Fuqing dialect

Fuqing
福ぶく清きよし話ばなし
Hók-chiăng-uâ
Native to	People's Republic of China, Malaysia
Region	Fuqing; Pingtan; some parts of Changle; Yongtai; Fuzhou city proper; Sitiawan; Sri Jaya
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Min Coastal Min Eastern Min Houguan Fuqing
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese Proto-Min
Writing system	Chinese characters and Foochow Romanized
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	fuji
Glottolog	None
Linguasphere	79-AAA-icm

The Fuqing dialect (simplified Chinese: 福ぶく清きよし话; traditional Chinese: 福ぶく清きよし話ばなし; pinyin: Fúqīnghuà, BUC: Hók-chiăng-uâ, IPA: [huʔ˥ tsʰiaŋ˥ ŋuɑ˦˨]), or Hokchia, is an Eastern Min dialect. It is spoken in the county-level city of Fuqing, China, situated within the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou. It is not completely mutually intelligible with the Fuzhou dialect, although the level of understanding is high enough to be considered so.

Phonology

The Fuqing dialect has fifteen initials, forty-six rimes, and seven tones.

Initials

Including the null initial, the Fuqing dialect has fifteen initials, excluding the phonemes [βべーた] and [ʒ], which are only used in connected spoken speech.

Chart of Fuqing dialect initials

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Dental	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m ⟨m, 蒙こうむ⟩		n ⟨n, 日にち⟩	ŋ ⟨ng, 語かたり⟩
Plosive	plain	p ⟨b, 邊あたり⟩		t ⟨d, 低てい⟩	k ⟨g, 求もとめ⟩	ʔ ⟨鶯うぐいす⟩
	aspirated	pʰ ⟨p, 波なみ⟩		tʰ ⟨t, 他た⟩	kʰ ⟨k, 氣き⟩
Affricate	plain			ts ⟨c, 曾⟩
	aspirated			tsʰ ⟨ch, 出で⟩
Fricative		βべーた ⟨dó̤h-buó, 桌布ぬの⟩	θしーた ⟨s, 時とき⟩	ʒ ⟨băh-cái, 白しろ菜さい⟩		h ⟨h, 非ひ/喜き⟩
Approximant				l ⟨l, 柳やなぎ⟩

(The Chinese characters represent the sample characters taken from the Qī Lín Bāyīn (戚林八はち音おと, Foochow Romanized: Chék Lìng Báik-ĭng), while the Latin letters are from the orthography Foochow Romanized).

[θしーた] is a voiceless dental fricative, and is the mainstream pronunciation; some pronounce it as [s]. There is no phonemic contrast between the two.

[ts], [tsʰ] and [s] palatalize to [tɕ], [tɕʰ], [ɕ] before finals that begin with /y/, the close front rounded vowel (i.e. before the finals [y], [yo/yɔ], [yoŋ/yɔŋ], [yoʔ/yɔʔ]).

Rimes

Including the syllabic nasal consonant [ŋ̍], the Fuqing dialect has forty-six rimes in total. Apart from [ŋ̍] and [iau], all rimes have a close/open distinction.

Chart of Fuqing dialect rimes

	Simple vowels	Compound vowels	Nasal coda /-ŋ/	Glottal coda /-ʔ/
Null medial	[a/ɑ] 嘉よしみ (a, ah)	[au/ɑu] 郊 (au)	[aŋ/ɑŋ] 山やま (ang)	[aʔ/ɑʔ] 鴨かも (ak)
		[ai/ɑi] 開ひらけ (ai)
	[o/ɔ] 歌うた (o̤, o̤h)	[oi/ɔi] 催 (oi/o̤i)	[oŋ/ɔŋ] 釭 (ong/aung)	[oʔ/ɔʔ] 樂らく (ok/auk)
	[ɛ/æ] 西にし (a̤)	[eu/ɛu] 溝みぞ (eu)	[ɛŋ/æŋ] 燈ひ (eng/aing)	[ɛʔ/æʔ] 客きゃく (ek/aik)
	[ø/œ] 初はつ (e̤/ae̤)		[øŋ/œŋ] 東ひがし (e̤ng/ae̤ng)	[øʔ/œʔ] 角すみ (e̤k/ae̤k)
			[ŋ̍] 伓 (ng)
Medial /i/	[ia/iɑ] 奇き (ia, iah)	[iau] -- (--)	[iaŋ/iɑŋ] 聲こえ (iang)	[iaʔ/iɑʔ] 察 (iak)
	[i/e] 之これ (i/e, ih/eh)	[iu/ieu] 秋あき (iu/eu)	[iŋ/eŋ] 賓まろうど (ing/eng)	[iʔ/eʔ] 力ちから (ik/ek)
	[ie/iɛ] 雞 (ie)	[ieu/iɐu] 燒やき (ieu)	[ieŋ/iɛŋ] 天てん (ieng)	[ieʔ/iɛʔ] 熱ねつ (iek)
Medial /u/	[u/o] 孤こ (u/o)	[ui/uoi] 輝てる (ui/oi)	[uŋ/oŋ] 春はる (ung/ong)	[uʔ/oʔ] 福ぶく (uk/ok)
	[ua/uɑ] 花はな (ua, uah)		[uaŋ/uɑŋ] 歡 (uang)	[uaʔ/uɑʔ] 法ほう (uak)
	[uo/uɔ] 過か (uo, uoh)	[uoi/uɐi] 杯はい (uoi)	[uoŋ/uɔŋ] 光ひかり (uong)	[uoʔ/uɔʔ] 月つき (uok)
Medial /y/	[y/ø] 須 (ṳ/e̤ṳ)		[yŋ/øŋ] 銀ぎん (ṳng/e̤ṳng)	[yʔ/øʔ] 肉にく (ṳk/e̤ṳk)
	[yo/yɔ] 橋はし (io, ioh)		[yoŋ/yɔŋ] 香こう (iong)	[yoʔ/yɔʔ] 藥くすり (iok)

