Romanization of Wu Chinese

Wu Chinese has four major schools of romanization.

The most popular school, Common Wu Pinyin (通用吴语拼音), was developed by amateur language clubs and local learners. There are two competing schemes; both adhere to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and are very similar to each other. The initial scheme was "Wu Chinese Society pinyin" (吴语协会拼音, developed around 2005), and it formed the basis of "Wugniu pinyin" (吴语学堂拼音, around 2016). Wu Chinese Society pinyin in general does not mark tones.^[1] The name Wugniu comes from the Shanghainese pronunciation of 吴语. Either of them is the default romanization scheme in most learning materials.

The second and historical school is the missionary school (see zh:吴语拉丁化方案). This school of English-based Latin orthographies was developed by Western missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and used to write Bible translations and other educational texts. A representative romanization from this school is the Edkins romanization of Shanghainese.^[2]

Another school is the Latin Phonetic Method (吴语拉丁式注音法, French-Wu or Fawu [法吴]). Its use is in decline. It utilizes the similarities between French and Wu phonetics and thus adheres to both IPA and French orthography. It was developed in 2001 by a Shanghai-born surgeon living in Lyon, France.^[3][4]

The final, and least used school, is developed by modifying Hanyu pinyin as sanctioned by the State Council. It is the only school developed by professional linguists, mostly working in state-administered universities. While more than 20 competing schemes within this school have been published since the 1980s, the most notable one is the Shanghainese Pinyin (上海话拼音方案, often shortened to Qian's Pin [钱拼]), developed by Qian Nairong in 2006.^[5] This school is often used in formally published dictionaries and textbooks compiled by Qian and others.^[6][7][8]

Comparison chart

All examples are given in Shanghainese and Suzhounese.

Initials

IPA	Romanization schemes				Characters
	Wu Chinese Society	Wugniu	French-Wu	Qian's Pinyin
p	p	p	p	b	巴百
pʰ	ph	ph	ph	p	怕捧
b	b	b	b	bh	旁别
m	m	m	m	mh	没母
ˀm	'm	m	mh	m	闷美
f	f	f	f	f	夫反
v	v	v	v	fh	佛犯
ˀv	v	v	vh	v	朆/ˀvəɲ⁵³/
t	t	t	t	d	多德
tʰ	th	th	th	t	体通
d	d	d	d	dh	地同
n	n	n	n	nh, -n	纳努
ˀn	'n	n	nh	ng	囡呢
ȵ	ny	gn	gn	nh	尼女
ˀȵ	'ny	gn	kn	n	研妞
l	l	l	l	lh	勒路
ˀl	'l	l	lh	l	拎了
ts		ts	tz	z	煮增質
tsʰ		tsh	ts	c	處倉出
s	s	s	s	s	书三
z	z	z	z	sh	传食
ˀz	'z	z	zh	sh	乳（杭州）/ˀzʉ⁵³/
tɕ	c	c	c	j	居尖
tɕʰ	ch	ch	ch	q	曲青
dʑ	j	j	dj	jh	求极
ɕ	sh	sh	x	x	需血
ʑ	zh	zh	j	xh	谢墙
k	k	k	k	g	工各
kʰ	kh	kh	kh	k	苦客
ɡ	g	g	g	gh	共搞
ŋ	ng	ng	ng	nhg-, -ng	鹅牙
ˀŋ	ng	ng	nk	ng	我砑
h	h	h	h	h	好黑
ɦ	gh / w / y	gh / w / y	r /w / y	hh/wh/yh	红合
ˀɦ			rh	h	嗨 /ˀɦɛ⁵³/
ˀ	-/u/i	-/u/i	-/u/i	-/w/y	恩en乌u衣i迂iu

