Quzhou dialect

Quzhou dialect
衢州話
Pronunciation	[dʒy tɕiɯ ʔuɑ]
Native to	People's Republic of China
Region	Quzhou prefecture, Zhejiang province
Native speakers	approx. 2 million (date missing)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Chinese Wu Chuqu Quzhou dialect
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	chuz1238

Quzhou dialect (衢州話; pronounced [dʒytɕiɯʔuɑ] in Quzhou dialect) is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in Quzhou.

Phonology

Initials

		Labial	Dental	Palatal	Postalveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m 迷	n 拿	ɲ 寧		ŋ 咬
Plosive	voiceless	p 巴	t 丁			k 公	ʔ 愛
	aspirated	pʰ 怕	tʰ 聽			kʰ 空
	slack voice	b̥ 爬	d̥ 停			ɡ̊ 共
Affricate	voiceless		ts 增	tɕ 九	tʃ 真
	aspirated		tsʰ 寸	tɕʰ 秋	tʃʰ 春
	slack voice		d̥z̥ 存	d̥ʑ̊ 求	d̥ʒ̊ 陳
Fricative	voiceless	f 方	s 森	ɕ 心	ʃ 雙	x 好
	slack voice	v̥ 房	z̥ 時	ʑ̊ 尋	ʒ 床	ɣ 或
Approximant			l 來	(j) 移		(w) 吳	ɦ 或

Rimes

There are at least the following rimes: 姆 [m], 魚 [ŋ], 爾 [ɫ], 試 [ʐ]

水 [ɥ], 去 [i], 布 [u], 雨 [y]

家 [ɑ], 謝 [iɑ], 瓜 [uɑ]

菜 [e̞], 快 [ue̞]

走 [ɘɪ], 會 [uɘɪ]

包 [ɔ], 表 [iɔ]

勾 [ɤ], 九 [iɯ]

南 [ə], 官 [uə], 捐 [yə]

變 [ie]

三 [æ], 慣 [uæ]

本 [ən], 金 [iɲ], 昏 [uən], 運 [yɲ]

打 [ã], 兩 [iã], 昌 [uã]

方 [ɒ̃], 旺 [iɒ̃], 光 [uɒ̃]

公 [oŋ], 窘 [ioŋ]

六 [əʔ], 业 [iɘʔ], 國 [uəʔ], 肉 [yəʔ]

脱 [ənʔ], 衢 [ɥ]

白 [ɐ̞ʔ] -aq, 弱 [iɐ̞ʔ], 划 [uɐ̞ʔ]

Tones

Quzhou dialect is considered to have seven tones. However, since the tone split dating from Middle Chinese still depends on the voicing of the initial consonant, these constitute just three phonemic tones: ping, shang, and qu. (Ru syllables are phonemically toneless.)

Yin Ping 陰平 [˦] 江天飛空

Yang Ping 陽平 [˩˩˨] 來同魚頭

(Yin) Shang 陰上 [˧˦] 懂紙古口

Yang Qu 陽去 [˧˩] 外地路道

Yin Qu 陰去 [˥˨] 對去馬你

Yang Ru 陽入 [˩˨̚] 六肉白石

Yin Ru 陰入 [˥̚] 各黑出脫

Grammar

Sentence Structure

Quzhou dialect

• 你 我 個 朋友 啘。

[ni ŋu kəʔ põjɤ ue]

Literal meaning:(2nd person singular) (1st person singular) (genitive) (friend) (particle)

Meaning: You are my friend. Compare with Japanese: "あなたは私の友達だよ.", or "anata wa watashi no tomodachi dayo"。In this case, "啘", resembles Japanese "だよ".

• 渠(其) 你 老師 啘，要 尊重 人家。

[ɡi ɳi lɔsʐ ue, iɔ tseɳd͡ʒõ niŋkɒ

Literal meaning:(3rd person singular) (2nd person singular) (teacher) (particle), (have) (respect) (other)

Meaning: He is your teacher, and you have to respect him.

• 鉛筆 借 支 我 好伐?

[kæpiəʔ t͡ʃiɒ t͡sʐ ŋu xɔfɐ̞ʔ]

Literal meaning: (pencil) (borrow) (measure word for pencil) (1st person singular) (interrogative)

Meaning: Can I borrow a pencil?

• 飯 再 喫 碗 添，多 吃 些兒 啊。

[væ t͡se t͡ɕʰiəʔ uə tʰie, tu t͡ɕʰiəʔ ʃin o]

Literal meaning: (rice/meal) (again) (eat) (bowl) (particle?), (more) (eat) (more+) (particle)

Meaning: If you want to eat more, then eat more if you'd like.

• 感冒藥 喫嘞 朆 你，覅 記弗着 掉 唻!

[kəmɔjɐ̞ʔ t͡ɕʰiəʔləʔ vən ɳi, fiɔ t͡ɕʰifəʔt͡ʃɐ̞ʔ tɔ le]

Literal meaning: (cold medicine) (taking/eating) (interrogative) (2nd person singular), (negative) (verb-remember/negative) (particle) (imperative)

Meaning: Have you taken your cold medicine yet? Don't forget to take it!

Lexicon

Pronouns

• 你 [ɳi˥˨] 2nd person singular

• 我 [ŋu˥˨] 1st person singular

• 渠[ ɡi˩˩˨] 3rd person singular

• 你達 [ɳi˥˨.dɐ̞ʔ˩˨, 你拉 [ɳi˥˨.lɐ̞ʔ˩˨], 爾耷- [n][tAʔ]/[dAʔ], [lAʔ] 2nd person plural

• 我達 [ŋu˥˨.dɐ̞ʔ˩˨], 我拉 [ŋu˥˨.lɐ̞ʔ˩˨ (我耷) 1st person plural

• 渠達 [ɡi˩˩˨.dɐ̞ʔ˩˨], 渠拉 [ɡi˩˩˨lɐ̞ʔ˩˨] (渠耷) 3rd person plural