Page:An Anglo-Chinese vocabulary of the Ningpo dialect.djvu/21

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Alphabetical List of Syllables.
xv

748 Zi

749 Zia

750 Ziah

751 Ziang

752 Ziao

753 Zih

754 Zin

755 Zing

756 Ziu

757 Zo

758 Zong

759 Zô

760 Zôh

761 Zông

762 Zu

A comparison of the syllables in the Ningpo Dialect with those of other dialects North and South shows that there is considerable variation in the number. This will be seen from the following table.

Dialects. Initials. Finals. Whole No. of syllables
Canton 23 53 707
Swatow .. .. 674
Amoy or Changchow 15 50 846
Fuchow 15 33 928
Ningpo 30 44 762
Shanghai 33 44 660
Peking 25 43 420

This variation is perhaps partly due to the different methods adopted by foreigners for distinguishing the sounds, and partly perhaps to the fact that two characters which have the same sound in one dialect often have different sounds in another. The great discrepancy between the number of sounds in the Court dialect and those of the more Southern Provinces is somewhat remarkable. But this difference is explained by the fact that in the former the jih sing is suppressed, while it is of very frequent occurrence in the latter.