Suzhou dialect

Suzhounese, also known as the Suzhou dialect, is the variety of Chinese traditionally spoken in the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu, China. Suzhounese is a variety of Wu Chinese, and was traditionally considered the Wu Chinese prestige dialect. Suzhounese has a large vowel inventory and it is relatively conservative in initials by preserving voiced consonants from Middle Chinese.

Distribution

Suzhou dialect is spoken within the city itself and the surrounding area, including migrants living in nearby Shanghai.
The Suzhou dialect is mutually intelligible with dialects spoken in its satellite cities such as Kunshan, Changshu, and Zhangjiagang, as well as those spoken in its former satellites Wuxi and Shanghai. It is also partially intelligible with dialects spoken in other areas of the Wu cultural sphere such as Hangzhou and Ningbo. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Cantonese or Standard Chinese; but, as all public schools and most broadcast communication in Suzhou use Mandarin exclusively, nearly all speakers of the dialect are at least bilingual. Owing to migration within China, many residents of the city cannot speak the local dialect but can usually understand it after a few months or years in the area.

Grammar

Personal pronouns

Source:

Pronoun	Number	Word	Pinyin	IPA
1st	Singular	吾	ngou6	ŋəu
1st	Plural	伲	gni6	nʲi
2nd	Singular	倷	ne6	ne
2nd	Plural	唔笃	n6 toq7	n toʔ
3rd	Singular	俚	li1	li
3rd	Singular	俚倷	li1 ne6	li ne
3rd	Singular	唔倷	n1 ne6	n ne
3rd	Plural	俚笃	li1 toq7	li toʔ

Second and third-person pronouns are suffixed with 笃 for the plural. The first-person plural is a separate root, 伲.

Demonstrative

In the Suzhou dialect, geq8 is a very special demonstrative that is used alongside a separate set of proximal and distal demonstratives. geq8 can indicate referents appearing in a speech situation, which may be close to or far away from the deictic center, and under these conditions, geq8 is always used in combination with gestures. Hence geq8 can serve both proximal and distal functions.
哀 with 该 and 弯 with 归 means exactly the same thing and only differ in pronunciation.
The use of neutral demonstrative pronoun became clear once proximal and neutral demonstrative pronouns are used.

哀杯茶是吾葛，掰杯茶是僚葛，弯杯茶是俚葛。

When "搿" refers to time, there is no need to use the proximal and distal in opposition. The role of the neutral demonstrative is very obvious.

抗战是民国二十六年到民国三十四年，掰歇辰光日脚勿好过。

In this sentence, "掰歇" cannot be replaced by "哀歇" because the Anti-Japanese War happened more than fifty years ago, so only the neutral or distal demonstrative can be used, not proximal.
When not referring to time, the proximal "哀" and the neutral demonstrative "掰" can be interchanged. For example, the "掰" in "掰个人勿认得" can be replaced by "哀".
"哀", "该", "掰", "弯" and "归" cannot be used as subjects or objects alone, but must be combined with the following quantifiers, locative words, etc.
Example phrases:

哀歇啥辰光则？

现在什么时候了？
What time is it now?

哀呛倷身体好啘？

现阵子你身体好吗？
How are you now?

Varieties

Some non-native speakers of Suzhou speak the Suzhou dialect in a "stylized variety" to tell tales.

Phonology

Initials

The Suzhou dialect has series of voiced, voiceless, and aspirated stops, and voiceless and voiced fricatives. Moreover, palatalized initials also occur.
Voiced obstruents are typologically partially voiced instead of fully voiced. These consonants are devoiced word/phrase-initially, but are fully voiced within a phrase. This is most apparent for the fricatives becoming. Because of this devoicing, in single-syllable forms the distinction is actually the tone contour.
The glottal initials disappear if they are not at the beginning of a word/phrase, resulting in a smooth vocalic transition from the previous syllable. In this regard, it is possible to analyze both initials as a single phonological null onset when in this environment.

Finals

Notes:

The Suzhou dialect has a rare contrast between "fricative vowels" and ordinary vowels.
*phonetically, are regular plain vowels, while have further constriction
**an acoustic study found to be phonetically syllabic voiced laminal post-alveolar fricatives
is pronounced before rounded vowels.
is a true mid vowel,. May also be transcribed with the Sinological symbol /ᴇ/.
In open syllables, is articulated close to a position for a close back vowel
Depending on the source, transcriptions differ:
* may also be transcribed as
* may also be transcribed as ; also applies to on-glide final rhymes
* may also be transcribed as
*Close vowels may be analyzed as diphthongs and transcribed as

Historical Finals

The Suzhou dialect allows a nasal coda but does not distinguish between them. As such, the Middle Chinese nasal codas have largely either merged or been lost depending on the vowel it follows. Historical rimes following certain vowels are distinguished as the nasalized vowels, but otherwise merge into modern. Historical and rimes are entirely merged and also result in modern, or are lost after certain vowels becoming modern. Modern also results from the monophthongization of the historical diphthong rime .
Middle Chinese rimes have become glottal stops,. Like other Northern Wu varieties, syllables with an underlying glottal stop coda usually manifest as a shortening of the vowel instead of an actual glottal stop, unless before a pause or at the end of an utterance.

