Zhangzhou dialects

The Zhangzhou dialects (simplified Chinese: 漳州话; traditional Chinese: 漳州話; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chiang-chiu-ōa), also rendered Changchew, Chiangchew or Changchow, are a collection of Hokkien dialects spoken in southern Fujian province (in southeast China), centered on the city of Zhangzhou. The Zhangzhou dialect proper is the source of some place names in English, including Amoy (from [ɛ˨˩mui˩˧], now called Xiamen), and Quemoy (from [kim˨mui˩˧], now called Kinmen).

Classification

The Zhangzhou dialects are classified as Hokkien, a group of Southern Min varieties. In Fujian, the Zhangzhou dialects form the southern subgroup (南片) of Southern Min. The dialect of urban Zhangzhou is one of the oldest dialects of Southern Min, and along with the urban Quanzhou dialect, it forms the basis for all modern varieties. When compared with other varieties of Hokkien, it has an intelligibility of 89.0% with the Amoy dialect and 79.7% with the urban Quanzhou dialect.

Phonology

This section is mostly based on the variety spoken in the urban area of Zhangzhou.

Initials

There are 15 phonemic initials:

When the rime is nasalized, the three voiced phonemes /b/, /l/ and /g/ are realized as the nasals [m], [n] and [ŋ], respectively.

Rimes

There are 85 rimes:

The vowel /a/ is the open central unrounded vowel [ä] in most rimes, including /a/, /ua/, /ia/, /ai/, /uai/, /au/, /iau/, /ã/, /ãʔ/. In the rimes /ian/ and /iat/, /a/ is realized as [ɛ] (i.e. as [iɛn] and [iɛt̚]) or [ə] (i.e. as [iən] and [iət̚]).

The rimes /iŋ/ and /ik/ are usually realized with a short [ə] between the vowel [i] and the velar consonant. In many areas outside of the urban area of Zhangzhou, including Pinghe, Changtai, Yunxiao, Zhao'an and Dongshan, /iŋ/ and /ik/ are pronounced as /eŋ/ and /ek/ instead.

The codas /p/, /t/ and /k/ are unreleased, i.e. [p̚], [t̚] and [k̚], respectively.

Tones

There are seven tones:

Most people in the urban area do not pronounce the dark level tone as high-level, but slightly mid-rising. While most sources still records this tone as 44, its tone value has also been recorded as 24, 45, 34 or 35 to reflect its rising nature.

Tone sandhi

The Zhangzhou dialect has nine tone sandhi rules: only the last syllable of nouns and clause endings remain unchanged by tone sandhi. The two-syllable tone sandhi rules are shown in the table below:

Notes

Sources

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• Douglas, Rev. Carstairs (1873). . London: Trübner & Co.
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• Hirayama, Hisao (1975). 厦门话古调值的内部构拟 [Internal Reconstruction of the Ancient Tone Values of the Xiamen Dialect]. Journal of Chinese Linguistics (in Chinese). 3 (1): 3–15. JSTOR .
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• Huang, Yishan (2018). (PDF) (PhD). Australian National University.
• Lin, Baoqing (1992). 漳州方言词汇（一） [Vocabulary of the Zhangzhou Dialect (1)]. Fangyan (in Chinese) (2): 151–160.
• Ma, Zhongqi, ed. (2008). 闽台闽南方言韵书比较研究 (in Chinese). Beijing: China Social Sciences Press. ISBN 978-7-5004-7230-8.
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• Tung, Tung-ho (1959). 四個閩南方言 [Four South Min Dialects]. Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology. 30: 729–1042.
• Yang, Xiu-ming (2014). 漳州方言阴平调的调形特点与历史演变 [Traits of Yin-ping Tone of Zhangzhou Dialect and the Historical Evolution]. Journal of Minnan Normal University (Philosophy & Social Sciences) (in Chinese) (3): 45–52. doi:.
• Zhangzhou City Local Chronicles Editorial Board, ed. (1999). [Zhangzhou Annals] (in Chinese). Vol. 49: 方言. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press. ISBN 978-7-5004-2625-7. Archived from on 2019-02-10.
• Zhou, Changji (2012). B1—15、16 闽语. 中国语言地图集 [Language Atlas of China] (in Chinese). Vol. 汉语方言卷 (2nd ed.). Beijing: Commercial Press. pp. 110–115. ISBN 978-7-100-07054-6.