Standard Yu language

Standard Yu
Zyangan, Northern Yu
標準潒語, bioe-jyún zyang-viú 北潒話, ba-zyàng-vai
Pronunciation	[p̬jɤ̀.t̬͡ɕýn ʑàŋ.vý], [p̬á.ʑàŋ.vāɪ̯]
Native to	Zyang
Ethnicity	Zyangan people
Native speakers	[Placeholder] million (2018)
Language family	Oriental Sinitic Old Yu Northern Standard Yu
Writing system	Sinitic characters
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

The Standard Yu language, also known as Northern Yu, or simply Yu, is a variety of Yu natively spoken in the majority of the northern regions of the Kingdom of Zyang as well as majority of the country as a second language. It is classified as part of the Oriental language family.

Standard Yu is based on the Hhoegong dialect with aspects of other Northern Yu dialects, it has around [Placeholder] million native speakers. It used to serve as the lingua franca of the Eastern Atusia region, but after the 17th century its status and use declined.

Like other Yu varieties, Standard has around fifteen unique vowel qualities, six of which are phonemic. Yu also has a low number of tones compared to other Oriental languages, and has a system of tone sandhi similar to the one in Wu sinitic, or like Kasai pitch accent.

Phonology

Following conventions of Sinitic syllable structure, Yu syllables can be divided into initials and finals. The initial occupies the first part of the syllable. The final occupies the second part of the syllable and can be divided further into an optional medial and an obligatory rime (sometimes spelled rhyme). Tone is also a feature of the syllable in Yu.

Initials

The following is a list of all initials in standard Yu, as well as the [Placeholder] romanization:

		Labial	Coronal	Palatal	Dorsal	Glottal
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩		(ŋ ⟨ng⟩)
Plosive	lenis	p ⟨b⟩	t ⟨d⟩		k ⟨g⟩
	fortis	pʰ ⟨p⟩	tʰ ⟨t⟩		kʰ ⟨k⟩
Affricate	lenis		t͡s ⟨j⟩	t͡ɕ ⟨jy⟩
	fortis		t͡sʰ ⟨c⟩	t͡ɕʰ ⟨cy⟩
Fricative	lenis	v ⟨v⟩	z ⟨z⟩	ʑ ⟨zy⟩		ɦ ⟨hh⟩
	fortis	f ⟨f⟩	s ⟨s⟩	ɕ ⟨sy⟩		h ⟨h⟩
Approximant			l~ɫ ⟨l⟩	j ⟨y/i⟩

• The velar nasal /ŋ/ dosen't appear phonemically as an initial in any modern Yu dialects, however it is found in some dialects as an allophone of plain /k/ after nasals.
• The plain plosives and affricates /p/, /t/, /k/, /t͡s/ and /t͡ɕ/ can be realized as voiced /b/, /d/, /ɡ/, /d͡z/ and /d͡ʑ/.
• The phoneme /z/ is rare, most people merge with /ʑ/.
• In some Yu dialects the fricatives /ɦ/ and /h/ have merged and are allophones of eachother. However this dosent occur in Standard Yu.

Finals

The following is a list of the phonemic vowel sounds in Standard Yu, as well as the [Placeholder] romanization::

		Front	back
Close	unrounded	i ⟨i⟩
	rounded	y ⟨iu/u⟩	u ⟨u⟩
Mid	unrounded	e ⟨e⟩	ɤ ⟨eo⟩
	rounded		o ⟨o⟩
Open		a ⟨a⟩

The following is a list of all possible finals in Standard Yu, as well as the [Placeholder] romanisation:

	Codas
	∅	ɪ	ʊ	m	n	ŋ	ɫ
a	a ⟨a⟩	aɪ ⟨ai⟩		am ⟨am⟩	an ⟨an⟩	aŋ ⟨ang⟩	aɫ ⟨al⟩
ja	ja ⟨ya/ia⟩
e	e ⟨e⟩	eɪ ⟨ei⟩		em ⟨em⟩	en ⟨en⟩	eŋ ⟨eng⟩	eɫ ⟨el⟩
je	je ⟨ye/ie⟩*				jen ⟨yen⟩*
i	i ⟨i⟩			im ⟨im⟩	in ⟨in⟩
y	y ⟨iu/yu⟩				yn ⟨iun/yun⟩	yŋ ⟨iung/yung⟩
ɤ	ɤ ⟨oe⟩	ɤɪ ⟨oei⟩	ɤʊ ⟨oeu⟩	ɤm ⟨oem⟩	ɤn ⟨oen⟩	ɤŋ ⟨oeng⟩	ɤɫ ⟨oel⟩
jɤ	jɤ ⟨yoe⟩
u	u ⟨u⟩					uŋ ⟨ung⟩	uɫ ⟨ul⟩
o	o ⟨o⟩	oɪ ⟨oi⟩	oʊ ⟨ou⟩	om ⟨om⟩	on ⟨on⟩	oŋ ⟨ong⟩	oɫ ⟨ol⟩

• Some dialects preserve medial /je/, but in the standard language it has dissapeared.