Tones

Suzhou is considered to have seven tones. However, since the tone split dating from Middle Chinese still depends on the voicing of the initial consonant. Yang tones are only found with voiced initials, namely , while the yin tones are only found with voiceless initials. These constitute just three phonemic tones: ping, shang, and qu.

Tone number	Wugniu Tone	Tone name	Tone letters	Description
1	1	yin ping		high
2	2	yang ping		level-rising
3	3	shang		high falling
4	5	yin qu		dipping
5	6	yang qu		rising-falling
6	7	yin ru		high checked
7	8	yang ru		rising checked

In Suzhou, the Middle Chinese 阳上 tone and 阳去 tones have fully merged as 31. The original 阳去 313 tone possibly still occurs in tone sandhi patterns as the second element of a chain, following a 阴入 syllable.
Therefore, 买 and 卖 has exactly the same pronunciation in literary and colloquial readings ⁶ma, but can be distinguished in tone sandhi. 弗买 ≠ 弗卖.

Tone Sandhi

Tone in Suzhou dialect, like other Northern Wu varieties is generally grouped by phrasal tone pattern, also called sandhi chains or sandhi domains.
An analysis by Wang describes Suzhou tone sandhi as rightward tone-spreading of the left-most syllable of a phrase. Such described "left-prominent" phrases with non-checked initial syllables of a given length have one of five possible contours, each equivalent to each of the five tones. While generally described as rightward tone-spreading of the initial syllable, it is also common for the phrasal tone pattern to not be the same as that of the initial tone. This is currently the system used on Wiktionary entries with Suzhou data.
To distinguish the individual tone from the pattern expected from its tone spreading, the patterns themselves are referred to with the format of tone number + X.

Initial syllable's tone	2-syllable	3-syllable	4-syllable	Chain
陰平 44	4 0 歡喜	4 4 0	4 4 4 0	1x
陽平 223	2 3 圍身	2 3 0	2 3 4 0	2x
上聲 52	52 1 寫意	52 1 0	52 1 1 0	3x
陰去 523	52 3 啥體	52 3 0	52 3 4 0	5x
陽去 231	23 1 後日	23 1 0	23 1 1 0	6x

A tone level of 0 in the above chart indicates a syllable with a neutral tone, functionally comparable to that of Standard Chinese. The surface realization at the end of an utterance is a low akin to downstep, but in flowing speech is a mid/neutral pitch or may appear to copy the previous tone target.
Additionally, Li describes the 5x chain such that the second syllable has a slight rise. Li also describes a higher mid/high-level for the second syllable of a 6x chain. Li's 1x chain describes the pitch declining after the second syllable.

Tone pattern	2-syllable	3-syllable
阳上式	23 1 两人	23 44 21 同志们，碰碰看，五十岁
去声式	52 23 四首	52 23 21 解放军，打火机，卷心菜

Tone pattern	2-syllable	3-syllable	4-syllable	5-syllable
阴平式	44 21 天花	44 44 21 天花板	44 44 33 21 天花乱坠	44 44 33 22 21 天花板浪向

In phrases with checked initial syllables, the first two tones determine the overall contour. The resulting contour can be summarized as retaining the tone class of the second syllable, but not the voicing class. Both Tone 1 陰平 /44/ and Tone 2 陽平 /223/ will result in a Tone 2 contour. Both Tone 5 陰去 /523/ and Tone 6 陽去 /231/ will result in a Tone 5 contour.

First tone	Second tone	2-syllable	3-syllable	4-syllable	Chain
陰入 5	平聲 44 or 223	4 23 塌車	4 23 0	4 23 4 0	7.2
陽入 23	平聲 44 or 223	2 3 搿星	2 3 0	2 3 4 0	8.2
陰入 5	上聲 52	5 51 則到	5 51 0	5 51 1 0	7.3
陽入 23	上聲 52	2 51 杌子	2 51 0	2 51 1 0	8.3
陰入 5	去聲 523 or 231	5 523 搭檔	5 52 3	5 52 2 3	7.5
陽入 23	去聲 523 or 231	2 523 白菜	2 52 3	2 52 2 3	8.5
陰入 5ˀ	入聲 5ˀ or 23ˀ	4 4 赤膊	4 4 0	4 4 2 0	7.7
陽入 23ˀ	入聲 5ˀ or 23ˀ	3 4 直腳	3 4 0	3 4 2 0	8.7

Ye 1988 describes additional patterns where

Tone 7 阴入 + Tone 1/3/5 retaining full tone, resulting in a /5ˀ 5/ pattern if Tone 7 阴入 is followed by Tone 1 阴平
the original un-merged Yangshang 阳去 313 tone still occurs as the second element of a chain, following a 阴入 syllable.
The second syllable of an 8x chain having a low-falling /21/ regardless of original tone

