Amoy dialect

The Amoy dialect or Xiamen dialect (Chinese: 廈門話; pinyin: Xiàménhuà; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ē-mn̂g-ōe), also known as Amoynese, Amoy Hokkien, Xiamenese or Xiamen Hokkien, is a dialect of Hokkien spoken in the city of Xiamen (historically known as "Amoy") and its surrounding metropolitan area, in the southern part of Fujian province. Currently, it is one of the most widely researched and studied varieties of Southern Min.[5] It has historically come to be one of the more standardized varieties.[6]

Amoy
Amoynese, Xiamenese
廈門話 Ē-mn̂g-ōe
Native toChina
Regionpart of Xiamen (Amoy) (Siming and Huli districts), Haicang and Longhai districts to the west
Native speakers
2 million (2021)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottologxiam1236
Linguasphere79-AAA-je > 79-AAA-jeb
Distribution of Hokkien dialects. Amoy dialect is in magenta.

Amoynese and Taiwanese are both historically mixtures of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects.[7] As such, they are very closely aligned phonologically. There are some differences between the two, especially lexical, as a result of physical separation and the differing histories of mainland China and Taiwan during the 20th century. Amoynese and Taiwanese are mutually intelligible. Intelligibility with other Hokkien, especially inland, is more difficult. By that standard, Amoynese and Taiwanese may be considered dialects of a single language. Ethnolinguistically, however, Amoynese is part of mainland Hokkien.[1]

History

In 1842, as a result of the signing of the Treaty of Nanking, Amoy was designated as a trading port in Fujian. Amoy and Kulangsu rapidly developed, which resulted in a large influx of people from neighboring areas such as Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. The mixture of these various accents formed the basis for the Amoy dialect.

Over the last several centuries, a large number of Southern Fujianese people from these same areas migrated to Taiwan during Dutch and Qing rule. The "Amoy dialect" was considered the vernacular of Taiwan.[8] Eventually, the mixture of accents spoken in Taiwan became popularly known as Taiwanese during Imperial Japanese rule. As in American and British English, there are subtle lexical and phonological differences between modern Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien; however, these differences do not generally pose any barriers to communication. Amoy dialect speakers also migrated to Southeast Asia, mainly in the Philippines (where it is known as Lán-nâng-ōe), Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Special characteristics

The spoken Amoy dialect preserves many of the sounds and words from Old Chinese. However, the vocabulary of Amoy was also influenced in its early stages by the Minyue languages spoken by the ancient Minyue peoples.[9] Spoken Amoy is known for its extensive use of nasalization.

Unlike Mandarin, the Amoy dialect distinguishes between voiced and voiceless unaspirated initial consonants (Mandarin has no voicing of initial consonants). Unlike English, it differentiates between unaspirated and aspirated voiceless initial consonants (as Mandarin does too). In less technical terms, native Amoy speakers have little difficulty in hearing the difference between the following syllables:

  unaspirated aspirated
bilabial stop bo po pʰo
velar stop go ko kʰo
  voiced voiceless

However, these fully voiced consonants did not derive from the Early Middle Chinese voiced obstruents, but rather from fortition of nasal initials.[10]

Accents

A comparison between Amoy and other Southern Min languages can be found there.

Tones

Amoy is similar to other Southern Min variants in that it largely preserves the Middle Chinese tone system of six distinct tones in syllables which do not end in a stop consonant and two tones in syllables which do end in a stop consonant (the checked tones). The tones are traditionally numbered from 1 through 8, with 4 and 8 being the checked tones. The distinction between tones 2 and 6 has been lost among most speakers.

Tone numberTone nameTone letter
1Yin level˥
2Yin rising˥˧
3Yin falling˨˩
4Yin entering˩ʔ
5Yang level˧˥
6 (2)Yang rising˥˧
7Yang falling˧
8Yang entering˥ʔ

Tone sandhi

Amoy has extremely extensive tone sandhi (tone-changing) rules: in an utterance, only the last syllable pronounced is not affected by the rules. What an 'utterance' is, in the context of this language, is an ongoing topic for linguistic research. For the purpose of this article, an utterance may be considered a word, a phrase, or a short sentence. The diagram illustrates the rules that govern the pronunciation of a tone on each of the syllables affected (that is, all but the last in an utterance):

Literary and colloquial readings

Like other languages of Southern Min, Amoy has complex rules for literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters. For example, the character for big/great, , has a vernacular reading of tōa ([tua˧]), but a literary reading of tāi ([tai˧]). Because of the loose nature of the rules governing when to use a given pronunciation, a learner of Amoy must often simply memorize the appropriate reading for a word on a case-by-case basis. For single-syllable words, it is more common to use the vernacular pronunciation. This situation is comparable to the on and kun readings of the Japanese language.

