Comments on: Shanghai Dialect Gets First Ever Dictionary http://www.flumesday.com/2007/06/22/shanghai-dialect-gets-first-ever-dictionary/ Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:08:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 By: NOT ebonics-like! http://www.flumesday.com/2007/06/22/shanghai-dialect-gets-first-ever-dictionary/#comment-9275 NOT ebonics-like! Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:52:25 +0000 http://www.flumesday.com/2007/06/22/shanghai-dialect-gets-first-ever-dictionary/#comment-9275 Please DO NOT compare Shanghainese to Ebonics! It's simply false. Whilst Ebonics may be a variety of American English, Shanghainese is absolutely NOT a variety or even a dialect of Mandarin. Shanghainese is a dialect of Wu Chinese, not Mandarin Chinese. Both Mandarin and Shanghainese/Wu are each their own dialects or even languages within the larger family of Chinese. And the differences between Chinese dialects/languages are actually larger than that between the romance languages according to some experts. As for Shanghainese vs. Mandarin, not only vocabulary but grammar can be very different (more SOV in Shanghainese). Then there are the tones, which is a major difference. Shanghainese does not have tones like Mandarin. Instead, it uses Pitch-Accent, almost exactly like Japanese. Shanghainese (or Wu) is also much older than Mandarin. I think you need to have a better understanding Shanghainese before posting...otherwise, it's misleading. Please DO NOT compare Shanghainese to Ebonics! It’s simply false. Whilst Ebonics may be a variety of American English, Shanghainese is absolutely NOT a variety or even a dialect of Mandarin. Shanghainese is a dialect of Wu Chinese, not Mandarin Chinese. Both Mandarin and Shanghainese/Wu are each their own dialects or even languages within the larger family of Chinese. And the differences between Chinese dialects/languages are actually larger than that between the romance languages according to some experts. As for Shanghainese vs. Mandarin, not only vocabulary but grammar can be very different (more SOV in Shanghainese). Then there are the tones, which is a major difference. Shanghainese does not have tones like Mandarin. Instead, it uses Pitch-Accent, almost exactly like Japanese. Shanghainese (or Wu) is also much older than Mandarin.
I think you need to have a better understanding Shanghainese before posting…otherwise, it’s misleading.

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