Changzhou dialect

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Changzhounese (simplified Chinese: 常州话; traditional Chinese: 常州話; IPA: [z̥ɑŋ.tsei.ɦu] (pronunciation in Changzhounese)) is a variety of Wu Chinese, a Sino-Tibetan language family. It is spoken in and around the prefectural centre of Changzhou, Jiangsu. Being a Northern Wu variety, it shares many similarities with the Shanghainese and Suzhounese. It is not at all mutually intelligible with Mandarin, China's official language. It is much more closely related to the neighboring variety in Wuxi with which it is mostly mutually intelligible. Phonetically, Changzhounese makes use of a number of voiced (or slack voiced) initials, namely [b̥ d̥ ɡ̊ d̥z̥ d̥ʑ̊ v̥ z̥ ɦ̥], that are not found in Mandarin as well as a larger number of vowel sounds, namely [ɑ ɐ ɔ o æ ə ɨ ɨʷ ɛ ɤɯ e i u y]. The tone system also is of greater complexity, using 7 tones based on traditional analyses. It also has a more complex tone sandhi than that of most other Chinese varieties. Changzhounese is the representative variety of Piling Wu (Chinese: 毗陵片), a dialect cluster situated near the border with Huai Chinese. Yuan Ren Chao was the first person who used modern linguistic methods to study Changzhounese, and especially made a pioneering and outstanding contribution to the research on Changzhounese phonetics. In around the early 20th century, two linguistically very similar but nonetheless distinct varieties, "gentlemans' talk" and "street talk", appeared in Changzhou city.