Editing Shanghai (section)

===Language===
{{main|Shanghainese}}
{{bar box
| float = right
| title = Ability to speak the following dialects/languages in Shanghai (2013)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tjj.sh.gov.cn/tjfx/20140207/0014-266714.html|script-title=zh:上海市民语言应用能力调查. |publisher=Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics|date=7 February 2014|access-date=5 May 2024|language=zh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240505100756/https://tjj.sh.gov.cn/tjfx/20140207/0014-266714.html|archive-date=5 May 2024|url-status=live}}</ref>
| left1 = Languages
| right1 = %
| right2 = Can Speak
| bars =
{{bar percent|[[Standard Chinese|Mandarin]]|#CC2222|97.0}}
{{bar percent|[[Shanghainese]]|Gold|81.4}}
{{bar percent|[[English language|English]]|Yellow|47.5}}
{{bar percent|[[Varieties of Chinese|Other Chinese]]|YellowGreen|29.7}}
{{bar percent|Other foreign languages|CadetBlue|7.8}}
| caption = <small>[[Survey sampling|Sampled]] among residents ≥ 13 years old.</small>
}}

The [[vernacular]] language spoken in the city is Shanghainese, part of the [[Taihu Wu]] subgroup of the [[Wu Chinese]] language family. This is different from the national language, [[Standard Chinese|Mandarin]], which is mutually unintelligible with Wu Chinese.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chinese-languages|title=Chinese languages|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220025100/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chinese-languages|archive-date=20 February 2018}}</ref> Modern Shanghainese derives from the indigenous Wu spoken in the former Songjiang prefecture but has been influenced by other dialects of Taihu Wu, most notably [[Suzhou dialect|Suzhounese]], and [[Ningbo dialect|Ningbonese]]<ref name="CZMShanghainese">{{cite web|url=http://wu-chinese.com/wu-chinese/SH100years.doc|script-title=zh:上海市区话语音一百多年来的演变|trans-title=Changes in the downtown Shanghainese pronunciations in the past one hundred years|page=1|last=Chen|first=Zhongmin|access-date=24 October 2019|language=zh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820235310/http://wu-chinese.com/wu-chinese/SH100years.doc|archive-date=20 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

Prior to its expansion, the language spoken in Shanghai was not as prominent as those spoken around [[Jiaxing]] and later [[Suzhou]],<ref name="CZMShanghainese" /> and was known as "the local tongue" ({{lang|zh-Hans|本地閑話}}), a name which is now used in suburbs only.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.shobserver.com/news/detail?id=110722|script-title=zh:“上海闲话”和“本地闲话”为何差别这么大?|work=Shanghai Observer|last=You|first=Rujie|date=16 October 2018|access-date=25 October 2019|archive-date=11 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411210922/https://www.shobserver.com/news/detail?id=110722|url-status=live}}</ref> In the late 19th century, downtown Shanghainese ({{lang|zh-Hans|市區閑話}} or simply {{lang|zh-Hans|上海閑話}}) appeared, undergoing rapid changes and quickly replacing Suzhounese as the [[prestige dialect]] of the [[Yangtze River Delta]] region. At the time, most of the immigration into the city came from the two adjacent provinces, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the local dialects of which had the greatest influence on Shanghainese. After 1949, Putonghua (Standard Mandarin) has also had a great impact on Shanghainese as a result of being rigorously promoted by the government.<ref name="CZMShanghainese" /> Since the 1990s, many migrants outside of the Wu-speaking region have come to Shanghai for education and jobs. They often cannot speak the local language and therefore use Putonghua (Mandarin) as a [[lingua franca]]. Because Putonghua and English were more favored, Shanghainese began to decline, and fluency among young speakers weakened. In recent years, there have been movements within the city to promote the local language and protect it from fading out.<ref>{{cite news|title=Is Shanghai's local dialect, and culture, in crisis?|author=Zat Liu|url=http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/life/shanghaihua-crisis-680262|newspaper=CNN GO|date=20 August 2010|access-date=5 June 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903072555/http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/life/shanghaihua-crisis-680262|archive-date=3 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Stopping the local dialect becoming derelict|author=Jia Feishang|url=http://www.shanghaidaily.com/feature/art-and-culture/Stopping-the-local-dialect-becoming-derelict/shdaily.shtml|newspaper=[[Shanghai Daily]]|date=13 May 2011|access-date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212091106/http://www.shanghaidaily.com/feature/art-and-culture/Stopping-the-local-dialect-becoming-derelict/shdaily.shtml|archive-date=12 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>