Tiantai dialect

The Tiantai dialect, also known as Tiantaihua (simplified Chinese: 天台话; traditional Chinese: 天台話; pinyin: Tiāntāihuà; Tiantai dialect pronunciation: [tʰi.tʰai.u]) is a regiolect of Wu Chinese in the Taizhou Wu dialect group. It is spoken in Tiantai County, Taizhou, Zhejiang province, China.

Tiantai Dialect
天台話 / 天台话
Pronunciation	Tiantai Dialect: [tʰi.tʰai.u]
Native to	China
Region	Tiantai County, Taizhou, Zhejiang
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Chinese Wu Taizhou Wu Taizhou Tiantai Dialect
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

Like other dialects in the Wu family, Tiantaihua has a three-way contrast between voiced, unaspirated voiceless, and aspirated initial consonants (e.g., /t tʰ d/), preserving an earlier feature of Chinese which Mandarin has collapsed into a two-way distinction.

Tiantai dialect
Traditional Chinese	天台話
Simplified Chinese	天台话
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tiāntāi Huà IPA [tʰjɛ́n.tʰáɪ.xwâ] Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Tin1 Toi4 waa2 IPA [tʰin˥.tʰɔj˩.wa˧˥]

The Tiantai dialect is the main representative of the northern Taizhou dialect family.

Comparison with Standard Chinese

The meaning of many common words and phrases in the Tiantai dialect differs from that of Standard Chinese. Below is a list of common differences:

Difference of meaning of words

Chinese word	Original meaning	Meaning in the Tiantai dialect	References
味道	Taste	Comfort, enjoyment	[1]
老實好	Honestly good	Praise, very good
煞夾	Tightly squeezed	Very powerful
老官	Veteran official	Husband
天亮	Sunrise, dawn	Tomorrow
拔好	Properly pulled	Immediately
活動	Activity	Smart, intelligent
壽	Longevity	Silliness, lack of empathy	[2]
賴	Sloppy	Bad behaviour	[3]
大慧	Very intelligent	Able person	[4]
大吹	Big blow	Stupid person	[5]

Proverbs and phrases in the Tiantai dialect can be shorter in comparison with the corresponding phrase in Standard Chinese. For example, the phrase "露出馬腳" (literally "exposing the cloven hoof", metaphorically "exposed") is shortened to the phrase "出腳", literally meaning "taking the foot out".^[1]

Sentences can be shorter as well; see the example below.^[6]

Original	Chinese		和	小王	比起來	，	還是	小李		高	。
	English	Literal	As	John	compared to	,	it's still	Terry		taller	.
		Rearranged	As	compared to John					(who is)
Contracted		Literal	As compared to John				it's still	Terry	who is	taller
	Chinese			小王			是	小李		長	。

Pronouns

Pronouns in the Tiantai dialect^[7]

Person	Regular Chinese pronoun	English equivalent	Tiantai dialect pronoun(s)
1st person singular	我	I	我
2nd person singular	你	you (singular)	爾[n 1]
3rd person singular	他	he	佢／渠[n 2]
	她	she
	牠	it (animals)
	它	it (objects)
1st person plural	我們	we	我等／我拉／我拉個／項等
2nd person plural	你們	you (plural)	爾拉／爾拉個
3rd person plural	他們	they	佢拉／佢拉個／渠拉／渠拉個
	她們
	牠們
	它們

1. The word "爾" stands for "you" in middle Chinese.
2. These words are thought to have come from the word "其", a 3rd person pronoun in Middle Chinese.

Syllable structure

Initials

Table of consonants ^{(translated from[8])}

Consonant	Voiceless unaspirated plosive		Voiceless aspirated plosive		Plosive voiced		Voiceless fricative		Voiced fricative		Glottalised?[citation needed] half voiced		Half voiced
	Consonant	Example	Consonant	Example	Consonant	Example	Consonant	Example	Consonant	Example	Consonant	Example	Consonant	Example
Labial	p	幫	ph	滂	b	平	f 敷	敷	v	奉	'm	媽	m	明
Dental	ts	知	tsh	初	dz	迟	s 生	生	z	是	'l	拉	l	來
Coronal	t	端	th	透	d	定					'n	奶	n	南
Alveolo-palatal	c	照	ch	穿	j	澄	sh	心	zh	從
Velar	k	見	kh	溪	g	群					'ng	嗯	ng	牙
Glottal	'	影					h	曉	gh	匣			y	移
													w	胡

Finals

Table of vowels ^{(translated from[8])}

See also: Four hu
Open mouth		Closed mouth		Even teeth		Round mouth
Vowel	Example	Vowel	Example	Vowel	Example	Vowel	Example
y	資
				i	衣
		u	烏			iu	雨
a	矮	ua	歪	ia	野
e	哀	ue	威	i.e.	煙
o	掗	uo	花
ae	晏	uae	彎
oe	半	uoe	碗			ioe	遠
au	奧			iau	要
eu	歐			ieu	悠
ou	哥
an	杏	uan	橫	ian	央
aon	項	uaon	汪			iaon	雙
en	恩	uen	溫
				in	音	iuin	雲
on	翁					ion	用
aeh	鴨	uaeh	挖
ah	百	uah	摑	iah	腳
aoh	惡	uaoh	鑊			iaoh	捉
eh	黑			ieh	葉
				ih	一	iuih	出
oeh	脫	uoeh	骨			ioeh	月
oh	屋					ioh	郁
		m	無白	n	爾白	ng	五

Tones

There are 8 tones in the Tiantai dialect, which are obtained by splitting each of the four tones in Mandarin to yin (陰) and yang (陽).

Tones in Tiantai dialect^[9]

Tone name	Tone letters
yin ping (陰平)	˧˧ (33)
yang ping (陽平)	˨˦ (24)
yin shang (陰上)	˧˨˥ (325)
yang shang (陽上)	˨˩˦ (214)
yin qu (陰去)	˥˥ (55)
yang qu (陽去)	˧˥ (35)
yin ru (陰入)	˥ʔ (5)
yang ru (陽入)	˨˧ʔ (23)