The rime before the slash is the close or tense rime (simplified Chinese: 窄韵; traditional Chinese: 窄韻; pinyin: zhǎiyùn, or alternatively in simplified Chinese: 紧韵; traditional Chinese: 緊韻; pinyin: jǐnyùn), while the rime after the slash is the open or lax rime (simplified Chinese: 宽韵; traditional Chinese: 寬ひろし韻いん; pinyin: kuānyùn; or otherwise named in simplified Chinese: 松まつ韵; traditional Chinese: 鬆す韻いん; pinyin: sōngyùn). The Chinese characters represent the sample characters taken from the Qī Lín Bāyīn (戚林八はち音おと, Foochow Romanized: Chék Lìng Báik-ĭng), with further characters from rimes with glottal codas. The Latin letters are from the orthography Foochow Romanized.

The rime [iau] only has one syllable [ŋiau], and is not found in the Qī Lín Bāyīn; furthermore, Foochow Romanized does not have a way to represent this syllable.

In the modern Rongcheng dialect, the rime [iu/ieu] has now merged into [ieu/iɐu] and is no longer distinguished. Also in the new Rongcheng dialect, the rime [ui/uoi] has merged into [uoi/uɐi]. The syllabic nasal [ŋ̍] in the modern Rongcheng dialect is read as [iŋ]; some sources have not yet listed this final in their charts.

Tones

The Fuqing dialect has seven tones, with the Middle Chinese four tone categories of level/even (平たいら), departing (去さ) and entering (入いれ) all divided into dark (陰かげ) and light (陽ひ) categories. The names and the sequence of the seven tones are outlined below, as listed in the traditional rime dictionary Qī Lín Bāyīn:

Traditional nomenclature	Upper level 上平かみひら	Rising tone 上聲じょうせい	Upper departing 上うえ去さ	Upper entering 上うえ入いれ	Lower level 下平しもだいら	Lower departing 下した去さ	Lower entering 下しも入いれ
Standard nomenclature	Dark level 陰平かげひら Ĭng-bìng	Rising tone 上聲じょうせい Siōng-siăng	Dark departing 陰かげ去さ Ĭng-ké̤ṳ	Dark entering 陰かげ入いれ Ĭng-ĭk	Light level 陽平ようへい Iòng-bìng	Light departing 陽ひ去さ Iòng-ké̤ṳ	Light entering 陽ひ入いれ Iòng-ĭk
IPA pitches	˥˧ (53)	˧˨ (32)	˨˩ (21)	ʔ˩˨ (12ʔ)	˥ (55)	˦˨ (42)	ʔ˥ (5ʔ)
Foochow Romanized (with a as example)	ă	ā	á	ák	à	â	ăk

The dark level (陰平かげひら Ĭng-bìng) tone falls the most sharply; the light departing (陽ひ去さ Iòng-ké̤ṳ) tone is a mid falling tone, whose fall in pitch is not as dramatic.

In tone sandhi, a new tone contour, one that rises (˧˥, 35) is produced from certain interactions of tone categories in the "New" Rongcheng dialect.

Additionally, the Fuqing dialect contains the neutral tone in colloquial speech, which generally manifests as a mid tone.

Close-open rimes

The phenomenon of close and open rime alternation (also known as tense and lax rimes; in Chinese, variously 寬ひろし窄韻現象げんしょう; kuānzhǎiyùn xiànxiàng; 鬆す、緊韻現象げんしょう; sōng, jǐn yùn xiànxiàng; or 本ほん韻いん、變へん韻いん現象げんしょう; běnyùn, biànyùn xiànxiàng) is found throughout the dialects of cities and villages in the traditional Fuzhou area (the ten towns of Fuzhou, 福ふく州しゅう十じゅう邑). But it is absent from, for example, the dialects of Gutian (古田ふるた) and Luoyuan (羅ら源はじめ). The dialect of Fuqing, along with that of the urban area of Fuzhou, exhibits this phenomenon.

