# 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.
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.
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 |
| 味道 | Taste | Comfort, enjoyment |
| 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 |
| 賴 | Sloppy | Bad behaviour |
| 大慧 | Very intelligent | Able person |
| 大吹 | Big blow | Stupid person |
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".
Sentences can be shorter as well; see the example below.
| Original | Chinese | Chinese | 和 | 小王 | 比起來 | ， | 還是 | 小李 | | 高 | 。 |
| Original | English | Literal | As | John | compared to | , | it's still | Terry | | taller | . |
| Original | English | Rearranged | As | compared to John | compared to John | , | it's still | Terry | (who is) | taller | . |
| Contracted | English | Literal | As compared to John | As compared to John | As compared to John | , | it's still | Terry | who is | taller | . |
| Contracted | Chinese | Chinese | | 小王 | | | 是 | 小李 | | 長 | 。 |

## Pronouns

Pronouns in the Tiantai dialect :
| Person | Regular Chinese pronoun | English equivalent | Tiantai dialect pronoun(s) |
| 1st person singular | 我 | I | 我 |
| 2nd person singular | 你 | you (singular) | 爾 |
| 3rd person singular | 他 | he | 佢／渠 |
| 3rd person singular | 她 | she | 佢／渠 |
| 3rd person singular | 牠 | it (animals) | 佢／渠 |
| 3rd person singular | 它 | it (objects) | 佢／渠 |
| 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 |
| 3rd person plural | 她們 | they | 佢拉／佢拉個／渠拉／渠拉個 |
| 3rd person plural | 牠們 | they | 佢拉／佢拉個／渠拉／渠拉個 |
| 3rd person plural | 它們 | they | 佢拉／佢拉個／渠拉／渠拉個 |
* ↑ The word "爾" stands for "you" in middle Chinese.
* ↑ These words are thought to have come from the word "其", a 3rd person pronoun in Middle Chinese.

## Syllable structure
### Initials

Table of consonants $^{(translatedfrom}$$^)$ :
| Consonant | Voiceless unaspirated plosive | Voiceless unaspirated plosive | Voiceless aspirated plosive | Voiceless aspirated plosive | Plosive voiced | Plosive voiced | Voiceless fricative | Voiceless fricative | Voiced fricative | Voiced fricative | Glottalised? half voiced | Glottalised? half voiced | Half voiced | Half voiced |
| Consonant | 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 |
| Glottal | ' | 影 | | | | | h | 曉 | gh | 匣 | | | w | 胡 |

### Finals

Table of vowels $^{(translatedfrom}$$^)$ :
| See also: Four hu ||||||||
| Open mouth | Open mouth | Closed mouth | Closed mouth | Even teeth | Even teeth | Round mouth | 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 :
| 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) |