# Rui'an dialect

The Ruian dialect (Chinese: 瑞安話; pronounced in the Rui'an dialect; standard pinyin: Ruì'ānhuà) is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in Ruian. It belongs to the Oujiang sub-group of Wu Chinese dialects. It is closely related to the Pingyang dialect and Lucheng dialect, generally referred to as Wenzhounese.

## Phonology
### Initials

| | | Labial | Labiodental | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Nasal | tenuis | ʔm 猫 | | ʔn 嬭 | ʔȵ 蛲 | ʔŋ | |
| Nasal | voiced | m 迷 | | n 拿 | ȵ 寧 | ŋ 咬 | |
| Plosive | aspirated | pʰ 怕 | | tʰ 聽 | | kʰ 空 | |
| Plosive | tenuis | p 巴 | | t 丁 | | k 公 | ʔ 愛 |
| Plosive | voiced | b 爬 | | d 停 | | ɡ 爻 | |
| Affricate | aspirated | | | tsʰ 寸 | tɕʰ 氣 | | |
| Affricate | tenuis | | | ts 增 | tɕ 九 | | |
| Affricate | voiced | | | dz 茶 | dʑ 求 | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | | f 方 | s 森 | ɕ 想 | | h 好 |
| Fricative | voiced | | v 會 | z 時 | | | ɦ 紅 |
| Approximant | tenuis | ʔw 灣 | ʔʋ 歪 | ʔl 拉 | ʔj 腰 | | |
| Approximant | voiced | w 換 | | l 辣 | j 藥 | | |

### Finals

Rui'an has the following finals:
嘸 [m], 兒 [ŋ]
姹 [a], 好 [ɛ], 包 [ɔ]
海 [e̝], 先 [i], 思 [ɿ]
下 [o̝], 布 [ʉ] ~ 圖 [ɘʉ] ~ 水 [ʮ]
全 [y], 安 [ø], 歌 [ʋ̩ʷ]
會 [ɐi], 走 [ɐu̜]
李 [ei], 六 [əu̜]
涼 [iɛ], 關 [uɔ], 花 [uo̝]
經 [ɐŋ], 聽 [əŋ], 公 [oŋ].
Additional finals for older accents include
天 [ie̝], 橋 [yø], 頭 [iəu̜]

### Tones

In the 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 another tone, it can change depending on the tone sandhi system.
Yin Ping 陰平 [˦] 44 江天飛三
Yang Ping 陽平 [˧˩] 31 來同魚球
Yin Shang 陰上 [˧˥] 35 懂紙古本
Yang Shang 陽上 [˨˦] 24 近淡厚似
Yin Qu 陰去 [˥˨] 52 對去貨歲
Yang Qu 陽去 [˨] 22 外地路住
Yin Ru 陰入 [˧˨˧] 323 七博塔各
Yang Ru 陽入 [˨˩˨] 212 六肉白石

### Tone sandhi

In bisyllabic words, the Rui'an dialect phonetically has 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 |

## Lexicon
### Pronouns

| Pronoun | IPA | Transcription |
| 1st person sing. | ŋ˧˦ | 吾 |
| 2nd person sing. | ȵi˧˦ | 爾 |
| 3rd person sing. | ɡe̝˧˩ | 渠/佢 |
| reflexive sing. | zɿ˨ | 自 |
| 1st person plur. | ŋ˨˦ le̝˨, ŋ˨˦ la˨ | 吾俚， 吾啦 |
| 2nd person plur. | ȵi˨˦ le̝˨, ȵi˨˦ la˨ | 爾俚， 爾啦 |
| 3rd person plur. | ɡe̝˦˨ le̝˨, ɡe̝˦˨ la˨ | 渠/佢俚，渠/佢啦 |
| reflexive plur. | zɿ˧ le̝˨, zɿ˧ la˨ | 自俚， 自啦 |

