The Ruian dialect (; pronounced in the Rui'an dialect; standard ) is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in Ruian. It belongs to the Oujiang sub-group of Wu Chinese dialects. It is closely related to the Pingyang dialect and Lucheng dialect, generally referred to as Wenzhounese.
Phonology
Initials LabialLabiodentalDentalPalatalVelarGlottalNasaltenuisʔm 猫ʔn 嬭ʔȵ 蛲ʔŋ voiced 迷 拿 寧 咬 Plosiveaspirated 怕 聽 空tenuis 巴 丁 公 愛voiced 爬 停 爻Affricateaspirated 寸 氣 tenuis 增 九 voiced 茶 求 Fricativevoiceless 方 森 想 好voiced 會 時 紅Approximanttenuis 灣ʔ 歪ʔl 拉 腰 voiced 換 辣 藥
Finals Rui'an has the following finals:
嘸 , 兒
姹 , 好 , 包
海 , 先 , 思
下 , 布 ~ 圖 ~ 水
全 , 安 , 歌
會 , 走
李 , 六
涼 , 關 , 花
經 , 聽 , 公 .
Additional finals for older accents include
天 , 橋 , 頭
Tones In the Ruian dialect, a monosyllabic word can have one of the eight tones, but there are only four phonetically distinguished tones, divided into high (陰) and low (陽) categories. In combination with another tone, it can change depending on the tone sandhi system.
Yin Ping 陰平 44 江天飛三
Yang Ping 陽平 31 來同魚球
Yin Shang 陰上 35 懂紙古本
Yang Shang 陽上 24 近淡厚似
Yin Qu 陰去 52 對去貨歲
Yang Qu 陽去 22 外地路住
Yin Ru 陰入 323 七博塔各
Yang Ru 陽入 212 六肉白石
Tone sandhi
In bisyllabic words, the Rui'an dialect phonetically has only six tones, high flat ˦, middle flat ˧, rising ˨˦, departing ˦˨, entering ˨˩˨ and short ˨. We'll now use A, B, C, D, E, and 0 for these six tones.
tones 陰平 陰上 陰去 陰入 陽平 陽上 陽去 陽入 陰平 0A AC ED AE AD Example Example Example 陰上 AB 0C D0 AE D0 Example Example Example 陰去 Example Example Example D0 Example 0C Example Example 陰入 Example Example E0 Example Example Example Example E0 陽平 AE Example 0C Example Example Example Example Example 陽上 Example Example Example Example Example Example Example Example 陽去 0A Example C0 Example Example Example C0 Example 陽入 0A 0C Example Example Example Example Example Example
Grammar
Sentence Structure
Classifiers
Verbs
Adverbs
Ruian dialect
Lexicon
Pronouns
Pronoun IPA Transcription 1st person sing. ŋ˧˦ 吾 2nd person sing. ȵi˧˦ 爾 3rd person sing. ɡe̝˧˩ 渠/佢 reflexive sing. zɿ˨ 自 1st person plur. ŋ˨˦ le̝˨, ŋ˨˦ la˨ 吾俚， 吾啦 2nd person plur. ȵi˨˦ le̝˨, ȵi˨˦ la˨ 爾俚， 爾啦 3rd person plur. ɡe̝˦˨ le̝˨, ɡe̝˦˨ la˨ 渠/佢俚，渠/佢啦 reflexive plur. zɿ˧ le̝˨, zɿ˧ la˨ 自俚， 自啦
Numerals
Numerals IPA Transcription 0 ləŋ˧˩, dø˧˦ 零, 斷1 1 ʔja˧˨˧, i˧˨˧ 一1 2 2 ŋ˨, la˧˦ 二, 兩1 3 sɔ˦ 三 4 sɿ˥˨ 四 5 ŋ˧˦ 五 6 ləu̜˧˨˧ 六 7 tsʰa˧˨˧ 七 8 po̝˧˨˧ 八 9 tɕɐu̜˧˥ 九 10 za˨˩˨ 十 20 ȵiɛ˨ 廿 30 sɔ˧ za˧ 三十 100 i˨ pa˧˨˧ 一百 1000 i˨ tɕʰi˧ 一千 10.000 i˨ mɔ˧ 一萬 1 used when are alone or follow 第 to form ordinal numerals, and the later three lectures are cardinal numerals and are generally followed by a classifier. 2 the first lecture is considered literal, the second colloquial.
Vocabulary Below is a list of the most common vocabulary in Ruian dialect.
Meaning IPA Transcription Mandarin equivalent to see, to look 眥 看 to hear, to listen 聽 聽 to ask 問 問 to look for 尋 找， 尋找 to smell 嗅 聞 to know 識 認識 to say, to speak 講 說 to curse 謴 罵 to eat 喫 吃 to drink 呷 喝 chopstick 箸 筷子 to stand 徛 站 pocket 兜 口袋 salted vegetables 菜鹹 鹹菜 chopping block 板砧 砧板 icing sugar 糖霜 糖霜 thing, object 物事 東西 rice spoon 飯槳 飯勺 radish 菜頭 蘿蔔 trouble 生受 麻煩 doctor 醫師 醫生 blind 盲瞊 瞎子 wife 老安 老婆 unfamiliar 打生 陌生 eagle 咄鷹 貓頭鷹 mole cricket 土狗 蝼蛄 bicycle 踏腳車 自行车 instrument 家生货 家具 young, teenager 後生兒 年輕人 serious， powerful 肚皮掌 厲害
Readings
Like other Wu dialects, in the Ruian dialect a Chinese character can have more than one reading, divided into vernacular readings (白讀) and literary readings (文讀), in comparison with other Wu dialects, the Ruian dialect has relatively few multiple readings. Below are some samples.
HanziVernacularLiteraryreadingtranscriptionmeaningreadingtranscriptionmeaning 人 sɐŋ ȵɐŋ 新人 bride koŋ zɐŋ 工人 worker 日 ne̝ tsɿ 日子 day za dʑi 日期 date 問 mɐŋ ɦɛ 問號 question mark vɐŋ dei 問題 question 無 ŋ tɔ 無膽 despondent vʋ̩ʷ jo̝ 無用 useless 龍 tsei lo̝ 紙龍 kite kʰoŋ loŋ 恐龍 dinosaur 女 na ŋ 女兒 daughter ȵy zɿ 女士 lady
See also Shanghainese, another Wu Chinese dialect Suzhou dialect Ruian, the city Wenzhounese, of which the variety of Rui'an is considered a dialect
References A Study on the Phonetics of Ruian Dialect