According to the original listing of the rimes in the Qī Lín Bāyīn, the medial vowel did not change with the tones. But in the Fuqing dialect, when the rime is in either one of the departing tones or in the dark entering tone, the medial vowel changes to another, the rime being called the open rime. When in either of the two level tones, in the rising tone, or in the light entering tone, the rime does not change; this rime is called the close rime. In the Fuqing dialect, with the exception of [ŋ] and [iau], all rimes exhibit this close-open alternation.

As an example, the rime from "春はる" in the Qī Lín Bāyīn, lists the two rimes: [uŋ] and [uk]. In the Gutian dialect, the same vowel is preserved in the rime [u], regardless of tone. But in the Fuqing dialect, the rime [uŋ] in the dark departing (陰かげ去さ) and light departing (陽ひ去さ) tones changes to [oŋ], where the vowel in the final [u] has become [o]. Similarly, [uʔ] in the upper departing (上うえ入いれ) tone becomes the open rime [oʔ], where the vowel has again changed.

Tone name	Dark level 陰平かげひら	Rising tone 上聲じょうせい	Dark departing 陰かげ去さ	Dark entering 陰かげ入いれ	Light level 陽平ようへい	Light departing 陽ひ去さ	Light entering 陽ひ入いれ
Chinese character	東ひがし	董ただし	噸とん	督とく	同どう	燉	獨どく
Fuqing dialect	[tuŋ]	[tuŋ]	[toŋ]	[toʔ]	[tuŋ]	[toŋ]	[tuʔ]
Gutian dialect	[tuŋ]	[tuŋ]	[tuŋ]	[tuk]	[tuŋ]	[tuŋ]	[tuk]

Within the Fuqing dialect, the vowel of the open rime is always more open (or lower) by a degree than the close rime. For example, 知ち in the dark level tone 陰平かげひら is read [ti] as a close rime, with the close vowel [i]. Listed as the same rime but in a different tone (i.e. light departing 陽ひ去さ) is 地ち, which is instead read as [te], an open rime with the half-close vowel [e], one degree more open than [i]. All close rimes in the relevant tone categories have become their corresponding open rimes according to this rule.

Illustration of the phonetics of the close-open alternation

Close rime	Open rime
師し [θしーたy]	士し [θしーたø]
低ひく [te]	遞 [tɛ]
東ひがし [tøŋ]	動どう [tœŋ]
庚かのえ [kɛŋ]	縣けん [kæŋ]
夫おっと [hu]	婦ふ [ho]
多おお [to]	道みち [tɔ]
巴ともえ [pa]	罷やめ [pɑ]

Synchronically, this alternation can affect vowels when tone sandhi occurs; please see the section on rime changes.

Sound changes

The Fuqing dialect has a particularly rich set of phonetic changes. The pronunciation of a particular Chinese character under certain circumstances can undergo changes in its initial, its rime, and its tone. For example, the word 兄弟きょうだい哥 (brother, Standard Mandarin: 兄弟きょうだい) is made of the three words 兄けい /hiaŋ˥˧/, 弟おとうと /tiɛ˦˨/ and 哥 /ko˥˧/, but is actually pronounced as 兄弟きょうだい哥 /hiaŋ˥ nie˥ o˥˧/. Within this word, the first syllable 兄けい has undergone tone sandhi and has thus changed tone; the last syllable 哥 has lost its initial consonant; and the rime of the middle syllable 弟おとうと has changed in both vowel and tone. Within lexical or semantic items, the three features of initial, rime and tone are subject to sandhi phenomena. In colloquial Fuqing speech, this type of change is very frequently encountered, but is rare in Chinese as a whole.

Initial assimilation

In colloquial Fuqing speech, the initial consonants of Chinese characters or syllables are subject to change under specific circumstances within lexical items. The first modern work to examine the phonology of the Fuzhou dialect, the Mǐnyīn Yánjiū (閩音研究けんきゅう), used the term "initial assimilation" (in simplified Chinese: 声こえ母はは类化; traditional Chinese: 聲こえ母はは類るい化か; pinyin: shēngmǔ lèihuà) to refer to this phenomenon. The Fuqing dialect contains two voiced initial consonants, /βべーた/ and /ʒ/, that only appear through initial assimilation.

Initial assimilation in the Fuqing dialect occurs in polysyllabic lexemes (i.e. lexical items or words of two or more syllables or Chinese characters) and certain semantic groups. Usually within these groups, all syllables apart from the first undergo initial assimilation. But if the initial of the following syllable is a nasal or /l/, then the initial assimilation does not occur at that point. Not every phrase will undergo initial assimilation, and the ones that do may differ from their counterparts in the other Min Dong varieties.

The syllable that undergoes initial assimilation is the "latter character"; that which precedes it is the "former character". Initial assimilation in the Fuqing dialect consists of three types: voicing, nasalisation/nasal assimilation and suppression. The rime of the former character determines the type of assimilation of the latter character's initial.