The vernacular readings are generally thought to predate the literary readings, as is the case with the Min Chinese varieties;[11] the literary readings appear to have evolved from Middle Chinese.[12] The following chart illustrates some of the more commonly seen sound shifts:

Colloquial Literary Example
[p-], [pʰ-] [h-] pun hun divide
[ts-], [tsʰ-], [tɕ-], [tɕʰ-] [s-], [ɕ-] chiâⁿ sêng to become
[k-], [kʰ-] [tɕ-], [tɕʰ-] kí chí finger
[-ã], [-uã] [-an] khòaⁿ khàn to see
[-ʔ] [-t] chia̍h si̍t to eat
[-i] [-e] sì sè world
[-e] [-a] ke ka family
[-ia] [-i] kh khì to stand

Vocabulary

For further information, read the article: Swadesh list

The Swadesh word list, developed by the linguist Morris Swadesh, is used as a tool to study the evolution of languages. It contains a set of basic words which can be found in every language.

Phonology

Initials

Labial Alveolar Alveolo-
palatal
Velar Glottal
Stop voiceless p t k ʔ
aspirated
voiced b ɡ
Affricate voiceless ts
aspirated tsʰ tɕʰ
voiced dz
Fricative s ɕ h
Nasal m n ŋ
Approximant l
  • Word-initial alveolar consonants /ts, tsʰ, dz/ when occurring before /i/ are pronounced as alveo-palatal sounds [tɕ, tɕʰ, dʑ].
  • /l/ can fluctuate freely in initial position as either a flap or voiced stop [ɾ], [d].
  • [ʔ] can occur in both word initial and final position.
  • /m ŋ/ when occurring before /m̩ ŋ̍/ can be pronounced as voiceless sounds [m̥], [ŋ̊].

Finals

Rimes without codas
a
ɔ
i
e
o
u
ɨ/ai/
/au/
/i/-/ia/
/io/
/iu/
/iau/
/u/-/ua/
/ue/
/ui/
/uai/
Rimes with nasal codas
//
/am/
/an/
/ŋ̍/
/aŋ/
/ɔŋ/
/im/
/iam/
/in/
/iɛn/
/iŋ/
/iaŋ/
iɔŋ
/un/
/uan/
Checked rimes
/ap/
/at/
/ak/
/ɔk/
/aʔ/
ɔʔ

/eʔ/
/auʔ/
ãʔ
ɔ̃ʔ
/ẽʔ/
ãiʔ
ip
/iap/
/it/
/iɛt/
/ik/~/ek/
/iɔk/

/iaʔ
ioʔ
/iuʔ/
/ĩʔ/
iãʔ
/ut/
/uat/
/uʔ/
/uaʔ/
/ueʔ/
  • Final consonants are pronounced as unreleased [p̚ k̚].
Nasalized rimes without codas
/ã/
/ɔ̃/
//
/ãi/
/ĩ/
/iã/
/iũ/
/ãu/
/uã/
/uĩ/
/uãi/

Grammar

Amoy grammar shares a similar structure to other Chinese dialects, although it is slightly more complex than Mandarin. Moreover, equivalent Amoy and Mandarin particles are usually not cognates.

Complement constructions

Amoy complement constructions are roughly parallel to Mandarin ones, although there are variations in the choice of lexical term. The following are examples of constructions that Amoy employs.

In the case of adverbs:

i

he

cháu

runs

ē

obtains

kín

quick

伊 走 會 緊

i cháu ē kín

he runs obtains quick

He runs quickly.

Mandarin: tā pǎo de kuài (他跑得快)

In the case of the adverb "very":

i

He

cháu

runs

chin

obtains

kín

quick

伊 走 真 緊

i cháu chin kín

He runs obtains quick

He runs very quickly.

Mandarin: tā pǎo de hěn kuài (他跑得很快)

i

He

cháu

runs

bōe

not

kín

quick

伊 走 袂 緊

i cháu bōe kín

He runs not quick

He does not run quickly.

Mandarin: tā pǎo kuài (他跑不快)

i

He

khòaⁿ

see

ē

obtains

tio̍h

already achieved

伊 看 會 著

i khòaⁿ ē tio̍h

He see obtains {already achieved}

He can see.