Tones

Standard Yu has four phonetically distinguishable tones for single syllables said in isolation. These tones are illustrated below.

Tone	Description	IPA	Heiviu	Tyulev	Example
					Heiviu	Tyulev	Character	Meaning
Medium	medium flat	˧ (33)	◌	1	syim		心	heart
High	medium rising	˨˦ (24)	◌́	2	foéu		好	good
Low	medium falling	˦˨ (42)	◌̀	3	jyù		酒	wine
Entering	falling rising	˦˨˥ (425)	◌̌	4	gǔ		國	state

Some linguists assign two more tones, due to dissolution from the Middle Sinitic checked tone which split into the current entering tone and the two lateral tones which are a medium and low tones with a final lateral approximant /ɫ/. In some varieties of Yu these final lateral sounds have merged with vowels to form diphthongs, this is most prominent in Southern Yu.

Tone Sandhi

Tone sandhi is a process whereby adjacent tones undergo dramatic alteration in connected speech. Standard Yu, like other Yu varieties, is characterized by left-prominent tone sandhi where the first syllable dominates over the contour of the entire tone domain. As a result, the underlying tones of syllables other than the leftmost syllable, have no effect on the tone contour of the domain.

tone	One syllable	Two syllable	Three syllable	Four syllable	Five syllable
1	33	33 33	33 33 33	33 33 33 33	33 33 33 33 33
2	24	22 44	22 44 55	22 44 55 22	22 33 44 55 22
3	42	44 22	44 33 22	44 33 22 22	44 33 22 22 22
4	425	42 44	44 22 44	44 22 33 55	44 33 22 44 55

Grammar

Like other Sinitic languages, Yu is an isolating language that lacks marking for tense, person, case, number or gender. Similarly, there is no distinction for tense or person in verbs, with word order and particles generally expressing these grammatical characteristics. However, some analyses do suggest that one can analyse Yu to have tenses, especially in modern varieties.

Affixation, generally (but not always) taking the form of suffixes, occurs rather frequently in Yu, although the line between suffix and particle is somewhat nebulous. In the example below, the term 頭子 (dou-joe) can be used to change an adjective to a noun.

給	了		我		彼		小	頭子！
kìl	loe		voé		bé		siu	- dou-joé!
give	P		me		DEF		small	- dou-joé!
Give me the small thing!

Words can be reduplicated in order to express various differences in meaning. Nouns, for example, can be reduplicated to express collective or diminutive forms; adjectives so as to intensify or emphasize the associated description; and verbs in order to soften the degree of action. Below is an example of noun reduplication resulting in semantic alteration.

獲		獲。
vè	-	ve.
hold	-	hold
hold for a bit.

Word compounding is also very common in Yu, and is the most productive method of creating new words. Many recent borrowings in Yu originating from Indo-European languages are di- or polysyllabic.

Word Order

Standard Yu generally adhears to SVO and SOV word order. The placement of objects in Yu dialects is somewhat variable, with Common Yu varieties positioning the direct object before the indirect object, and Giulce varieties favoring the indirect object before the direct object.

Adjectives usually go before the noun, most speakers place adverbs after verbs, however in some dialects, particularly in dialects close to or spoken by speakers of the Giulce Yu varieties.

Nouns

Except for the limited derivational processes described above, Yu nouns are isolating. There was no inflection for overt case or number, however in modern times the plural marker 拉 (lo), when suffixed to an animate noun, can indicate plurality, for inanimte nouns the plural marker 些 (sya) is used. When an overt number is used the plural markers are dropped, unless when part of pronuns.

小子		拉	兮	母。
siu-joe	-	ló	he	moèu
child	-	PL	POSS	mother
childrens' mother

There are no proper articles in Yu, however marking for definiteness in nouns is done by using the demonstrative pronouns, indefiniteness is usually unmarked, but the bare classifiers can be used to mark it.

我	去	伊	山	上。
voé	kiù	i	sen	zyàng
I	go	this	mountain	on
Im going to the mountain.

彼	人	獵漁	彼些	魚。
bé	in	yel-viú	be-syá	viu
that	man	hunt	those	fish
The man catches the fish.

Classifies

Yu varieties, unlike other sinitc languages, posses a small number of classifiers (also sometimes known as "counters" or "measure words"). Some classifiers are based on standard measurements or containers. Classifiers can be paired with a preceding determiner (often a numeral) to form a compound that further specifies the meaning of the noun it modifies. The most basic classifiers used in Yu are split into animate and inanimate objects. Animate objects include living things like animals and plants, as well as ghosts and spirits, inanimate objects are everything else. There are also several other classifiers specifically for people, liquids, bundles, and abstractions and others.

