Wu Chinese

E82322

Wu Chinese is a major Sinitic language group spoken primarily in Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, known for its rich tonal system and significant phonological differences from Mandarin.

All labels observed (2)

Label Occurrences
Wu Chinese canonical 46
Wu Chinese macrolanguage 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (61)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Chinese language group
Sinitic language
language continuum
geographicalCenter Jiangnan region
linked to: Yangtze River Delta

Yangtze River Delta
hasAlternativeName Shanghainese and related varieties
Wu
Wu dialects
hasEndonym 吳語
linked to: Wu dialects

吴语
linked to: Wu dialects
hasEthnologueEntry Wu Chinese
hasGlottocode wu__1234
hasISOCode wuu
hasLinguisticAncestor Middle Chinese
Old Chinese
hasMajorVariety Hangzhounese
Jinhua dialect
linked to: Wu dialects

Ningbonese
Shanghainese
Shaoxing dialect
linked to: Shanghainese

Suzhounese
linked to: Shanghainese

Taizhou dialect
linked to: Wu dialects

Wenzhounese
Yongkang dialect
linked to: Wu dialects
hasNameOrigin named after the historical state of Wu
hasNotableFeature distinct lexicon compared to Mandarin
significant phonological differences from Standard Mandarin
strong regional identity in the Jiangnan area
hasPhonologicalFeature checked tones in some varieties
complex tone sandhi
large vowel inventory in many dialects
preservation of Middle Chinese voiced initials in some varieties
rich tonal system
voiced obstruents in many dialects
hasRepresentativeDialect Shanghai dialect
Suzhou dialect
linked to: Wu dialects
hasScriptUsage primarily written with Standard Chinese grammar and vocabulary
hasSociolinguisticStatus often considered a dialect group rather than a separate language in China
hasStandardForm no officially standardized spoken form for all Wu
hasWritingSystem Chinese characters
isOneOf major Chinese topolect groups
seven traditional major Chinese dialect groups
languageBranch Sinitic
linked to: Chinese language
languageFamily Sino-Tibetan
mutualIntelligibility largely unintelligible with Cantonese
largely unintelligible with Mandarin
partially intelligible among its own varieties
spokenIn Jiangsu Province
linked to: Jiangsu

Shanghai
Shanghai municipality
linked to: Shanghai

Zhejiang
linked to: Zhejiang Province

Zhejiang Province
eastern China
parts of Anhui Province
parts of Jiangxi Province
southern Jiangsu
subclassOf Chinese
Sino-Tibetan languages
usedAs vernacular language in Shanghai
vernacular language in much of Zhejiang
usedBy ethnic Han Chinese

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (47)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Jiangsu hasLocalDialectGroup Wu Chinese
Eastern China language Wu Chinese
subject linked to: eastern China
Han Chinese primaryLanguage Wu Chinese
Yangtze River Delta language Wu Chinese
Chinese language hasPart Wu Chinese
Changzhou localDialect Wu Chinese
Zhejiang Province language Wu Chinese
Wu Chinese hasEthnologueEntry Wu Chinese
Northern Mandarin contrastedWith Wu Chinese
Wu dialects hasAlternativeName Wu Chinese
Zhoushan Archipelago language Wu Chinese
Dongyang language Wu Chinese
subject linked to: Dongyang, Zhejiang, China
Middle Chinese ancestorOf Wu Chinese
Wuxi languageUsed Wu Chinese
Shanghainese languageFamily Wu Chinese
Fenghua language Wu Chinese
Xinan Guanhua contrastWith Wu Chinese
Pinghua distinctFrom Wu Chinese
Xikou Town language Wu Chinese
Chinese opera notableDialect Wu Chinese
Wenzhou dialectOf Wu Chinese
Shangrao hasLocalDialect Wu Chinese
Jiaxing dialect Wu Chinese
Kunshan language Wu Chinese
Hangzhounese subclassOf Wu Chinese
Ningbonese subclassOf Wu Chinese
Wenzhounese subclassOf Wu Chinese
Wenzhounese dialectOf Wu Chinese
Jintan District hasLocalDialect Wu Chinese
Huzhou localDialect Wu Chinese
Lishui localDialect Wu Chinese
Changshu dialect Wu Chinese
Jiangyin localDialect Wu Chinese
Shexian dialect contrastWith Wu Chinese
Suzhounese subgroupOf Wu Chinese
Suzhounese isPartOf Wu Chinese macrolanguage
linked to: Wu Chinese
Taizhou Wu partOf Wu Chinese
Taizhou Wu subgroupOf Wu Chinese
Wuzhou Wu partOf Wu Chinese
Wuzhou Wu subgroupOf Wu Chinese
Taihu Wu subgroupOf Wu Chinese
Oujiang Wu subgroupOf Wu Chinese
Oujiang Wu hasLanguageGroup Wu Chinese