|
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.