伊	根	果子	太	味	兮。
i	gan	gu-joé	toèi	miù	he
this	CL	fruit	very	taste	POSS
This fruit is tasty.

我	見	十二	個	人。
voé	gèn	zyil-yáng	goè	in
I	see	twelve	CL	person
I see twelve people.

Classifiers can be reduplicated to mean "all" or "every", as in:

隻		隻	鹿。
jyè	-	jye	lǔ
CL	-	CL	deer
All of the deer.

Verbs

Yu verbs are analytic and as such do not undergo any sort of conjugation to express tense or person. However, the language does have a richly developed aspect system, expressed using various particles. This system has been argued to be a tense system.

Aspect

Some disagreement exists as to how many formal aspect categories exist in Yu, but it is generally accepted that there are at least six. The line between aspect and tense is blurry, so they form a single cathegory.

Imperfective aspect expresses an incomplete or ongoing action, it is the default form of the verb.

渠	往	學齋	對。
giu	váng	vò-jei	jì
3s	go	school	to
He is going/goes to school.

Perfective aspect expresses a complete action, it's marked by 了 (loe), which comes post-verbally.

渠	往	了	學齋	對。
giu	váng	loe	vò-jei	jì
3s	go	PF	school	to
He went to school.

General future aspect is marked by 要 (yu), which comes pre-verbally.

渠	要	往	學齋	對。
giu	yu	váng	vò-jei	jì
3s	FUT	go	school	to
He will go to school?

Imidiate future aspect is marked by 快 (kòi), and also comes pre-verbally.

渠	快	往	學齋	對。
giu	kòi	váng	vò-jei	jì
3s	IMM.FUT	go	school	to
He will go to school soon.

Diminutive aspect expresses a softer quality to the verb, it's marked by redublication of the verb.

渠	往		往	學齋	對。
giu	vang	-	váng	vò-jei	jì
3s	go	-	go	school	to
He goes to school a little.

Participle-Renarrative aspect which depending on the context can express either a past participle form or a renerrative form of the verb. It is marked by 唻 (lei) post-verbally.

渠	往	唻	學齋	對。
giu	váng	lei	vò-jei	jì
3s	go to	PPRT	school	to
He had gone to school.
Apparently he went to school.

Mood

There is no overt marking for mood in Yu, some linguists go so far as to suggest that the concept of grammatical mood does not exist in the language. There are, however, several modal auxiliaries that collectively express concepts of desire, conditionality, potentiality and ability.

"can"	會 (voèi) / 好 (foéu)
"may"	可使 (koe-soé) / 可 (koé)
"ought to"	該 (gei)
"should"	應該 (hoeng-gèi)
"would"	會...卻 (voèi... kiǎ) / 會...但 (voèi... doen)
"wish to" (subjunctive)	相 (syang)

It's argued that there exists a type of passive voice in Yu, governed by the particle 撥 (bul). This construction is superficially similar to by-phrases in English.

伊	果子	撥	渠	吃	了。
i	gu-joé	bul	giu	kě	loe
this	fruit	by	3s	eat	PF
The fruit was eaten by him/her.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns in Yu do not distinguish gender or case. Owing to its isolating grammatical structure, Shanghainese is not a pro-drop language.

	General		Formal
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st person	我	我拉
	voé	voe-ló
2nd person	你	你拉	儂	儂拉
	yoě	yoè-lo	noeng	noeng-lo
3rd person	渠	渠拉拉	厥	厥
	giu	giu-lo	gol	gol-lo

Standard Yu distinguishes between general and formal pronouns in the second and third person, the formal pronouns are used to show respect.

Reflexive pronouns are formed by the addition of the particle 自 (jyì) / 自家 (jyi-gà), as in:

渠	會	怪	淨	自家。
giu	voèi	giù	jyèng	jyi-gà
3s	can	blame	only	self
He can only blame himself.

Possessive pronouns are formed via the particle 兮 (he), for instance, 我兮 (voé he) meaning my / mine.

Adjectives & Adverbs

Most basic Yu adjectives and adverbs are monosyllabic. Adjectives go before nouns, while adverbs go after verbs.

Like other parts of speech, adjectives do not change to indicate number, gender or case. Adjectives can take semantic prefixes, which themselves can be reduplicated or repositioned as suffixes, in order to express degree of comparison or other changes in meaning. Thus:

冷 léng ("cold")

冰冷 boeng-leng ("ice-cold")

冰冰冷 boeng-boeng-leng ("cold as ice")

Interrogatives

The particle 吧 (ba) is used to transform ordinary declarative statements into yes/no questions. This is the most common way of forming questions in Standard Yu.

你 / 儂	好	吧？
yoě / noeng	foéu	ba
2s	good	Q
How are you? (lit "Are you good?")

Negation

Verbs can be negated by the particle 無 (moe).

伊	無是	厥。
i	moe zyé	gol
this	NEG be	him/her
This is not him/her.

See also

• Nomvai (Southern Yu) language