error: ISO 639 code is required (help)

Wu (吳方言 pinyin wú fāng yán; 吳語 pinyin wú yǔ lumazi wu niu(nyu)) is one of the major divisions of the Chinese language. It is spoken in most of Zhejiang province, the municipality of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu province, as well as smaller parts of Anhui, Jiangxi, and Fujian provinces. Major Wu dialects include those of Shanghai, Suzhou, Wenzhou, Hangzhou, Yongkang and Shaoxing. As of 1991, there are 87 million speakers of Wu Chinese, making it the second largest form of Chinese after Mandarin Chinese (which has 800 million speakers).

Among speakers of other Chinese varieties, Wu is often subjectively judged to be soft, light, and flowing. There is even a special term used to describe the quality of Wu speech: 吳儂軟語/吴侬软语 wúnóngruǎnyǔ. The actual source of this impression is harder to place. It is likely a combination of many factors. Among speakers of Wu, for example, Shanghainese is considered softer and mellower than the variant spoken in Ningbo.

Like all other varieties of Chinese, there is plenty of dispute as to whether Wu is a language or a dialect. See Identification of the varieties of Chinese for the issues surrounding this dispute.

The modern Wu language can be traced back to the ancient Wu and Yue peoples centred around southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. The Japanese Go-on (呉音) pronunciation of Chinese characters (obtained from the Wu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period) is from the same region of China where Wu is spoken today.

See language tree of the Chinese dialects starting from 1500 BC, and Wu's position relative to them.

The Northern Wu dialects are not mutually intelligible with the Southern Wu dialects. Wu is divided into six dialect areas:

• Taihu, spoken over much of southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang, including Shanghai, Suzhou, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing, etc.
• Taizhou, spoken in and around Taizhou, Zhejiang
• Oujiang, spoken in and around Wenzhou, Zhejiang
• Wuzhou, spoken in and around Jinhua, Zhejiang
• Chu Qu, spoken in and around Lishui and Quzhou, Zhejiang
• Xuanzhou, spoken in and around Xuancheng, Anhui

Wu dialects are notable among Chinese languages in having kept voiced plosives and fricatives from Middle Chinese, such as /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/, etc. The only other major group to have done this is Xiang. Other groups, such as Mandarin and Cantonese, have not kept voiced plosives or fricatives from Middle Chinese. (Min dialects often have voiced plosives, but those are inherited from Middle Chinese nasals rather than unchanged voiced plosives.)

See Suzhou dialect and Shanghai dialect for examples of Wu phonology.

Northern Wu Romanization Scheme, developed by W.Z. Yin of the University of Chicago (芝加哥大学). The below romanization unites Shanghainese and Suzhou-hua, and is highly representative of other Northern Wu dialects as well. The initials and finals inventory below is by far the most extensive of any major Chinese dialect and has high correspondence with early Middle Chinese (just before Tang Dynasty) phonology.

Example sentences:

搿能家好孛相法子个游戏值得收藏。

Genenkaa haubesianfatsi ge yeushii zete seuzån.

A game this fun is worthy of keeping.

阿拉现在主要个问题就是哪能去解决搿只拼音个事体。勒勒搿前头，阿拉呒没别个花头个。

Ala yeezei tsuiauge vendii zieu zi naanen chii ciaacue getså phinin ge zithii. Leile ge zieedeu, ala umme biege hoodeu ge.

Our key concern now is how to solve the romanization problem. Before solving that, we have no other options.

Wu dialects have a relatively higher amount of Subject-Object-Verb sentence structure than Mandarin or Cantonese. There is huge array of personal and demonstrative pronouns used within the Wu dialects. Sandhi is also extremely complex, and helps parse multisyllabic words and idiomatic phrases. In some cases, indirect objects are distinguished from direct objects by a voiced/voiceless distinction.

• Shanghainese (a Wu Chinese dialect): Introduction and Development - With dictionary, phonology, romanization, audio, comprehensive lessons, readings, and forum. In the works.
• Classification of Wu Dialects - By James Campbell
• Jiangnan Yayin Hua Wuyu (江南雅音话吴语) (literally, "The Speech of South of Yangtze River called Wu Dialect") - Introduction, statistical data, vocal records, dialect maps and literature datum of Wu Chinese. (In simplified Chinese only)

• Globalization, National Culture and the Search for Identity: A Chinese Dilemma (1st Quarter of 2006, Media Development) - A comprehensive article, written by Wu Mei and Guo Zhenzhi of World Association for Christian Communication, related to the struggle for national cultural unity while desperately fighting for preservation on Chinese regional cultures that have been the roots of all people of Chinese (including Hangzhou Wu dialect). Excellent for anyone doing research on Chinese language linguistic, anthropology on Chinese culture, international business, foreign languages, global studies, and translation/interpretation.
• Modernisation a Threat to Dialects in China - An excellent article originally from Straits Times Interactive through YTL Community website, it provides an insight of Chinese dialects, both major and minor, losing their speakers to Standard Mandarin due to greater mobility and interaction. Excellent for anyone doing research on Chinese language linguistic, anthropology on Chinese culture, international business, foreign languages, global studies, and translation/interpretation.
• Middlebury Expands Study Abroad Horizons - An excellent article including a section on future exchange programs in learning Chinese language in Hangzhou (plus colorful, positive impression on the beautiful Hangzhou dialect, too). (Requires registration of online account before viewing)