dialect" (PDF). New Asia Academic Bulletin. 11: 383–398.
• Simmons, Richard VanNess (1999). Chinese Dialect Classification: A comparative approach to Harngjou, Old Jintarn, and Common Northern Wu. John Benjamins. ISBN 978-90-272-3694-4.

External links

• Wu Association

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