<p>是 (the copula) is pronounced /z̩/ in Shanghainese. The negative (often written as 伐, though for phonetic reasons only) is pronounced like "vah". So one often hears zzzvuhzzz in the middle of Shanghainese conversations.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-20T20:29:42.030Z
2015-04-20T20:29:42.030Z
Stumpy Joe Pete
<p>I overheard a Chinese man speaking over the telephone on the London underground last night. At one point he made a buzzing sound which in the context of his call I understood to be a word or at least a form of communication. If I was to write down the sound it would be a non-pinyin "ZZZZzzzzzZZZ" with the different cases a poor attempt at representing the variation in tone over the length of the sound.</p>

<p>My Chinese (Shandong) wife was with me and she believed that it was a word from what she calls (in English) 'local language' which she means to be any of China's non-standard Mandarin dialects or other languages excluding Cantonese.</p>

<p>After he finished the call we started a conversation because he was surprised to hear me speaking Chinese.  He told us he was from Shanghai. I didn't think at the time to ask him about that sound.</p>

<p>My wife believes it was a word from Shanghainese dialect but doesn't know the meaning. I believe this may be a word because I think I have heard similar sounds in a conversation between 2 Chinese people long ago before I knew any Chinese at all.</p>

<p>So, is this sound actually a word with a meaning from Shanghainese dialect? Or from any dialect at all?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-20T00:49:34.897Z
是 (the copula) is pronounced /z̩/ in Shanghainese. The negative (often written as 伐, though for phonetic reasons only) is pronounced like "vah". So one often hears zzzvuhzzz in the middle of Shanghainese conversations.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-20T18:20:12.713Z
Thank you for answering Stumpy Joe Pete. I would be happy to accept this as an answer to the question if you would like to put a full answer outside of the comments.
zhanmusi
<shanghainese>
Does Shanghainese have a buzzing sound & what does it mean?
# Does Shanghainese have a buzzing sound & what does it mean?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-04-19)

I overheard a Chinese man speaking over the telephone on the London underground last night. At one point he made a buzzing sound which in the context of his call I understood to be a word or at least a form of communication. If I was to write down the sound it would be a non-pinyin "ZZZZzzzzzZZZ" with the different cases a poor attempt at representing the variation in tone over the length of the sound.

My Chinese (Shandong) wife was with me and she believed that it was a word from what she calls (in English) 'local language' which she means to be any of China's non-standard Mandarin dialects or other languages excluding Cantonese.

After he finished the call we started a conversation because he was surprised to hear me speaking Chinese. He told us he was from Shanghai. I didn't think at the time to ask him about that sound.

My wife believes it was a word from Shanghainese dialect but doesn't know the meaning. I believe this may be a word because I think I have heard similar sounds in a conversation between 2 Chinese people long ago before I knew any Chinese at all.

So, is this sound actually a word with a meaning from Shanghainese dialect? Or from any dialect at all?

**Tags:** shanghainese

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 是 (the copula) is pronounced /z̩/ in Shanghainese. The negative (often written as 伐, though for phonetic reasons only) is pronounced like "vah". So one often hears zzzvuhzzz in the middle of Shanghainese conversations.  
> **username_0**: Thank you for answering username_1. I would be happy to accept this as an answer to the question if you would like to put a full answer outside of the comments.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-04-20. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

是 (the copula) is pronounced /z̩/ in Shanghainese. The negative (often written as 伐, though for phonetic reasons only) is pronounced like "vah". So one often hears zzzvuhzzz in the middle of Shanghainese conversations.


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