Abstract
The current work provides an outline of the development of modern Ta?ihu? dialects of Wu?. Wu? is a Sinitic language with between 70 and 90 million speakers, spoken in the Yangtze Delta region of East China. Sha?ngha?i is the largest city in the Wu? speaking area. The language is notable for its retention of the tripartite voicing distinction of Middle Chinese which has been lost in all but a few non-Wu? dialects of the Sinitic languages, as well as for its complex tonal system unique among the Sinitic languages.This paper provides an historical reconstruction of the stages of development from an earlier common form of the Ta?ihu? dialects – referred to here as Old Wu? – up to the current modern dialects spoken in and around Sha?ngha?i, Southern Jia?ngsu? and in Northern Zhe?jia?ng. It provides an historical account of phonemic inventories of the dialects surveyed, as well as providing an explanation for competing trends of affrication and de-affrication in the region. A step- by-step account is provided for modern realisations of the traditional Qie?yu?n categories. The reconstructions – to include stages development – have been formulated through the comparative method by analysing data from a wide range of Wu? dialects, both modern and historical. This paper aims to add to the literature on the subject of linguistic diversity among the Wu? dialects and to facilitate future research in the region.