Ningbo dialect

File:Ningpo.gif

Bible in Ningbo Romanised (Genesis), published by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

The Ningbo dialect (Template:Zh) is a dialect of Wu Chinese, one subdivision of Chinese language. Ningbo dialect is spoken throughout Ningbo and Zhoushan prefectures, in Zhejiang province.

Intelligibility

Ningbo dialect native speakers generally understand Shanghainese, another dialect of Wu. However, Shanghainese speakers do not always have full understanding of the Ningbo dialect. It is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin Chinese, or any other subdivision of the Chinese languages. The Ningbo dialect is considered a Yongjiang dialect or Mingzhou dialect (as both terms are synonymous), and is closely related to the Taihu Wu dialects of Zhoushan. In terms of inter-intelligibility between dialects within the Yong-Jiang subgroup, they can be more accurately described as 'accents' () as these dialects are relatively uniform and almost identical to each other aside from pronunciation differences and some minor lexical differences.

Phonology

Initials

Initial consonants

		Labial	Dental/Alveolar	Alveolo-Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Plosive	tenuis	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	aspirated	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
	voiced	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
Affricate	tenuis		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	aspirated		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	voiced		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Fricative	voiceless	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
	voiced	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
Lateral			Template:IPAlink

Finals

Vowel nuclei

	Front		Central	Back
	Unrounded	Rounded
Close
Close-mid
Open-mid
Open
Diphthong

Finals

Coda		Open			Nasal			Glottal stop
Medial
Nucleus

Syllabic continuants:

Notes:

• The table contains two additional finals . These have merged with respectively in younger generations.
• are similar in pronunciation, differing slightly in lip rounding ( respectively). The two are merged in younger generations.
• is pronounced before rounded vowels.

The Middle Chinese rimes are retained, while and are either retained or have disappeared in the Ningbo dialect. Middle Chinese rimes have become glottal stops, .

Tones

Tones

	Middle Chinese tone
	píng	shǎng	qù	rù
yīn	˥˧ (53)	˧˥ (35)	˦ (44)	ʔ˥ (55)
yáng	˨˦ (24)	˨˩˧ (213)		ʔ˩˨ (12)

Examples

唱月亮

月亮菩薩彎彎上，彎到小姑進后堂。

后堂空，拜相公，

相公念經，打一天井，

天井隔笆，打一稻花，

稻花耘田，打一團箕。

火瑩頭

火瑩頭，夜夜紅，

阿公挑擔賣碗蔥，

新婦織麻糊燈籠，

阿婆箝牌捉牙虫，

兒子看鴨撩屙虫。

See also

• Wu Chinese
  • Shanghainese
  • Suzhounese
  • Hangzhounese
• List of varieties of Chinese

References

• Ningbo dialect Video on YouTube