Finals

Shanghainese IPA	Suzhounese IPA[9]	Romanization schemes				Characters
		Wu Chinese Society	Wugniu	French-Wu	Qian's Pinyin
a	ɑ	a	a	a	a	蟹
ua	uɑ	ua	ua	ua	ua	怪
ia	iɑ	ia	ia	ia	ia	写
o	o	o	o	au	o	沙
io	io	io	io	iau	io	靴
ɿ(ɨ)	ɿ(ɨ)	y	y	y	y	斯
-	ʮ(ʉ)	yu	yu	y	y	书
i	i	i	i	i	i	移
u	u	u	u	u	u	副
-	əu	ou	ou	u	u	乌
y	y	iu	iu	ü	(y)u	遇
ɛ	ɛ	ae	ae	e	ae	兰
e	ᴇ	e	e	e	e	雷
uɛ	uɛ	uae	uae	ue	ue	还
ɔ	æ	au	au	o	ao	包
iɔ	iæ	iau	iau	io	iao	萧
ɤ	øʏ	eu	eu	oe	ou	勾
iɤ	iøʏ	ieu	ieu	ioe	iou	旧
-	iɪ	ie	ie	i	i	先
ø	ø	oe	oe	eu	oe	干
uø	uø	uoe	uoe	ueu	uoe	碗
yø	iø	ioe	ioe	ieu	ioe	捐
ã	ã	an	an	aen	an	梗
uã	uã	uan	uan	uaen	uan	横
iã	iã	ian	ian	iaen	ian	阳
ɑ̃	ɑ̃	aon	aon	an	ang	刚
uɑ̃	uɑ̃	uaon	uaon	uan	uang	黄
iɑ̃	iɑ̃	iaon	iaon	ian	iang	旺
oŋ	oŋ	on	on	on	ong	东
ioŋ	ioŋ	ion	ion	ion	iong	兄
ən	ən	en	en	en	eng	真
uəɲ	uəɲ	uen	uen	uen	ueng	昆
iɪɲ	iɪɲ	in	in	in	in	清
yɪn	yən	iuin	iun	ün	(y)un	君
ɐʔ	aʔ	aeh	aeq	aq	ak	鸭
uɐʔ	uaʔ	uaeh	uaeq	uaq	uak	刮
iɐʔ	iaʔ	iaeh	iaeq	iaq	iak	甲
yɪʔ	yaʔ	iuaeh	iuaeq	uiq	yuik	曰
ɐʔ	ɑʔ	ah	aq	aq	ak	格
uɐʔ	uɑʔ	uah	uaq	uaq	uak	猾
iɐʔ	iɑʔ	iah	iaq	iaq	iak	脚
əʔ	əʔ	eh	eq	eq	ek	黑
uəʔ	uəʔ	ueh	ueq	ueq	uek	阔
iɪʔ	iəʔ	ih	iq	iq	ik	立
yɪʔ	yəʔ	iuih	iuq	uiq	yuik	决
oʔ	oʔ	oh	oq	oq	ok	读
ioʔ	ioʔ	ioh	ioq	ioq	iok	局
ɦəl	əl	r	er	er	er	而
m̩	m̩	m	m	m	m	无
n̩	n̩	n	n	n	n	尔
ŋ̍	ŋ̍	ng	ng	ng	ng	五

Tones

Shanghainese IPA	Suzhounese IPA[9]	Wenzhounese IPA	Romanization schemes				Characters
			Wu Chinese Society	Wugniu	French-Wu	Qian's Pinyin
˥˧(53)	˥(44)	˧(33)	1	1	/		天听知
˦(22)or˩˩˧(113)	˨˨˦(223)	˨˧(23)	1	2	/		人华词
˦˧˦(434)or˨˨˥(334)	˥˩(51)	˧˥(35)	2	3	-h		可海洗
˨˩˧(213)or˩˩˧(113)	-	˧˥(35)	2	4	-h		尾有近
˨˨˥(334)	˥˨˦(523)	˥˨(42)	3	5	-r		去会唱
˩˩˧(113)	˨˧˩(231)	˨˧(23)	3	6	-r		定烂自
˥(55)	˥˧(43)	˨˩˧(213)	4	7	-q		只不结
˩˨(12)	˨˧(23)	˨˩˧(213)	4	8	-q		日绝缚

References

1. – Wu chinese (Tones)
2. "Shanghainese Romanization". 吴语协会. 吴语协会 (Wu Chinese Society). Retrieved 15 May 2024.
3. 唐骋华; 孔亮 (19 August 2007). "都市年轻人为传承上海方言走到一起". Youth Daily [青年报] (in Chinese). Shanghai. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013.
4. "吳語拼音草案" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 4 March 2010.
5. Qian, Nairong (6 December 2006). "首届国际上海方言学术研讨会审定上海话拼音方案". 北大中文论坛 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 16 February 2021.
6. Qian, Nairong (August 2007). 上海话大词典. Shanghai: 上海辞书出版社. ISBN 9787532622481.
7. Qian, Nairong (September 2013). 新上海人学说上海话. Shanghai: 上海大学出版社. ISBN 9787567108820.
8. Ding, Dimeng (January 2015). 学说上海话. Shanghai: 上海科技技术文献出版社. ISBN 9787543964181.
9. 刑雯芝 (3 February 2018). Shíyòng Sūzhōuhuà 实用苏州话 [Practical Suzhou Dialect] (in Simplified Chinese, Wu, and English). Peking University Press. ISBN 978-7-301-18998-6.