Prosodic focus in three northern Wu dialects: Wuxi, Suzhou and Ningbo

The present study investigated three northern Wu dialects: Wuxi, Suzhou, and Ningbo. It is found that, in all three dialects, focus is encoded by increasing the maximum F0 and duration of focused words, and lowering and compressing the F0 and pitch range of post-focus words. These results are consistent with previous findings about Wu dialect in Shanghai. Northern Wu dialects therefore seem to encode focus in a similar way to Beijing Mandarin, but different from many languages/dialects spoken in southern China. This finding, together with evidence from gene studies and migration history of Wu areas, provide further support for the inheritance hypothesis of PFC, according to which all languages with PFC are descendants of a common proto-language in the Middle East.