### Numerals

| Numerals | IPA | Transcription |
| 0 | ləŋ˧˩, dø˧˦ | 零, 斷$^1$ |
| 1 | ʔja˧˨˧, i˧˨˧ | 一$^1$ $^2$ |
| 2 | ŋ˨, la˧˦ | 二, 兩$^1$ |
| 3 | sɔ˦ | 三 |
| 4 | sɿ˥˨ | 四 |
| 5 | ŋ˧˦ | 五 |
| 6 | ləu̜˧˨˧ | 六 |
| 7 | tsʰa˧˨˧ | 七 |
| 8 | po̝˧˨˧ | 八 |
| 9 | tɕɐu̜˧˥ | 九 |
| 10 | za˨˩˨ | 十 |
| 20 | ȵiɛ˨ | 廿 |
| 30 | sɔ˧ za˧ | 三十 |
| 100 | i˨ pa˧˨˧ | 一百 |
| 1000 | i˨ tɕʰi˧ | 一千 |
| 10.000 | i˨ mɔ˧ | 一萬 |
    $^1$ 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 vocabulary in Ruian dialect.
| Meaning | IPA | Transcription | Mandarin equivalent |
| to see, to look | [tsʰɿ˥˨] | 眥 | 看 |
| to hear, to listen | [tʰəŋ˦] | 聽 | 聽 |
| to ask | [mɐŋ˨] | 問 | 問 |
| to look for | [zɐŋ˧˩] | 尋 | 找， 尋找 |
| to smell | [hoŋ˥˨] | 嗅 | 聞 |
| to know | [sei˧˨˧] | 識 | 認識 |
| to say, to speak | [ko̝˧˥] | 講 | 說 |
| to curse | [kɐŋ˥˨] | 謴 | 罵 |
| to eat | [tɕʰi˧˨˧] | 喫 | 吃 |
| to drink | [hɔ˧˨˧] | 呷 | 喝 |
| chopstick | [dzei˨] | 箸 | 筷子 |
| to stand | [ɡe̝˧˦] | 徛 | 站 |
| pocket | [tɐu̜˦] | 兜 | 口袋 |
| salted vegetables | [tsʰe̝˨˩˨ ɦɔ˨] | 菜鹹 | 鹹菜 |
| chopping block | [pɔ˧ tsɐŋ˨˦] | 板砧 | 砧板 |
| icing sugar | [do̝˨ ɕo̝˧] | 糖霜 | 糖霜 |
| thing, object | [ʔmʉ˦ zɿ˧] | 物事 | 東西 |
| rice spoon | [vɔ˦ tɕiɛ˧] | 飯槳 | 飯勺 |
| radish | [tsʰe̝˨˩˨ dəu̜˨] | 菜頭 | 蘿蔔 |
| trouble | [sa˦ zəu̜˨˦] | 生受 | 麻煩 |
| doctor | [i˧ sɿ˧] | 醫師 | 醫生 |
| blind | [ʔmo̝˨˩˨ do̝˨] | 盲瞊 | 瞎子 |
| wife | [lɛ˦ ʔø˧] | 老安 | 老婆 |
| unfamiliar | [ta˦ sa˧] | 打生 | 陌生 |
| eagle | [ta˧ ʔjɐŋ˧] | 咄鷹 | 貓頭鷹 |
| mole cricket | [tʰɘʉ˦ kɐu̜˨˦] | 土狗 | 蝼蛄 |
| bicycle | [dɔ˨ tɕɔ˦ tsʰo̝˧] | 踏腳車 | 自行车 |
| instrument | [ko̝˨ sa˦ fʋ̩ʷ˨˦] | 家生货 | 家具 |
| young, teenager | [ɦɐu̜˧ sa˨˩˨ ŋ˨] | 後生兒 | 年輕人 |
| serious， powerful | [dəu̜˦ bei˨ tɕiɛ˧] | 肚皮掌 | 厲害 |

### Readings

Like other Wu dialects, in the Ruian dialect a Chinese character can have more than one reading, divided into vernacular readings (白讀) and literary readings (文讀), in comparison with other Wu dialects, the Ruian dialect has relatively few multiple readings. Below are some samples.
| Hanzi | Vernacular | Vernacular | Vernacular | Literary | Literary | Literary |
| Hanzi | reading | transcription | meaning | reading | transcription | meaning |
| 人 | sɐŋ ȵɐŋ | 新人 | bride | koŋ zɐŋ | 工人 | worker |
| 日 | ne̝ tsɿ | 日子 | day | za dʑi | 日期 | date |
| 問 | mɐŋ ɦɛ | 問號 | question mark | vɐŋ dei | 問題 | question |
| 無 | ŋ tɔ | 無膽 | despondent | vʋ̩ʷ jo̝ | 無用 | useless |
| 龍 | tsei lo̝ | 紙龍 | kite | kʰoŋ loŋ | 恐龍 | dinosaur |
| 女 | na ŋ | 女兒 | daughter | ȵy zɿ | 女士 | lady |