Former character's rime type	Latter character's initial type	Example
"Checked rime" / Rime ending in a glottal stop	No change	/hoʔ tsʰiaŋ/ > [huʔ tsʰiaŋ] (福ぶく清きよし, Fuqing)
Yang rime / Rime ending in a nasal	Nasalisation / Nasal assimilation	/hiaŋ tiɛ/ > [hiaŋ niɛ] (兄弟きょうだい, brother)
Yin rime / Rime ending in a vowel	Voicing or suppression	/θしーたɛ pœʔ/ > [θしーたɛ βべーたœʔ] (西北せいほく, northwest) /ŋo kæŋ/ > [ŋu æŋ] (五ご縣けん, five counties)

Which voiced consonant or nasal consonant or whether the consonant is suppressed depends on the place of articulation of the latter syllable's initial.

Initial's place of articulation	Initial	Example character	Nasalisation / Nasal assimilation	Voicing	Suppression
Labial	/p, pʰ/	臂ひじ [piɛ]	[kieŋ miɛ] (肩かた臂ひじ)	[tsʰiu βべーたiɛ] (手て臂ひじ)	--
Velar	/k, kʰ, h, ʔ/	學がく [hoʔ]	[θしーたoŋ ŋoʔ] (算さん學がく)	--	[θしーたu oʔ] (數學すうがく)
Dental (Type A)	/t, tʰ, θしーた/	頭あたま [tʰau]	[tsieŋ nau] (枕頭ちんとう)	[ŋia lau] (額がく頭あたま)	--
Dental (Type B)	/ts, tsʰ/	蔗 [tsiɑ]	[kaŋ niɑ] (甘蔗かんしゃ)	[huʔ tsiu ʒiɑ] (福ふく州しゅう蔗)	--

Type A dentals after voicing assimilation do not become the standard [l], but are slightly flapped.

Tone sandhi

As with the majority of southern varieties of Chinese, the Fuqing dialect exhibits tone sandhi. The phenomenon of tone sandhi in the Fuqing dialect contains a whole set of rules to be followed, but it is still rather complex: one tone can undergo different changes depending on what tone follows it. For example, the light entering (陽ひ入いれ) tone in front of the dark departing (陰かげ去さ) tone becomes ˩ (11), but in front of a rising tone (上聲じょうせい) it becomes ˥ (55); and in front of the dark entering (陰かげ入いれ) tone it becomes ˨˩ (21).

Chart of tone sandhi with 實み, a syllable in the light entering tone (陽ひ入いれ調ちょう)

Original syllable (IPA)	Tone of the following syllable	Tone value after sandhi	Example word
/θしーたiʔ˥/	Dark departing 陰かげ去さ	˩ (11)	[θしーたiʔ˩ tsiɛ˨˩] (實際じっさい)
/θしーたiʔ˥/	Rising tone 上聲じょうせい	˥ (55)	[θしーたiʔ˥ tsieŋ˧˨] (實踐じっせん)
/θしーたiʔ˥/	Dark entering 陰かげ入いれ	˨˩ (21)	[θしーたiʔ˨˩ tseʔ˩˨] (實質じっしつ)

In many local dialects of the Fuzhou area (within the Eastern Min family), the last syllable of a word does not undergo tone sandhi. However, in the Fuqing dialect, the last syllable's tone does change under certain circumstances.

First Character and Pronunciation	Last Character and Pronunciation	Pronunciation in Sandhi
小しょう /θしーたieu˧˨/	禮れい /lɛ˧˨/	小しょう禮れい /θしーたieu˨ lɛ˥/
綠みどり /luo˥˧/	色いろ /θしーたæʔ˩˨/	綠色みどりいろ /luo˨˩ θしーたæʔ˨/

Below is a full table for the tone sandhi on two syllable domains for the main "new" Rongcheng pronunciation of the Fuqing dialect:

