The shanghaïen (上 海 话; Hanyu pinyin : shànghǎihuà ; shanghaïen: zanhererau / zɑ̃. 'he.ɦɛ.ɦʊ ˨˦˨˩ /), sometimes called dialect of Shanghai , is a dialectal form wu spoken in the town of Shanghai. Within the linguistic group wu, it represents the septentrional form. With fourteen million speakers, it is the most widespread form within this linguistic group.

The shanghaïen is also a written and well identified language, with only two contrasts tonaux (high and low), unlike Mandarin (four let us tons) and of Cantonese (nine let us tons).

The dilemma shanghaïen- Mandarin

The use of the shanghaïen is not encouraged in the schools, the newspapers and the radios. Signs of the universities shanghaïennes recall: “Speak Mandarin! ” However, one often hears shanghaïen with the radio, as episodically on television - a series called Nie Zhai (“the debt of the devil”) was played in dialect. The Mandarin subtitles are then preferred with a doubling. In 2004, a version shanghaïenne of Tom and Jerry were prohibited of diffusion.

In August 2005, of the dispatches indicated that the shanghaïen would be taught in the colleges, giving place to a great controversy. The partisans of this reform pled for a cultural benefit, its opponents asserting that the reform would encourage discriminations on the origins of the pupils: it is important to recall that Shanghaïens have a reputation of caricatural and sometimes haughty pride of their own identity, looking at top the Chinese resulting from other provinces.

In September 2005, the municipal government of Shanghai launched a programme of encouragement of spoken Mandarin to Shanghai. The workers of industries of services will be obliged to answer exclusively in Mandarin their customers and to pass a test of level in Mandarin in 2010. Those which will have a bad Mandarin level or a too marked accent will have to take part in courses of handing-over with level.

Phonetics-alphabet shanghaïen (Latin phonetic method of Shanghaïen, Fawu)

This system is opened with everyone. (declation c.f. 《上海吴语手册》)

Initial consonants:

• 1, B, D, G, dj, dz, Z, v, m, L, S, F, decides as in French or English. But “G” is always hard, never like J, “S” is always deaf, never like Z. I.e. “Ge” decides “ford”, “ford” pronce “gwè”, “injures” decides like “lessè”.
• 2, p, T, K, is deaf consonants not aspired as in French, which is different from English or German.
• 3, Ci, like “tchi”, not aspired. it is an Italian way.
• 4, H is aspired as in English or German.
• When H follows p, T, K, C, (the occlusive ones), H indicates aspired deaf consonants. For example: pH, HT, KH, CH, correspond to p, T, K, CH, English.
• When H follows the nonocclusive sound consonants, H indicates deafened, it acts of L, m, N, v, Z: lh, mh, nh, are deafened L, m, N. The vh, zh, are the consonants spirantes (approximating) and deafened of v and Z.
• 5, R is the sound consonant of H, it resembles the R French, but in more glottale.
• 6, gn has even value that in French and Italian, deafened " gn" is " kn".
• 7, tz corresponds to French tz not aspired, ts is its aspired counterpart.
• 8, X decides French CH, like X out of Basque, Portuguese and Mandarin.
• 9, W, there (except there if it follows S and Z), are regarded as sound consonants, i.e.: donyan (in the same way) decides don+yan, not do+nya. Their counterparts deaf persons are U and I. The values of Y and I are different, they correspond to “J” and “I” Dutchwoman, just as W and U.
• 10, J decides according to the way free-Portuguese. On the other hand, in the not accentuated syllables, J but always is often not converted like J into German and there of French.
• 11, ng (Ŋ), equalizes “Vietnamese ng”, is N velar.
• 12, the apostrophe “'” is used to separate two syllables in a word where there exists ambiguity. Example: don' I (of agreement) decides don+i, not do+ni; thi' ngu (swan) decides thi+ngu, not thin+gu.

Vowels:

• 1, has, O, E, I, U, are the 5 most frequent vowels, they correspond to the vowels Spanish, Japanese, Italian and Rumanian, E is between E and E rather opened E, (except E in the closed syllables), O is always open (like “O” in protocol), U decides mainly like or in French, except if it follows I, there, J, dj, CH, X, then it decides like French U, (c.f. point 5).
• 2, E decides E dumb/ə/in the closed syllables (except with R which indicates a tone).
• 3, have, with, as in French: two, little, jump, rate. " au" or transcribed in " oo" for pleasure anglophiles.
• 4, oe, resembles/œ/French in “eye” and oe German in “goetze”, but decides bottom of the throat, like English oe in “toe, hoe,” but it is a simple vowel (monophtongue).
• 5, U (iu and yu) equalizes U French, but it has difficulties there in use U, because it there not of means of stressing to him to indicate tons them, then normally we use iu in the place. If iu follows: J, dj, X, CH, gn, we use there U simple, because in shanghaïen: djou, jou, gnou, xou (cabbage), cabbage (tchou), you do not exist.
• 6, there is used as vowel only when it follows: S or Z (included tz, ts, dz), that is equivalent to “so” in Mandarin, “known” in Japanese, and resembles a little there of Polish. The vowel there is almost quiet or resembles Z repeated.

