Wenzhounese
Wenzhounese (simplified Chinese: 温州话; traditional Chinese: 溫州話; pinyin: Wēnzhōuhuà, Wenzhounese: Iu Chiu ho), also known as Oujiang (瓯江话; 甌江話; Ōujiānghuà), Tong Au (东瓯片; 東甌片; Dōng'ōupiàn) or Au Nyü (瓯语; 甌語; Ōuyǔ), is the language spoken in Wenzhou, the southern prefecture of Zhejiang, China. It is the most divergent division of Wu Chinese, with little to no mutual intelligibility with other Wu dialects or any other variety of Chinese. It features noticeable elements in common with Min Chinese, which is spoken to the south in Fujian. Oujiang is sometimes used as the broader term, and Wenzhou for Wenzhounese proper in a narrow sense.
| Wenzhounese | |
|---|---|
| Oujiang | |
| 溫州話 / 温州话 ü-cōu-rōo iu1 chiou1 gho6 | |
| Pronunciation | [ʔjy tɕɤu ɦo] |
| Native to | Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China |
| Region | Southeastern China, and in Wenzhou immigrant populations in New York City; Paris; Milan and Prato, Italy |
| Ethnicity | Wenzhounese |
Native speakers | (4.2 million cited 1987) |
| Chinese characters | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| ISO 639-6 | qjio (Oujiang) |
| Glottolog | ouji1238 |
| Linguasphere | 79-AAA-dh (incl. |
Given its long history and the isolation of the region in which it is spoken, Wenzhounese is so unusual in its phonology that it has the reputation of being the least comprehensible dialect for an average Mandarin speaker. It preserves a large amount of vocabulary of classical Chinese lost elsewhere, earning itself the nickname "the living fossil", and has distinct grammatical differences from Mandarin.
Wenzhounese is one of five varieties of Chinese other than Standard Mandarin used for broadcasting by China Radio International, alongside Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, and Hakka.