"New" Rongcheng Fuqing dialect: Two-character Tone Sandhi

	Tone of latter syllable
	Ĭng-bìng (陰平かげひら) ˥˧ (53)	Siōng-siăng (上聲じょうせい) ˧˨ (32)	Ĭng-ké̤ṳ (陰かげ去さ) ˨˩ (21)	Ĭng-ĭk (陰かげ入いれ) ʔ˩˨ (12ʔ)	Iòng-bìng (陽平ようへい) ˥ (55)	Iòng-ké̤ṳ (陽ひ去さ) ˦˨ (42)	Iòng-ĭk (陽ひ入いれ) ʔ˥ (5ʔ)
Ĭng-bìng (陰平かげひら) ˥˧ (53)	˥˧ ˥˧	˥˧ ˧˨	˧˥ ˨˩	˧˥ ʔ˩˨	˥˧ ˥	˧˥ ˦˨	˥ ʔ˥
Siōng-siăng (上聲じょうせい) ˧˨ (32)	˨˩ ˥˧	˨˩ ˥˧	˧˥ ˨˩	˧˥ ʔ˩˨	˨˩ ˧˥	˧˥ ˦˨	˨˩ ʔ˥
Ĭng-ké̤ṳ (陰かげ去さ) ˨˩ (21)	˥ ˥˧	˥˧ ˧˨	˥˧ ˨˩	˥˧ ʔ˩˨	˥ ˥	˥˧ ˦˨	˥ ʔ˥
Ĭng-ĭk (陰かげ入いれ) ʔ˩˨ (12ʔ)	ʔ˥ ˥˧	ʔ˥ ˧˨	ʔ˥ ˨˩	ʔ˥ ʔ˩˨	ʔ˥ ˥	ʔ˥ ˦˨	ʔ˥ ʔ˥
Iòng-bìng (陽平ようへい) ˥ (55)	˥ ˥˧	˥ ˧˨	˨˩ ˨˩	˨˩ ʔ˩˨	˥ ˥	˥ ˦˨	˥ ʔ˥
Iòng-ké̤ṳ (陽ひ去さ) ˦˨ (42)	˥ ˥˧	˥ ˧˨	˨˩ ˨˩	˨˩ ʔ˩˨	˥ ˥	˥ ˦˨	˥ ʔ˥
Iòng-ĭk (陽ひ入いれ) ʔ˥ (ʔ5)	ʔ˥ ˥˧	ʔ˥ ˧˨	ʔ˨˩ ˨˩	ʔ˨˩ ʔ˩˨	ʔ˥ ˥	ʔ˥ ˦˨	ʔ˥ ʔ˥

Aside from words composed of two syllables (or binomes), those composed of three syllables also undergo tone sandhi.

First Character	Second Character	Third Character	Pronunciation in Sandhi
福ぶく /hoʔ˩˨/	清きよし /tsʰiaŋ˥˧/	話はなし /uɑ˦˨/	福ぶく清きよし話ばなし /huʔ˥ tsʰiaŋ˥ ŋuɑ˦˨/

Rime changes

Within polysyllabic words (of two or more syllables) or characters within one sense unit, if in the departing tone (both light departing and dark departing) or in the dark entering tone, and if it is not the last character in the unit, the rime undergoes tensing. This rime change is related to the open/close rime phenomenon: as these three tones only have open rimes, when the character changes tone through tone sandhi, the open rimes will become the corresponding close rimes.

	First character	Middle character	Final character	Pronunciation as a single phrase
Fuqing dialect	/hoʔ/ (福ぶく)	/tsʰiaŋ/ (清きよし)	/kæŋ/ (縣けん)	/huʔ tsʰiaŋ ŋæŋ/ (福ぶく清せい縣けん)
Gutian dialect	/huk/ (福ぶく)	/tsʰiaŋ/ (清きよし)	/keiŋ/ (縣けん)	/huk tsʰiaŋ ŋeiŋ/ (福ぶく清せい縣けん)

The /tsʰiaŋ˥˧/ 清きよし is light level tone and has a close rime, so although it is in a non-final position within the group, its rime does not change. On the other hand, /hoʔ˩˨/ 福ぶく is light entering tone, while /keiŋ˦˨/ 縣けん is dark departing tone; both characters hence have open rimes. As 福ぶく is in a non-final position in its group, its rime changes; 縣けん is the last syllable and so resists the change.

Internal variation

The Fuqing dialect is divided into several branches, based on their phonology:

• The Rongcheng branch (Chinese: 融とおる城しろ片へん; pinyin: Róngchéng piàn) includes an area covering the city center, as well as the towns of Dongzhang (東ひがし張ちょう鎮), Jingyang (鏡かがみ洋ひろし鎮), Yuxi (漁りょう溪けい鎮), Shangjing (上うえ逕鎮), Haikou (海うみ口こう鎮), Chengtou (城頭じょうとう鎮), Nanling (南みなみ嶺みね鎮), Longtian (龍田たつた鎮), Jiangjing (江こう鏡きょう鎮) and parts of Xincuo (新しん厝鎮). The features of this branch include the following:
  • merger of the [iu] 秋あき and [ieu] 燒しょう finals;
  • the original area of Rongcheng Town (融とおる城じょう鎮) had a split between old and new, where several finals have merged;
  • the tone sandhi system of the new Rongcheng dialect has converged with that of surrounding areas.
• The Gaoshan branch (Chinese: 高山たかやま片へん; pinyin: Gāoshān piàn) covers the towns of Gangtou (港みなと頭あたま鎮), Sanshan (三山みやま鎮), Shapu (沙すな埔鎮), Gaoshan (高山たかやま鎮) and Donghan (東ひがし瀚鎮). It is characterized by:
  • relatively non-noticeable rime tensing;
  • a clear distinction of the [iu] 秋あき and [ieu] 燒しょう finals.
• The Jiangyin branch (simplified Chinese: 江こう阴片; traditional Chinese: 江こう陰かげ片へん; pinyin: Jiāngyīn piàn) just includes Jinyin Town. It is characterized by:
  • some words with voiced initials in entering tones retain the final glottal stop whereas the other branches have lost that glottal stop. For example Chinese: 藥くすり medicine is read as [yoʔ˥] in Jinyin as opposed to [yo˥˧] as in Rongcheng.
  • there is a reported phonemic difference in vowel length in certain words with glottal stops, e.g. Chinese: 藥くすり medicine has a long vowel, whereas Chinese: 閱 examine, read has a short vowel, although both are read [yoʔ˥].
• The Yidu branch (Chinese: 一いち都と片へん; pinyin: Yīdū piàn), comprising Yidu Town. It is geographically close to Yongtai County, and features which are closer to the Fuzhou dialect. Some of these are:
  • final glottal stops are retained from Middle Chinese final obstruent stops, as in the Fuzhou dialect;
  • it has the triphthong [uoi] where Rongcheng would have a diphthong [ua];
  • there are more diphthongs where Rongcheng would have monophthongs, e.g. Yidu [ou] for Rongcheng [o].