Final consonants:

• 1, - N has even value that in French, it indicates the nasal vowels, year, one decide with the Frenchwoman, in as in tchin-tchin, iun (one) is ü+in. in is an E dumb (/ə/) nasal which resembles French, but stops closed.
• 2, - Q is one K glottal, resembles Q Arab, Hebrew and Mongolian. It indicates the English short vowels. Aq, Iq are has, I, short, Iuq (Üq), Oq and Eq are the short vowels of U French, O opened, and E dumb.
• 3, - L final exite only in the case of: el (êl). This E is an E dumb/ə/.

Let us tons:

• the shanghaien has only two tonal contrasts: bin and chî, because let us tons them shanghaiens are determined by conditions of the deaf or sound consonants and long and short vowels.
• the syllables with the short vowels (indicated by - Q) have a tone which is called zaq (short). The others are: bin (natural or flat) or chî (whistled or oblique).
• With the deaf consonants (including deafened: lh, mh, nh, kN, nk, vh, zh), let us tons them higher, are classified as tons them female (in), the contaires are tons them male (yan).
• the importance of the tone is limited in the modern shangaïen, especially in the dull vowels. One does not mark that tons them accentuated.
• the accent ^ to indicate the tone chî. With a deaf consonant, the inchî (the female whistled tone), this tone is a little lower and length that its contrast, the inbin (the female natural tone); with a sound consonant, the yanchî (the male whistled tone), this tone in modern language is already confused with its contrast: the yanbin (the male natural tone).
• the acute accent “´” for the others let us tons, bin never presents itself with a short vowel, zaq always presents itself with a short vowel (with - Q). In a word with only one syllable one does not mark the acute accent.
• When it is not possible to use the accent (in the English keyboard), one employs " - r" or " - h" in the place of “^”. (now, the Spanish keyboard can mark ý, cannot make ŷ, the keyboard French-Canadian makes the opposite).

Fawu (the French way) and the confusion of the romanisations of Shanghaïen

Shanghaïen is a dialect representative of Chinese Wu. Chinese Wu with 80 million speakers, speaks itself largely in the delta about Yangtsé about the south. It was estimated like 10th language of the world by UNO in 1980. It was also the greatest nonofficial language in the world, before the punjabi, and the 2nd language of China, just after Mandarin and before confined.

But the shanghaïen (Chinese Wu) is always regarded as a Mandarin dialect by the Chinese experts, because it shares the same ideographic literature as Mandarin. It is pointed out that the traditional literatures Korean and Vietnamese profited from this system ideographic. For this reason the shanghaïen is not like the Tibetan, the ouïgour, Mongolian, protected by the linguistic law in China. In Hongkong or Taiwan the Yue dialect (catonnais) and the Min dialect (spoken in Taiwan and Fujian), the Hokka dialect (spoken in Taiwan, in Hongkong) profit from a particular political situation, which is not the case for the area shanghaïenne. In the less developed areas, because the rate of education is weak and there are few immigrants, with the result that the dialects Gan, Xiang remain stable. On the contrary, in the area shanghaïenne, the buildings are obliged to speak Mandarin with many immigrants intérieurs.
In 1997, televised series speaking in shanghaïen were called Hexu Zaihuishou 《何须再回首》, it was prohibited of diffusion and obliged to adopt a Mandarin doubling. This event confirmed an important disadvantage for the shanghaïen. There is no more teaching of the shanghaïen in the schools since already two generations. The shanghaïen was interdict in the nursery schools and the kindergartens during the second part of the Eighties ten. What is most serious, it is that the shanghaïen starts to be discriminated and abandoned by its speakers.

In 2001, “上海闲话 ABC”, the author of the “dialect shanghaïen ABC”, faithful of its native tongue benefitted from Internet to mobilize the shanghaïens, the speakers of Chinese Wu and the communities of the other Chinese dialects in order to defend the native tongue. For the first time, starting from the cultural value, a need for the shanghaïen is introduced for existing and for continuing. What is immediately approved by more and more of people.

The author of the “dialect shanghaïen ABC” (上海闲话 ABC) also carried out the first dictionary of shanghaïen on Internet. To facilitate the teaching of the shanghaïen, he proposed the project of a system of romanisation of the shanghaïen. It is the first system of romanisation of the modern shanghaïen adapted Western practices. He claimed that the system of romanisation of the shanghaïen must adopt world conventions, not those of Mandarin. This system is known by the public like “Fawu, the French way of the shanghaien”, (“Fawu” means also the Method), because it borrowed French orthographies, does it of it is a system based on the orthographies of the Latin languages.

At the beginning, the number of the subscribers of Fawu increases quickly, but the good moments do not last. From the second part of 2002, more and more of Net surfers start to invent their own systems in competition. Among the rival systems much are modified editions of Fawu. Certain people have even carried out several systèmes.
The reasons for which Net surfers propose systems of romanisation are very varied. Apart from the personal ambition, the main causes are:

1, people do not respect the world practices.

• They enormously invent new ways of transcription, for example: gn, Rh, kN, for “ng/ŋ/”.