Mandarin: tā kàn de dào (他看得到)

For the negative,

i

He

khòaⁿ

sees

bōe

not

tio̍h

already achieved

伊 看 袂 著

i khòaⁿ bōe tio̍h

He sees not {already achieved}

He cannot see.

Mandarin: tā kàn dào (他看不到)

For the adverb "so," Amoy uses kah (甲) instead of Mandarin de (得):

i

He

kiaⁿ

startled

kah

to the point of

ōe

words

tio̍h

also

kóng

say

bōe

not

出來

chhut-lâi

come out

伊 驚 甲 話 著 講 袂 出來

i kiaⁿ kah ōe tio̍h kóng bōe chhut-lâi

He startled {to the point of} words also say not {come out}

He was so startled, that he could not speak.

Mandarin: tā xià de huà dōu shuō bù chūlái (他嚇得話都說不出來)

Negative particles

Negative particle syntax is parallel to Mandarin about 70% of the time, although lexical terms used differ from those in Mandarin. For many lexical particles, there is no single standard Hanji character to represent these terms (e.g. , a negative particle, can be variously represented by 毋, 呣, and 唔), but the most commonly used ones are presented below in examples. The following are commonly used negative particles:

  1. (毋/伓) - is not + noun (Mandarin 不, )
    i m̄-sī gún lāu-bú. (伊毋是阮老母) "She is not my mother."
  2. (毋/伓) - does not/will not + verb (Mandarin 不, )
    i m̄ lâi. (伊毋來) "He will not come."
  3. verb + bōe (袂/𣍐 (⿰勿會)) + particle - is not able to (Mandarin 不, )
    góa khòaⁿ-bōe-tio̍h. (我看袂著) "I am not able to see it."
  4. bōe (袂/𣍐 (⿰勿會)) + helping verb - cannot (opposite of ē 會, "is able to") (Mandarin 不, )
    i bōe-hiáu kóng Eng-gú. (伊袂曉講英語) "He can't speak English."
    • helping verbs that go with bōe (袂)
      bōe-sái (袂使) - is not permitted to (Mandarin 不可以 bù kěyǐ)
      bōe-hiáu (袂曉) - does not know how to (Mandarin 不會, búhuì)
      bōe-tàng (袂當) - not able to (Mandarin 不能, bùnéng)
  5. mài (莫/勿愛) - do not (imperative) (Mandarin 別, bié)
    mài kóng! (莫講) "Don't speak!"
  6. (無) - do not + helping verb (Mandarin 不, )
    i bô beh lâi. (伊無欲來) "He is not going to come."
    • helping verbs that go with (無):
      beh (欲) - want to + verb; will + verb
      ài (愛) - must + verb
      èng-kai (應該) - should + verb
      kah-ì (合意) - like to + verb
  7. (無) - does not have (Mandarin 沒有, méiyǒu)
    i bô chîⁿ. (伊無錢) "He does not have any money."
  8. (無) - did not (Mandarin 沒有, méiyǒu)
    i bô lâi. (伊無來) "He did not come."
  9. (無) - is not + adjective (Mandarin 不, )
    i bô súi. (伊無媠/水) "She is not beautiful."
    • (好) ("good") is an exception, as it can use both and .

Common particles

Commonly seen particles include:

i

hō·

lâng

phiàn

khì

人 騙 去

i hō· lâng phiàn khì

"They were cheated."

  • 共 () - identifies the object (Mandarin 把, )

i

chîⁿ

kau

hō·

錢 交 與 你

i chîⁿ kau hō· lí

"He handed the money to you"

  • 加 (ke) - "more"

i

ke

chia̍h

chi̍t

óaⁿ

食 一 碗

i ke chia̍h chi̍t óaⁿ

"He ate one more bowl."

  • 共 () - identifies the object

góa

kóng

你 講

góa lí kóng

"I'm telling you."

  • 濟 (chōe) - "more"

i

ū

khah

chōe

ê

朋友

pêng-iú

伊 有 較 的 朋友

i ū khah chōe ê pêng-iú

"He has comparatively many friends."

Romanization

A number of Romanization schemes have been devised for Amoy. Pe̍h-ōe-jī is one of the oldest and best established. However, the Taiwanese Language Phonetic Alphabet has become the romanization of choice for many of the recent textbooks and dictionaries from Taiwan.

