Ruian Dialect is a dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

 of Wu Chinese spoken in Ruian

Ruian

Rui'an is a city on the eastern coast of China, in the south of Zhejiang province. It is a county-level city administrated by the nearby prefecture-level city of Wenzhou. It currently has a population of 1,125,000 people covering 1271 km2, 3037 km2 including sea...

It belongs to the Oujiang sub-group of Wu language.
It's strictly related to Pingyang dialect and Lucheng dialcet, generally referred as Wenzhounese.

Initials

		Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals...	Dental	Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...	Labiodental Labiodental consonant In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.-Labiodental consonant in IPA:The labiodental consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...	Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...	Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....
Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...	voiceless	m̥ 猫	n̥ 嬭	ŋ̥		ɲ̥ 蛲
	voiced	m 迷	n 拿	ŋ 咬		ɲ 寧
Plosive	voiceless	p 巴	t 丁	k 公			ʔ 愛
	aspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...	pʰ 怕	tʰ 聽	kʰ 空			h 風
	voiced VOICED Virtual Organization for Innovative Conceptual Engineering Design is a virtual organization that promotes innovation in engineering design. This project is the collaborative work of researchers at five universities across the United States, and is funded by the National Science Foundation...	b 爬	d 停	g 爻			ɦ 紅
Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...	voiceless		ts 增			tɕ 九
	aspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...		tsʰ 寸			tɕʰ 秋
	voiced VOICED Virtual Organization for Innovative Conceptual Engineering Design is a virtual organization that promotes innovation in engineering design. This project is the collaborative work of researchers at five universities across the United States, and is funded by the National Science Foundation...		dz 茶			dʑ 求
Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...	voiceless Voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...				f 歪
	aspired		s 森		fʰ 方	ɕ 想
	voiced VOICED Virtual Organization for Innovative Conceptual Engineering Design is a virtual organization that promotes innovation in engineering design. This project is the collaborative work of researchers at five universities across the United States, and is funded by the National Science Foundation...		z 時		v 万
Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no...	voiceless	w 灣	l̥ 拉			j 腰
	voiced	ɦw 換	l 辣			ɦj 藥

Rimes

There are the following rimes:

嘸 [m], 兒 [ŋ]

姹 [a], 好 [ɛ], 包 [ɔ]

去 [ɪ], 先 [i]， 思 [ɿ]

畫 [o], 布 [ɯ]， 水 [ʉ]

啦 [ɑ]，全 [y], 南 [ø]

會 [ɑi]， 走 [ɑɯ]

李 [ei]， 六 [əɯ]

涼 [iɛ]

經 [ɑŋ]，听 [əŋ], 公 [oŋ]

Tones

In Ruian dialect, a monosyllabic word can have one of the eight tones, but there are only four phonetically distinguished tones, divided into high (陰) and low (陽)categories.
In combination with an other tone, it can change depending on Tone Sandhi system.

Yin Ping 陰平 [˦˦] 44 江天飛空

Yang Ping 陽平 [˧˩] 31 來同魚頭

Yin Shang 陰上 [˧˥] 45 懂紙古口

Yang Shang 陽上 [˧˦] 45 近淡厚似

Yin Qu 陰去 [˥˨] 52 對去货佳

Yang Qu 陽去 [˨˨] 22 外地路道

Yin Ru 陰入 [˧˨˧] 323 各黑八脫

Yang Ru 陽入 [˨˩˨] 212 六肉白石

Tone Sandhi

In bisyllabic words, there are phonetically only six tones, high flat ˦˦, middle flat ˧˧, rising ˧˥, departing ˥˧, entering ˨˩˨ and short ˨. We'll now use A, B, C, D, E, and 0 for these six tones.

tones	陰平	陰上	陰去	陰入	陽平	陽上	陽去	陽入
陰平	0A	AC	ED	AE	AD	Example	Example	Example
陰上	AB	0C	D0	AE	D0	Example	Example	Example
陰去	Example	Example	Example	D0	Example	0C	Example	Example
陰入	Example	Example	E0	Example	Example	Example	Example	E0
陽平	AE	Example	0C	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
陽上	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
陽去	0A	Example	C0	Example	Example	Example	C0	Example
陽入	0A	0C	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example

Pronouns

Pronouns	IPA	Chinese character
1st person sing.	ŋ˧˦	吾
2nd person sing.	ɲi˧˦	爾
3rd person sing.	gɪ˧˩	渠/佢
reflessive sing.	zɿ˨˨	自
1st person plur.	ŋ˧˥ lɪ˨, ŋ˧˥ lɑ˨	吾俚， 吾啦
2nd person plur.	ɲi˧˥ lɪ˨, ɲi˧˥ lɑ˨	爾俚， 爾啦
3rd person plur.	gɪ˥˧ lɪ˨, gɪ˥˧ lɑ˨	渠/佢俚，渠/佢啦
reflessive plur.	zɿ˧˧ lɪ˨, zɿ˧˧ lɑ˨	自俚， 自啦

Numerals

Numerals	IPA	Chinese character
o	ləŋ˧˩, dø˧˦	零, 斷1
1	ja˧˨˧, i˧˨˧	一1 2
2	ŋ˨˨, la˧˦	二, 兩1
3	sɔ˦˦	三
4	sɿ˥˨	四
5	ŋ˧˦	五
6	ləɯ˧˨˧	六
7	tsʰa˧˨˧	七
8	po˧˨˧	八
9	tɕɑɯ˧˥	九
10	za˨˩˨	十
20	ɲɛ˨˨	廿
30	sɔ˧˧ za˧˧	三十
100	i˨ pa˧˨˧	一百
1000	i˨ tɕʰi˧˧	一千
10.000	i˨ mɔ˧˧	一萬

¹ the first three lectures are used when are alone or follow 第 to form

ordinal numerals, and the later three lectures are cardinal numerals and are generally followed by a classifier.

² the first lecture is considered literal, the second colloquial.

Vocabulary

Below is a list of the most common vocabolary in Ruian dialect.

Translation	IPA	Chinese Character	Mandarin
to see, to look	tsʰɿ	眥	看
to hear	tʰəŋ	聽	聽
to ask	mɑŋ	問	問
to look for	zɑŋ	尋	找， 尋找
to smell	hoŋ	嗅	聞
to know	sei	識	認識
to say, to speak	ko	講	說
Example	kɑŋ	謴	罵
to eat	tɕʰi	喫	吃
to drink	hɔ	呷	喝
chopstick	dzei	箸	筷子
to stand	gɪ	徛	站
poket	tɑɯ	兜	口袋
Example	tsʰei	菜鹹	鹹菜
Example	pɔ tsɑŋ	板砧	砧板
sugar	do ɕo	糖霜
thing, object	mɯ zɿ	物事	東西
Example	vɔ tɕɛ	饭焦	Example
Example	tsei dəɯ	菜頭	蘿蔔
mess	sa zəɯ	生受	麻煩
doctor	i sɿ	醫師	醫生
blind	mo do	盲	瞎子
Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	ta jɑŋ	咄鷹	貓頭鷹
Example	tʰəɯ kɑɯ	土狗	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example
young	ɦɑɯ sa ŋ	後生兒	年輕人
Example	dəɯ bei tɕɛ	肚皮掌	厲害