2, the Western orthographies are varied.

• to describe “gn” Franco-Italian, ñ Spanish, nh Portuguese, ny Catalan, nj Dutch, jn is proposed moreover.

3, French and the other Latin languages are not quite widespread in China.

• people naturally use an English way or that of Mandarin. In more the German or Dutch way are also proposed. But, the pinyin Mandarin, English and German are not sufficient to describe the phonemes shanghaïens. This problem arises for the phonemes which do not exist in English. For example: Zr, rz, zh, shj, zj, X, zs, jz are given like an English orthography to pronounce the “J” free-Portuguese. For the letter J, unquestionable adverse support the use of the pronunciation “tj” the made-to-order of Mandarin, “dj” with English or “there” with allemande.

4, the influences of English and Pinyin Mandarin play a big role.

• Fawu employs B, p, pH like International Phonetic Alphabets (API). This way corresponds well to French and with the other Latin languages, also it is largely accepted by languages of South Asia. But it runs up against English and Mandarin. To adapt Pinyin Mandarin, there are systems which employ B for “p” not aspired and p for “p” aspired, bh for “B”. There are other systems adapted to English and German: p for “p” aspired, Pb, pH, p, LP… for “p” not aspired. Moreover, pH in Western languages decides “F”, then “p', you, k', ch'” are proposed for the aspired consonants (in the rival systems).

5, the English irregularity complicates the situation.

• With the American accent can decide “O” opened, with the accent Australian or English often decides “O” closed. In a system suggested like English way, the same letter O describes the various vowels and the same open vowel “O” is transcribed in various letters. One employs the letter O for “O” closed (“with” French), one for “ən” as in English amon, ong for “year” in French as in length in English. On the other hand the short orthography oc for “O” open, “O” open nasal (“one” French) is transcribed in ung, “O” open long is transcribed in with like “with” in “English auction”.

6, the influence of the International Phonetic Alphabets (API).

• For example, to define “O” open and “O” closed, API uses O open (C reverses) for the vowel O opened, the O closed for that closed. Therefore, the competitors persist in using O for O closed (with the Frenchwoman). In fact, O closed (with) is employed very little in shanghaïen, the open vowel O is more widespread in the world. For example, O Spanish and O Japanese are O between O open and O closed, but rather open. With the influence of Mandarin, the competitors prefer the orthographies with or ao for “O” open.

7, people imagine a more Western way.

• It - Q is employed little in English. Certain Chinese believes that it is absolutely unacceptable by the Westerners. In shanghaïen, the consonant - Q? /is occlusive a glottale near to - Q Arab, orthography - Q is largely used for the transcriptions of Arabic, Hebrew, Mongolian. In the place of - Q, the concurrent orthographies are - E, - CH, - ck, - C, - R, there, - T, - H, - ', double letters for open vowels etc

8, the Chinese community opened with the Western languages only tardily.

• For example, orthography Ci for tch not aspired, a Latin way, had difficulties important to be accepted by the participants of the movement of romanisation who in the beginning did not live the town of Shanghai. The provincial ones preferred to employ Ci for “X” Portuguese and Mandarin (French CH).

9, an incompatibility with the other dialects of this group.

• Fawu employs “deu” which decides like two in French, “doe” for a pronunciation close to English doe. But, a Net surfer makes a invertion of the two orthographies. He uses have to indicate " 欧 " in shanghaïen, this pronunciation resembles “oe” in English doe. This Net surfer mentions the orthography have which can correspond perfectly to the alternatives of this vowel in various accents. The Welsh orthography have decides “E” which corresponds to " 欧 " in accent of Wuxi-Changzhou. The orthography “have” can also represent " 欧 " its value “or” /u/ as former Chinese. But it did not give the reason for which “have” can decide “or” /u/ and the modern value in shanghaïen which resembles “oe”. This is why, the dialect shanghaïen ABC answered the orthography " oe" in Dutch decides “or” /u/, and in the words of Latin origin “E” /e/ decides. In any event, the negotiation is useless, a new edition which is said of a more compatible system is put in competition.

Today, Fawu after which modifications suggested by the partners (Hisahara & Key etc) is already developed definitively in “the Latin phonetic method of shanghaïen”, adapted well to world conventions. Until today, there remains the single system which practical and is adapted to world conventions for the modern shanghaïen. In spite of the difficulties of disturbance of competition, it nevertheless succeeded in being accepted by many partisans, more than each system of its competitors, especially at people who have a design of French, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian (Latin languages). In 2003, the only keyboard of input shanghaïen of computer is produced on the basis of Fawu “the Latin phonetic method of shanghaïen” per Mr. ZXC, a partisan.
The Latin phonetic method of shanghaïen seeks international supports.

Current words and sentences in shanghaien

With the difference in Mandarin, the shanghaien has a " oui" (ê/ay/éi/ei) direct comparable with French.

In connection with the romanisations:

• Romanisation VT: Today LI, Center for Anthropological Studies, University of Fudan (Shanghai)
• Lumazi, Chicago: W.Z. Yin, University of Chicago