There is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between the three branches despite their differences, and the original Rongcheng dialect, spoken in an area now part of Yuping Road (Chinese: 玉たま屏へい街道かいどう; pinyin: Yùpíng Jiēdào), is well understood across the whole Fuqing region.

Historical evolution

The Fuqing dialect has lost the voiced obstruents from Middle Chinese, has merged the final nasal consonants into one phoneme and similarly for the entering tone final stop consonant. But it has also preserved many readings from Middle Chinese: its pattern of entering tone readings greatly matches that of Middle Chinese, apart from the colloquial layer of character readings which has lost them.

Overview

Initials

Old and Middle Chinese had a large array of voiced consonants, which are preserved in the Wu group of Chinese varieties, e.g. in the Suzhou dialect. But the Fuqing dialect has devoiced the obstruents, turning them into voiceless consonants, just as other Eastern Min varieties of Chinese have.

Comparison of Voiced Initials

Character	朋とも	豆まめ	近ちか	絕ぜっ	紅べに	解かい
Suzhou dialect	/bã/	/dɤ/	/dʑin/	/ziəʔ/	/ɦoŋ/	/ɡɑ/
Fuqing dialect	/pɛŋ/	/tɑu/	/køŋ/	/tsuoʔ/	/huŋ/	/kɛ/

The Fuqing dialect does have two voiced obstruent phonemes, /βべーた/ and /ʒ/, but these appear in connected speech, and are not considered part of the initials.

The 疑うたぐ initial of Middle Chinese, reconstructed as the velar nasal /ŋ/, has not been preserved by many modern varieties of Chinese. In standard Mandarin, the initial /ŋ/ has been completely lost, with some having merged into the initial /n/ (e.g. 牛うし, 虐しいたげ, 擬なずらえ). In Wu, Yue and Hakka, the /ŋ/ initial with front vowels /i/ and /y/ have either been lost (hence merging into the 影かげ initial) or become another initial. But in the Fuqing dialect, the 疑うたぐ initial is preserved as /ŋ/ in front of front and back vowels alike, with a few exceptions having merged into /m/. In some Mandarin varieties as well as Yue, a /ŋ/ sound is added to the beginning of back vowels of the null initial class 影かげ (e.g. pronouncing 安やす as /ŋan/), but in the Fuqing dialect the 影かげ initial always remains null.

Comparison of Historical 疑うたぐ Initials

Character	牙きば	礙	餓かつえ	嶽たけ	我わが	誤あやま	疑うたぐ	逆ぎゃく	魚さかな	虐しいたげ	銀ぎん	瓦かわら
Fuqing dialect	/ŋa/	/ŋɑi/	/ŋɔ/	/ŋoʔ/	/ŋua/	/ŋuɔ/	/ŋi/	/ŋiʔ/	/ŋy/	/ŋyoʔ/	/ŋyŋ/	/muɑ/
Cantonese	/ŋa/	/ŋɔi/	/ŋɔ/	/ŋɔk/	/ŋɔ/	/ŋ̍/	/ji/	/jɪk/	/jy/	/jœk/	/ŋɐn/	/ŋa/

The Late Middle Chinese 非ひ initial is pronounced in the Fuqing dialect not with /f/ but with /p/, /pʰ/ or /h/. This lack of labiodental consonants is common to all of the Min varieties as well as Sino-Korean. For example, 發はつ is read as /puɔʔ/, 蜂はち is read as /pʰuŋ/, while 非ひ is read as /hi/.

A group in Middle Chinese with the initial 知ち is pronounced with alveolar stops /t/ or /tʰ/, and not with retroflex or palatal affricates, for example, 知ち as /ti/, 竹たけ as /tøʔ/, 重じゅう as /tʰyŋ/. This feature is also common to most of Min, implying that it has conserved this feature from Old Chinese.

Codas

The three nasal codas of Middle Chinese have become one velar nasal [ŋ] in the Fuqing dialect. The three entering tone voiceless stop codas also all became a velar stop [k], which has weakened to a glottal stop [ʔ].

