Re: Voynich letters

[Brian Farnell <bfarnell@xxxxxxx>]

Jacques Guy wrote:
> 
> On a definitely unrelated topic (the "Chinese hypothesis") there
> was an informative post on sci.lang about the Shanghai dialect
> (but really a language on its own). And this URL:
> 
> http://www.earnshaw.com/shanghainese/shanghainese.cfm

I have a couple of books on Shanghai dialect, if you want some basic
information. Not much, one in fact is nothing but a series of sentences
in mandarin followed by Shanghai with accompanying tapes, the other one
goes a little deeper, but is still a basic text.  My understanding is
that it comes from the Wu dialect, though I can't tell you what time
period that was in.  I don't believe the Wu dialect is around anymore
except maybe as a cultural curiosity in some out of the way places.  You
should be able to find lots of material on it though, many songs are
still sung in it, old songs that is.
Regards,
Brian