However, Wang describes the same phrases differently, and so it is debatable whether these form distinct patterns:

Phrase	Wang 2011	Ye 1988
菊花 cioq ho	4 23	˥ˀ ˥
綠豆 loq deu	2 51
赤豆 tshaq deu	5 523	5 313
結冰 ciq pin	4 23	5ˀ 5

Tone Category Shifts

As mentioned above, the tone pattern of a phrase frequently does not match the expected pattern based on the initial syllable's underlying tone.
Most frequently:

a phrase beginning with a Tone 3 syllable takes on the tone pattern expected of a Tone 5 syllable or a Tone 1 syllable
* i.e. expected 3x > 5x or 1x
** 短衫 : ⁵toe₃-se₁
** 暑假 : ¹syu₃-ka₅
a phrase beginning with a Tone 5 syllable frequently takes on the tone pattern expected of a Tone 1 syllable
*i.e. expected 5x > 1x
** 菜飯 : ¹tshe₅-ve₆
a phrase beginning with a Tone 6 syllable frequently takes on the tone pattern expected of a Tone 2 syllable
* i.e. expected 6x > 2x
** 大菜 : ²da₆-tshe₅, ²dou₆-tshe₅
less frequently, the above shifts can happen in reverse
* i.e. expected 5x > 3x
* i.e. expected 2x > 6x
syllables following Tone 7 can also shift chains
* Tone 7 + Tone 5/6 > > 7.2
* Tone 7 + Tone 6 > 7.3
most non-checked syllables following Tone 8 collapse into a falling tone, equivalent to an 8.3 chain
* Tone 8 + > 8.3

Functionally, a Tone 3 pattern is the least common to occur and mostly surfaces when the initial syllable is a numeral phrase or reduplicated verb. Below is a chart with examples of the common tone patterns:

Initial syllable's tone	Chains	2-syllable	3-syllable
陰平 44	1x	sin syu 新书	sy tsy lin 狮子林
陽平 223	2x	zie syu 泉水	waon thie gnioe 黃天源
陽平 223	6x	don zin 同情	don zy men 同志们
上聲 52	5x	tshau tsy 草纸	tan hou ci 打火机
上聲 52	3x	cieu ngeq 九月
上聲 52	1x	khou nen 可能
陰去 523	1x	syu ka 世界
陰去 523	5x	ho kon 化工	cia faon ciun 解放军
陰去 523	3x	phiau lian 漂亮
陽去 231	2x	zy ka 自家	dou khue deu 大块头
陽去 231	6x	gheu gnie 后年	ng seq se 五十岁
陽去 231	1x	lau sy 老师

Tone reduction

Wang additionally identifies a pattern where in certain constructions Tone 5 followed by another syllable simplifies to while the second syllable retains its full tone. This can be analyzed comparably to Shanghainese right-prominent sandhi that prioritizes the second syllable and reduces preceding syllables. This right-prominent sandhi pattern occurs commonly in Verb + Object compounds.
In addition to the above simplification of Tone 5 /523/ to, Li additionally describes Tone 2 /223/ and Tone 6 /231/ similarly simplifying to in similar Verb + Object, as well as Adverb + Adjective structures
Identified by Bu describing Suzhou pingtan, such tonal reduction generally occurs particularly for Tone 2 and Tone 6 syllables even when not in sandhi chains, and can further reduce to a simple mid/low tone. Because it can occur outside of Verb + Object or Adverb + Adjective syntactic conditions, Bu considers this tonal reduction to simply be a reduction of non-final syllables motivated by those tones underlyingly being longer and having more tonal targets.
In contrast, Wang treats this pronoun + copula construction as a single 6x phrase.

Casual Speech

There can be additional variation in how reduced the tones can become based on how casual the sentence is spoken by the speaker.
In the above sentence, the falling tone on 仔 tsy and 再 tse is reduced to a high-flat in casual speech, in addition to the Tone 6 /231 ˨˧˩/ and Tone 5 /523 ˥˩˧/ words already reducing to and even in slower speech.
In the case of casual speech spoken quickly, Wang does describe a pattern where the preceding syllable takes a neutral tone. If the word precedes another phrase, it can reduce to a simple /3/ tone. This reduced pattern can apply across polysyllabic words or even multiple words. This can be considered as describing the same phenomenon as above but with less phonetic detail.

Stress

The same phrase can take a different chain depending on which syllable or word is stressed.

Suzhou dialect in literature

Ballad-narratives
A "ballad–narrative" known as "The story of Xue Rengui crossing the sea and Pacifying Liao", which is about the Tang dynasty hero Xue Rengui is believed to have been written in the Suzhou dialect.
Novels
Han Bangqing wrote The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai, one of the earliest novels in Wu dialect, in Suzhou dialect. Suzhou serves as an important drive for Han to write the novel. Suzhou dialect is used in innovative methods to demonstrate urban space and time, as well as the interrupted narrative aesthetics, making it an integral part of an effort, which is presented as a fundamental and self-conscious new thing. Han's novel also inspired other authors to write in Wu dialect.