Comparison of Final Consonants

Historical Final Consonant	/m/	/n/	/ŋ/	/p/	/t/	/k/
Example Character	南みなみ	電でん	驚おどろき	帖じょう	雪ゆき	腹はら
Ningde dialect	/nam/	/tiŋ/	/kiaŋ/	/tʰɛp/	/suk/	/pok/
Zhouning dialect	/nan/	/tin/	/kiɛŋ/	/tʰɛk/	/θしーたut/	/pok/
Fuqing dialect	/naŋ/	/tiɛŋ/	/kiaŋ/	/tʰæʔ/	/θしーたuɔʔ/	/poʔ/

Tones

The Fuqing dialect possesses just one tone derived from the historical rising tone (上聲じょうせい) of Middle Chinese, corresponding to the dark rising tone where those with historical voiceless initials have remained. Those with historical voiced obstruents in the former light rising tone have merged with the light departing tone. Those with historical sonorants underwent a split: in colloquial readings they grouped with light departing tone, whereas in literary readings these joined the dark rising tone.

Comparison of Outcomes of the Historical Rising Tone (上聲じょうせい)

Historical Initial Consonant Type	Voiceless (清きよし)	Voiced Obstruent (全ぜん濁にご)		Voiced Sonorant (次つぎ濁にご)
Example Character	考こう	市し	上うえ	老ろう	雨あめ	有ゆう	馬うま
Fuqing dialect	/kʰo˧˨/	/tsʰe˦˨/	/θしーたyoŋ˦˨/	coll. /lɑu˦˨/ lit. /lo˧˨/	coll. /huɔ˦˨/ lit. /y˧˨/	coll. /ou˦˨/ lit. /iu˧˨/	only lit. /ma˧˨/

There is also an innovation in entering tone characters. Where in the rime book Qī Lín Bāyīn (戚林八はち音おと), an entering tone character begins with an unvoiced consonant (e.g. the initials 花はな, 嘉よしみ, 歌うた, 之これ, 過か, 橋はし, 奇き), in the colloquial reading these lose their final glottal stop. Thus, the tones merge into their phonetically closest non-checked equivalent: dark entering merges into dark departing, and light entering merges into the dark level tone. In the Fuzhou dialect these preserve their identity as entering tone in the colloquial reading. Nevertheless, in literary reading, these characters retain their glottal stop as a marker of the entering tone in Fuqing as well as in Fuzhou.

Comparison of Outcomes of Glottal Stop Loss

Historical Tone	Dark entering (陰かげ入いれ)			Light entering (陽ひ入いれ)
Character	隔へだた	索さく	曲きょく	石いし	糴	畫が	挃
Fuzhou dialect (colloquial reading)	kɑʔ˨˦	sɔʔ˨˦	kʰuɔʔ˨˦	suoʔ˥	tieʔ˥	uaʔ˥	tiʔ˥
Fuqing dialect (colloquial reading)	kɑ˨˩	θしーたɔ˨˩	kʰuɔ˨˩	θしーたyo˥˧	tia˥˧	ua˥˧	ti˥˧

Literary and colloquial readings

The Fuqing dialect has a rich source of variation in its split between literary and colloquial readings, with initials, rimes and tones being affected. They can be divided into seven types:

• Difference in initials: 富とみ ([po˨˩] / [ho˨˩])
• Difference in rimes: 清きよし ([tsʰiaŋ˥˧] / [tsʰiŋ˥˧])
• Difference in tones: 利り ([le˨˩] / [le˦˨])
• Difference in initial and rime: 夫おっと ([puo˥˧] / [hu˥˧])
• Difference in initial and tone: 遠とお ([huɔŋ˦˨] / [uoŋ˧˨])
• Difference in rime and tone: 兩りょう ([lɑŋ˦˨] / [lyoŋ˧˨])
• Difference in initial, rime and tone: 網もう ([mœŋ˦˨] / [uoŋ˧˨])

Usually when there is a difference between literary and colloquial readings, the literary reading is used in reading and more literary compound words, whilst the colloquial one is used in vernacular speech, common surnames and local place names. For example, the common verb 聽 listen has the colloquial reading [tʰiaŋ˥˧], the surname 劉りゅう (Liu in Mandarin) is pronounced [lau˦], and the place-name component 清きよし in the names of Minqing 閩清 and Fuqing 福ぶく清きよし are pronounced [tsʰiaŋ˥˧], though the name of Qingliu County 清流せいりゅう縣けん, being outside the Fuzhou area, uses the literary pronunciation. Literary pronunciations are also used in poetry, with some readings specifically used only in this context; additionally, neologisms generally use literary pronunciation.

Vocabulary

Fuqing has had a long history of migration, with which has come a large number of different sources of vocabulary, creating several layers or lexical strata. One of the layers that the Fuqing dialect has is the Minyue language, which today remains as a source of colloquial vocabulary. Despite their common use, these vocabulary items often cannot be traced back to a Chinese root character.

Vocabulary derived from Old Chinese can be classified into two types. The first comes from migrants from the Three Kingdoms period, when people of the Eastern Wu migrated to Fujian, bringing the varieties of Wu and Chu. This layer is already extinct in the Chinese varieties spoken in the homelands of the Wu and Chu regions, but it is still found across the Min varieties of Fujian. The second type derives from the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Such vocabulary is often used in colloquial speech.

