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Shanghainese Wikipedia

IPA notice

Shanghainese (上海话; pinyin: Sh?nghǎihu?, lumazi: Zanheireiwo, Shanghainese in International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA: IPA|zɑ̃ ɦɛ ?? wo), sometimes referred to as the Shanghai dialect, is a dialect of Wu (linguistics)|Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai. Wu has 87 million speakers as of 1991, and is the second most spoken form of Chinese after Mandarin (linguistics)|Mandarin (which has some 800 million speakers). Shanghainese is the representative dialect of Northern Wu; it contains vocabulary and expressions from the entire Northern Wu area (southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang). With nearly 14 million speakers, Shanghainese is also the largest single coherent form of Wu Chinese.

Shanghainese is rich in consonants and pure vowels IPA|i y ɿ ɥ e ? E ə ɵ a ɒ ɔ ɤ o u. Like other northern Wu (linguistics) | Wu dialects, the Shanghai dialect has voiced|voiced initials IPA|b d g z v dʑ ʑ. Neither Mandarin nor Cantonese language|Cantonese has voiced initials.

Shanghainese is a register language, with only two live tonal constrasts (high and low). Compare this with 4 in Mandarin, and 6 in Cantonese. The Shanghainese tonal system is instead similar to African languages; different from other Chinese languages, Thai and Vietnamese. For more information on the tonal system, visit http://www.zanhei.com/pitch.html http://www.zanhei.com/pitch.html.

Shanghainese is not encouraged to be spoken in schools and in newspapers, and the media are strongly discouraged from broadcasting in contemporary Shanghainese. However, Shanghainese can often be heard on the radio. Several television advertisements in Shanghainese have been removed shortly after airing. But there are some TV play series in Shanghainese, still. For example, back in 1995, a TV play series called "Nie Zhai" (the Evil Debt) was in Shanghainese. While it was broadcased in other places in China, subtitles in Mandarin were added rather than make a Mandarin version of the TV series. Another TV comedy programme "Lao Niang Jiu" (Old Uncle) has been braodcasing for seven years now, and is still quite a popular programme among Shanghainese. In 2004, a Tom and Jerry (MGM)|Tom and Jerry program dubbed with Shanghainese was blocked from broadcasting. Other forms of Shanghainese for public broadcast include Shanghainese Folk Opera and Orthodox Shanghainese (catering to farmers in the suburbs). But Shanghai people are strongly encouraged to speak Mandarin and celebrities are put on billboards with slogans like "Be a modern Shanghaier, speak Mandarin."

In August 2005, there were media coverages reporting that Shanghainese will be taught in high school. This introduced great controversy. Proponents argue that this will make the students know their hometown better and help preserve local culture. Opponents argue that this will encourage discrimination based on people's origin.

In September 2005, the Shanghai municipial government also increased launched a campaign to encourage Mandarin speaking in Shanghai. Among other requirements, all service-industry workers in Shanghai will be required to greet customers in Mandarin only, and pass Mandarin-fluency test by 2010. Those with bad or heavily-accented Mandarin must enroll in remedial Mandarin classes.

Last Modified:   2005-11-29