Vowels
IPAaapatakãɔɔkɔ̃əoeiiɛniəŋ
Pe̍h-ōe-jīaapatakahaⁿokoⁿooeeⁿiianeng
Revised TLPAaapatakahaNoookooNooeeNiianing
TLPAaapatakahannoookoonnooeenniianing
BPaapatakahnaoooknooooeneiianing
MLTaab/apad/atag/akaq/ahvaoog/okvoøøeveiieneng
DTaāp/apāt/atāk/akāh/ahann/aⁿookonn/oⁿororeenn/eⁿiian/ening
Taiwanese kanaアアアㇷ゚アッアㇰアァアアオオオㇰオオオオヲヲエエエエイイイェヌイェン
Extended bopomofoㄚㆴㄚㆵㄚㆶㄚㆷㆦㆶㄧㄢㄧㄥ
Tâi-lôaapatakahannoookonnooeenniianing
Example (traditional Chinese)













Example (simplified Chinese)













Vowels
IPAiəkĩaiauamɔmɔŋŋ̍uuaueuaiuanɨ(i)ũ
Pe̍h-ōe-jīekiⁿaiaiⁿauamommongnguoaoeoaioani(i)uⁿ
Revised TLPAikiNaiaiNauamommongnguuaueuaiuanir(i)uN
TLPAikinnaiainnauamommongnguuaueuaiuanir(i)unn
BPikniainaiauamommongnguuaueuaiuanin(i)u
MLTeg/ekviaivaiauamommongnguoaoeoaioaniv(i)u
DTikinn/iⁿaiainn/aiⁿauamommongnguuaueuaiuani(i)unn/uⁿ
Taiwanese kanaイェㇰイイアイアイアウアムオムオンウウヲアヲエヲァイヲァヌウウウウ
Extended bopomofoㄧㆶㄨㄚㄨㆤㄨㄞㄨㄢ
Tâi-lôikinnaiainnauamommongnguuaueuaiuanir(i)unn
Example (traditional Chinese)














Example (simplified Chinese)














Consonants
IPApbmtnlkɡhtɕiʑitɕʰiɕitsdztsʰs
Pe̍h-ōe-jīpbphmtthnnnglkgkhhchijichhisichjchhs
Revised TLPApbphmtthnnnglkgkhhzijicisizjcs
TLPApbphmtthnnnglkgkhhzijicisizjcs
BPbbbpbbdtnlnglgggkhzilicisizlcs
MLTpbphmtthnnnglkgkhhcijichisizjzhs
DTbbhpmdtnnnglgghkhzircisizrcs
Taiwanese kanaパアバアパ̣アマアタアタ̣アナアヌンラアカアガアカ̣アハアチイジイチ̣イシイザアサ̣サア
Extended bopomofoㄋㆭ
Tâi-lôpbphmtthnnnglkgkhhtsijitshisitsjtshs
Example (traditional Chinese)




















Example (simplified Chinese)




















Tones
Tone nameYin level
陰平(1)
Yin rising
陰上(2)
Yin departing
陰去(3)
Yin entering
陰入(4)
Yang level
陽平(5)
Yang rising
陽上(6)
Yang departing
陽去(7)
Yang entering
陽入(8)
High rising
(9)
Neutral tone
(0)
IPAa˥˧a˨˩ap˩
at˩
ak˩
aʔ˩
a˧˥ap˥
at˥
ak˥
aʔ˥
a˥˥
Pe̍h-ōe-jīaáàap
at
ak
ah
âāa̍p
a̍t
a̍k
a̍h
 --a
TLPA (and Revised TLPA)a1a2a3ap4
at4
ak4
ah4
a5a6a7ap8
at8
ak8
ah8
a9a0
BPāǎàāp
āt
āk
āh
áâáp
át
ák
áh
  
MLT
afaraxab
ad
ag
aq
aaaaraap
at
ak
ah
 ~a
DTaàâāp
āt
āk
āh
ǎāap
at
ak
ah
áå
Taiwanese kana
(normal vowels)
アアアアアアアㇷ゚
アッ
アㇰ
アァ
アアアアアㇷ゚
アッ
アㇰ
アァ
  
Taiwanese kana
(nasal vowels)
アアアアアアアㇷ゚
アッ
アㇰ
アァ
アアアアアㇷ゚
アッ
アㇰ
アァ
  
Extended bopomofoㄚˋㄚ˪ㄚㆴ
ㄚㆵ
ㄚㆶ
ㄚㆷ
ㄚˊㄚ˫ㄚㆴ˙
ㄚㆵ˙
ㄚㆶ˙
ㄚㆷ˙
  
Tâi-lôaáàahâǎāa̍h--ah
Example
(traditional Chinese)






昨昏
Example
(simplified Chinese)