The lexical stratum from Middle Chinese derives from the Chinese spoken in the Tang dynasty, with some later additions from the Song dynasty, forming the principal literary layer.

Origin of lexical items

Layer	Origin	Fuqing		Meaning		Notes
		IPA	Chinese characters	English	Standard Chinese
Minyue 閩越底そこ層そう	Old Yue language 古こ越えつ語ご	/ŋɔŋ˦˨/	戇 or 歞	stupid	傻	Compare Wuming Zhuang /ŋɔŋ/
		/loʔ˩˨/	--	to fall, decline	脫落だつらく	Compare Wuming Zhuang /lo:t/
		/piŋ˧˨/	箳	a wicker board for a bed	竹たけ箳 竹たけ編へん床板とこいた	Compare Wuming Zhuang /pin/
Old Chinese 上古じょうこ漢語かんご	Old Wu 古こ吳くれ語ご	/pʰieu˥˧/	薸	duckweed	浮萍	《揚子ようこ．方言ほうげん》江東こうとう謂いい浮萍為ため薸。 Attested in the Fangyan for the Jiangdong region.
		/uoŋ˧˨/	䘼	sleeve	袖そで子こ	《集あつまり韻いん》委い遠とお切せつ，音おと宛あて。《玉たま篇へん》襪也。又また《方言ほうげん．郭かく註》江東こうとう呼よび衣ころも褾曰䘼。 Attested in the Fangyan for the Jiangdong region, as well as in the Yupian and the Jiyun.
		/kie˦/	鮭さけ	salted fish	鹽しお醃製的てき小しょう魚さかな	《集あつまり韻いん》戸と佳よ切せつ……，吳くれ人じん謂いい魚ぎょ菜さい總稱そうしょう。 Attested in the Jiyun for the people in the region of Wu.
	Old Chu 古こ楚すわえ語ご	/θしーたyo˥˧/	蜀しょく	one (used only in counting)	數詞すうし「一いち」	《方言ほうげん》（揚あげ雄ゆう所しょ著ちょ），卷かん十じゅう二に：一いち，蜀しょく也，南みなみ楚すわえ謂いい之の蜀しょく。 Attested in the Fangyan for the Southern Chu region.
		/tsʰeŋ˨˩/	㵾 or 凊	cold	冷ひや	《說せつ文ぶん》冷ひや寒かん也。楚すわえ人じん謂いい冷ひや曰㵾。 Attested in the Shuowen Jiezi for Chu.
		/tsʰa˥˧/	瘥	to recover (from illness)	病やまい情じょう好轉こうてん	《玉たま篇へん》疾やまし愈いよいよ也。《方言ほうげん》，卷かん三さん：南みなみ楚すわえ病びょう癒者謂いい之これ差さ。（後作あとさく「瘥」） Attested in the Yupian for Chu and the Fangyan for Southern Chu.
	Central Plains Chinese 中原なかはら漢語かんご	/tiaŋ˧˨/	鼎かなえ	wok/pan	鍋なべ
		/toŋ˥˧/	湯ゆ	boiled water	熱ねつ水すい
		/tsʰuoi˨˩/	喙	mouth	嘴くちばし
		/sɔ˨˩/	欶	to suck	吮吸
Middle Chinese 中古ちゅうこ漢語かんご	Central Plains Chinese 中原なかはら漢語かんご	/tyo˥˧/	著しる	at, in	在ざい
		/ko˨˩/	故こ	still, -ing	還かえ、尚なお
		/tɑu˨˩/	鬥	to compete, vie	競きおい相しょう

Modern Standard Mandarin Chinese has also been source of vocabulary, via neologisms or formal compounds. Some such words are replaced by coinages from local roots, e.g. bicycle, which in the Fuqing dialect is 跤踏車しゃ (also written 骹踏車しゃ) instead of being directly cognate to the standard Taiwanese Mandarin 腳踏車しゃ, literally foot-tread-vehicle, with the morpheme for foot being substituted by its local equivalent.

With contact with foreign countries, there have also been loanwords from non-Chinese languages, such as 加か蘇そ林りん for gasoline/petroleum, which in standard Mandarin would be 石油せきゆ; also 馬うま臘加 (Malacca, which is 馬うま六甲ろっこう in Mandarin).

In more modern times, the rise of new technologies, products and concepts has produced more direct loans from standard Mandarin, which may be used despite those sounds being rare in Fuqing dialect or even if there are Fuqing roots that could have been used. For example, a "night school" is 夜よる校こう, derived from standard Mandarin, and not *暝晡校こう as would have been expected from native Fuqing dialect roots.

Related Links

• 漢字かんじ古今ここん音おん資料しりょう庫こ. A Fuqing dialect character dictionary is available, by selecting 現代げんだい > 閩語 >閩東區く > 福ぶく清きよし
• Fuqing dialect news program 《講こう世事せじ》