Wenzhounese (simplified Chinese: 温州话; traditional Chinese: 溫州話; pinyin: Wēnzhōuhuà, Wenzhounese: Iu Chiu ho), also known as Oujiang (瓯江话; 甌江話; Ōujiānghuà), Tong Au (东瓯片; 東甌片; Dōng'ōupiàn) or Au Nyü (瓯语; 甌語; Ōuyǔ), is the language spoken in Wenzhou, the southern prefecture of Zhejiang, China.
Given its long history and the isolation of the region in which it is spoken, Wenzhounese is so unusual in its phonology that it has the reputation of being the least comprehensible dialect for an average Mandarin speaker.
[2][3] It preserves a large amount of vocabulary of classical Chinese lost elsewhere, earning itself the nickname "the living fossil", and has distinct grammatical differences from Mandarin.
[4][5] Wenzhounese is one of five varieties of Chinese other than Standard Mandarin used for broadcasting by China Radio International, alongside Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, and Hakka.
Wenzhounese is part of the Wu group of Chinese dialects, sharing many linguistic features with them.
[9] Wenzhounese is spoken primarily in Wenzhou and the surrounding southern portion of Zhejiang, China.
[10][11][12] Wenzhounese is also spoken by some Overseas Chinese communities in Europe, in particular Italy, France, and Spain.
So, for example, the unusually long compound noun "daily necessities" (lit., 'firewood-rice-oil-salt-sauce-vinegar-tea') has the underlying tones Per sandhi, the last two syllables become L.L.
Such behaviour has been used to support arguments that contour tones in languages like Chinese are single units and they are independent of vowels or other segments.
To convey the sense of "this", the classifier changes its tone to rù (dipping), and a voiced initial consonant is devoiced.
A translation of part of the New Testament, specifically the four gospels and the book of Acts, was published in 1894 under the title "Chaò-Chḯ Yi-sû Chī-tuh Sang Iah Sing Shī: Sz̀ fuh-iang tà sź-du 'ae-djüe fa üe-tsiu t'û¹-'ò", with the entire book in Romanized Wenzhou dialect.