Suzhounese (Suzhounese: 蘇州閒話; ), also known as the Suzhou dialect, is the variety of Chinese traditionally spoken in the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu, China. Suzhounese is a variety of Wu Chinese, and was traditionally considered the Wu Chinese prestige dialect. Suzhounese has a large vowel inventory and it is relatively conservative in initials by preserving voiced consonants from Middle Chinese.

Distribution

Suzhou dialect is spoken within the city itself and the surrounding area, including migrants living in nearby Shanghai. The Suzhou dialect is mutually intelligible with dialects spoken in its satellite cities such as Kunshan, Changshu, and Zhangjiagang, as well as those spoken in its former satellites Wuxi and Shanghai. It is also partially intelligible with dialects spoken in other areas of the Wu cultural sphere such as Hangzhou and Ningbo. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Cantonese or Standard Chinese; but, as all public schools and most broadcast communication in Suzhou use Mandarin exclusively, nearly all speakers of the dialect are at least bilingual. Owing to migration within China, many residents of the city cannot speak the local dialect but can usually understand it after a few months or years in the area.

History

Grammar

===Personal pronouns === Second and third-person pronouns are suffixed with 笃 for the plural. The first-person plural is a separate root, 伲.

Demonstrative

哀 with 该 and 弯 with 归 means the exact same thing and only differ in pronunciation. The use of neutral demonstrative pronoun became clear once proximal and neutral demonstrative pronouns are used. When "搿" refers to time, there is no need to use the proximal and distal in opposition. The role of the neutral demonstrative is very obvious. In this sentence, "掰歇(弯歇)" cannot be replaced by "哀歇" because the Anti-Japanese War happened more than fifty years ago, so only the neutral or distal demonstrative can be used, not proximal. When not referring to time, the proximal "哀" and the neutral demonstrative "掰" can be interchanged. For example, the "掰" in "掰个人勿认得" can be replaced by "哀". "哀", "该", "掰", "弯" and "归" cannot be used as subjects or objects alone, but must be combined with the following quantifiers, locative words, etc. Example phrases: 现在什么时候了？ What time is it now? 现阵子你身体好吗？ How are you now?

Varieties

Some non-native speakers of Suzhou speak the Suzhou dialect in a "stylized variety" to tell tales.

Phonology

Initials

The Suzhou dialect has series of voiced, voiceless, and aspirated stops, and voiceless and voiced fricatives. Moreover, palatalized initials also occur.

Finals

Notes: The Middle Chinese rimes are retained, while and are either retained or have disappeared in the Suzhou dialect. Middle Chinese rimes have become glottal stops,. In the Suzhou dialect, [gə] is a very special demonstrative that is used alongside a separate set of proximal and distal demonstratives. [gə] can indicate referents appearing in a speech situation, which may be close to or far away from the deictic center, and under these conditions, [gə] is always used in combination with gestures. Hence [gə] can serve both proximal and distal functions.

Tones

Suzhou is considered to have seven tones. However, since the tone split dating from Middle Chinese still depends on the voicing of the initial consonant. Yang tones are only found with voiced initials, namely [b d ɡ z v dʑ ʑ m n nʲ ŋ l ɦ], while the yin tones are only found with voiceless initials. These constitute just three phonemic tones: ping, shang, and qu. (Ru syllables are phonemically toneless.) In Suzhou, the Middle Chinese 阴上 tone has partially merged with the modern 阴去 tone. Meanwhile, the 阳上 tone has fully merged with 阳去 tone. Therefore, 买 and 卖 has the exact same pronunciation in literary and colloquial readings.

Tone Sandhi

The tone sandhi present in Suzhou dialect introduces 4 completely new tones. (33), (21), (212), and (2) A. Stop final + stop final The both two-character in this combination do not change tone. B. Stop final + clear final The first character do not change tones. The second character do not change tone if it has a yin (阴) tone. If the second character is yangping (阳平), it becomes (44), the same as yinping (阴平). If the second character is yangqu (阳去), it becomes (21) or (212). C. Clear final + stop final The second character's tone becomes (2). The first character does not change tone if it has a ping (平) or yinshang (阴上) tone. If the first character is yinqu (阴去) it becomes (44) similar to yinping or (52) similar to yinshang. 前字阳去多数变 (224) 调, 即与阳平同调; 少数不变. D. Clear final + clear final The first character does not change tone if it has a ping (平) or yinshang (阴上) tone. If the first character is yinqu (阴去) it becomes (44) similar to yinping or (52) similar to yinshang. If the first character is yangqu (阳去) it becomes (224) similar to yangping. The second character becomes (21) after yinping tones. The second character becomes (33), (21) after yinshang, yinqu, yangping, yangqu tones.

Suzhou dialect in literature

Ballad-narratives A "ballad–narrative" (說唱詞話) known as "The story of Xue Rengui crossing the sea and Pacifying Liao" (薛仁貴跨海征遼故事), which is about the Tang dynasty hero Xue Rengui is believed to have been written in the Suzhou dialect. Novels Han Bangqing wrote The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai, one of the earliest novels in Wu dialect, in Suzhou dialect. Suzhou serves as an important drive for Han to write the novel. Suzhou dialect is used in innovative methods to demonstrate urban space and time, as well as the interrupted narrative aesthetics, making it an integral part of an effort, which is presented as a fundamental and self-conscious new thing. Han's novel also inspired other authors to write in Wu dialect.