昨昏

See also

Notes

  1. Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese. As such, it is likely a top-level branch of Sinitic.[2][3][4]

References

  1. "Reclassifying ISO 639-3 [nan]: An Empirical Approach to Mutual Intelligibility and Ethnolinguistic Distinctions" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-09-19.
  2. Mei, Tsu-lin (1970), "Tones and prosody in Middle Chinese and the origin of the rising tone", Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 30: 86–110, doi:10.2307/2718766, JSTOR 2718766
  3. Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1984), Middle Chinese: A study in Historical Phonology, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, p. 3, ISBN 978-0-7748-0192-8
  4. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2023-07-10). "Glottolog 4.8 - Min". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7398962. Archived from the original on 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
  5. Lee, Alan (2005). Tone Patterns of Kelantan Hokkien and Related Issues in Southern Min Tonology (PhD thesis). University of Pennsylvania.
  6. Heylen, Ann (2001). "Missionary Linguistics on Taiwan. Romanizing Taiwanese: Codification and Standardization of Dictionaries in Southern Min (1837–1923)". In Ku, Wei-ying; De Ridder, Koen (eds.). Authentic Chinese Christianity: Preludes to Its Development (Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries). Leuven: Leuven University Press. p. 151. ISBN 9789058671028.
  7. Niu, Gengsen 牛耕叟 (2005-12-26). "Táiwān Héluòhuà fāzhǎn lìchéng" 台湾河洛话发展历程 [The Historical Development of Taiwanese Hoklo]. Zhōngguó Táiwān wǎng 中国台湾网 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2014-05-17.
  8. Kirjassof, Alice Ballantine (March 1920). "Formosa the Beautiful". The National Geographic Magazine. Vol. 37, no. 3. p. 290 via Internet Archive.
  9. "Gǔ Mǐnyuèzú yǔ Hànzú Mǐnnányǔ de yóulái" 古闽越族与汉族闽南语的由来 [The Ancient Minyue People and the Origins of the Min Nan Language]. Lónghú zhèn zhèngfǔ wǎng 龙湖镇政府网 (in Chinese). 2006-04-20. Archived from the original on 2009-05-17. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
  10. Ratte, Alexander Takenobu (2011). Contact-Induced Phonological Change in Taiwanese (MA thesis). The Ohio State University.
  11. Baxter, William Hubbard (1992). A handbook of old Chinese phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 47. ISBN 3-11-012324-X.
  12. Sung, Margaret M. Y. (1973). "A Study of Literary and Colloquial Amoy Chinese". Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 1 (3): 414–436. ISSN 0091-3723. JSTOR 23752861. Retrieved 1 June 2022.

Sources

  • Huanan, Wang 王華南 (2007). Ài shuō Táiyǔ wǔqiān nián: Táiyǔ shēngyùn zhīměi 愛說台語五千年 : 台語聲韻之美 [To Understand the Beauty of Taiwanese] (in Chinese). Taibei Shi: Gao tan wenhua chuban. ISBN 978-986-7101-47-1.
  • Li, Shunliang 李順涼 (2004). Hong, Hongyuan 洪宏元 (ed.). Huá-Tái-Yīng cíhuì jùshì duìzhào jí / Chinese-Taiwanese-English Lexicon 華台英詞彙句式對照集 / Chinese-Taiwanese-English Lexicon (in Chinese and English). Taibei Shi: Wunan tushu chuban gufen youxian gongsi. ISBN 957-11-3822-3.
  • Tang, Tingchi 湯廷池 (1999). Mǐnnányǔ yǔfǎ yánjiū shìlùn 閩南語語法研究試論 [Papers on Southern Min Syntax] (in Chinese and English). Taibei Shi: Taiwan xuesheng shuju. ISBN 957-15-0948-5.
  • Sung, Margaret M. Y. (1973). "A Study of Literary and Colloquial Amoy Chinese". Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 1 (3): 414–436. JSTOR 2375286.
  • Maclay, Howard S. (1953). The Phonology of Amoy Chinese. University of New Mexico.
  • Douglas, Carstairs (1899) [1873]. Chinese-English Dictionary of theVernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy (2nd ed.). London: Presbyterian Church of England. OL 25126855M.
  • Barclay, Thomas (1923). Supplement to Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy. Shanghai: The Commercial Press. hdl:2027/mdp.39015051950106.
  • MacGowan, John (1898). A Manual of the Amoy Colloquial (PDF) (4th ed.). Amoy: Chui Keng Ton. hdl:2027/nyp.33433081879649.
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