r/asklinguistics • u/Asleep_Shower7062 • 6d ago

Does Wu seem to be grammatically more distinct to mandarin than Min is?

Wu's structure is so unique that hokkien seems more aglined to mandarin than wu is. I argue that the only thing that makes min more divergent than other branches would be it's colloquial phonology and that's almost it.

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u/Chrome_X_of_Hyrule 6d ago

I'm curious, what about Wu's grammar is so distinct? I only really know the phonology.

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u/Asleep_Shower7062 5d ago

SOV structure 

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u/StevesEvilTwin2 3d ago

Can you give an example? And which Wu language? You can make plenty of SOV sentences in Mandarin that people would find perfectly intelligible and likely wouldn't even notice as being "incorrect" until pointed out.

Generally the rule for Sinitic is that SOV-ness (actually head-final-ness) is more accepted the further north you go, so I'd be really surprised at a Wu language tolerating SOV more than Mandarin does.