Quzhou dialect


The Quzhou dialect is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in Quzhou, China.

Phonology

Initials

Finals

Tones

The 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.
NumberTone nameTone contourExamples
1陰平 yīn píng 江天飛空
2陽平 yáng píng 來同魚頭
3陰上 yīn shàng 懂紙古口
4陽上去 yáng shàngqù 外地路道
5陰去 yīn qù 對去馬你
6陰入 yīn rù 各黑出脫
7陽入 yáng rù 六肉白石

Grammar

Sentence structure

The first example can be compared with Japanese: あなたは私の友達だよ。 Here, 啘 resembles Japanese だよ.

Lexicon

Pronouns