Pu–Xian Min

Pu–Xian Min
Pu–Xian Min
莆仙語ご/莆仙話ばなし/興きょう化か話ばなし; Pó-sing-gṳ̂/Pó-sing-uā/Hing-hua̍-uā
Native to	China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan (Wuqiu)
Region	Fujian (Putian, parts of Fuzhou and Quanzhou)
Ethnicity	Putianese (Han Chinese)
Native speakers	3.15 million (2022)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Min Coastal Min Pu–Xian Min; ; ; ; ;
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese Proto-Min ; ;
Dialects	Putian; Xianyou;
Writing system	Simplified Han characters; Traditional Han characters; Hinghwa Romanized (Hing-hua̍ Báⁿ-uā-ci̍)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cpx
Glottolog	puxi1243
Linguasphere	79-AAA-id
	Pu–Xian Min
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Bible in Hinghwa (Xinghua) Romanised (Genesis), published by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

Pu–Xian Min (Hinghwa Romanized: Pó-sing-gṳ̂; traditional Chinese: 莆仙話ばなし; simplified Chinese: 莆仙话; pinyin: Púxiānhuà), also known as Putian–Xianyou Min, Puxian Min, Pu–Xian Chinese, Xinghua, Henghua, Hinghua or Hinghwa (Hing-hua̍-gṳ̂; traditional Chinese: 興きょう化か語ご; simplified Chinese: 兴化语; pinyin: Xīnghuàyǔ), is a Chinese language that forms a branch of Min Chinese. Pu-Xian is a transitional variety of Coastal Min which shares characteristics with both Eastern Min and Southern Min, although it is closer to the latter.

The native language of Putian people, Pu-Xian is spoken mostly in Fujian province, particularly in Putian city and Xianyou County (after which it is named), parts of Fuzhou, and parts of Quanzhou. It is also widely used as the mother tongue in Wuqiu Township, Kinmen County, Fujian Province, Republic of China (Taiwan). More than 2,000 people in Shacheng, Fuding in northern Fujian also speak Pu-Xian.^[5] There are minor differences between the dialects of Putian and Xianyou.

Overseas populations of Pu-Xian speakers exist in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Speakers of Pu-Xian are also known as Henghua, Hinghua, or Xinghua.

History[edit]

Before the year 979 AD, the Pu-Xian region was part of Quanzhou county and people there spoke a form of Southern Min.^[6]^[7] due to its origin in the past.

In 979 AD, during the Song Dynasty, the region was administratively separated from Quanzhou and the Chinese spoken there developed separately from the rest of Southern Min. Due to its proximity with Fuzhou, it absorbed some elements of Eastern Min, such as morphophonemic alternations in initial consonants, but its basic linguistic characteristics, i.e. grammar and most of its lexicon, are based on Southern Min. It also shares denasalization of historical nasal consonants and vocalic nasalization with Southern Min varieties.^[8]

Pu-Xian Min has 62% cognates with Quanzhou dialect (Southern Min) and only 39% cognates with Fuzhou dialect (Eastern Min).^[9]

Characteristics[edit]

Differences with Southern Min dialects[edit]

Pu-Xian differs from most Southern Min varieties in several ways:

The vowel 'a' is replaced by /ɒ/ (o̤) in most cases, e.g. 腳 ko̤ "leg".
The vowel 'ư' /ɯ/ is replaced by /y/ ('ṳ'), e.g. 魚さかな hṳ "fish".
In Putian 'ng' has changed to /uŋ/ except after zero initial and h- (notation: ng), e.g. 湯ゆ tung "soup".
The vowel /e/ is often replaced by /ɒ/ o̤, e.g. 馬うま bo̤ "horse".
Where Quanzhou has 'ĩ' and Zhangzhou has 'ẽ', the corresponding Putian vowel is 'ã', e.g. 病やまい baⁿ "sick", where ⁿ indicates a nasalized vowel.
The vowel 'io' is replaced by 'iau' (notation: a̤u), e.g. 笑わらい ciao "laugh". This also holds for nasalized vowels, e.g. 張ちょう da̤uⁿ corresponding to Zhangzhou tioⁿ.
Nasals 'm' sometimes occur in place of voiced stops 'b', e.g. 夢ゆめ mang vs. Quanzhou bang.
Initial consonant 'ng' replaces 'g' e.g. 五ご 'ngo' vs. Quanzhou 'go'.
There is a loss of distinction between voiced and unvoiced stops, e.g. the sounds /b/ and /p/ both correspond to the same phoneme and occur in free variation.

Borrowings from Eastern Min[edit]

Wife 老ろう媽 (Lau Ma)

Phonology[edit]

Pu-Xian has 15 consonants, including the zero onset, the same as most other Min varieties. Pu-Xian is distinctive for having a lateral fricative [ɬ] instead of the [s] in other Min varieties, similar to Taishanese.

Pu-Xian has 53 finals and 6 phonemic tones.

Initials[edit]

Pu-Xian Min Initial Chart
		Bilabial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	unaspirated	p 巴ともえ (b)	t 打だ (d)	k 家いえ (g)	ʔ 烏がらす
Plosive	aspirated	pʰ 彭 (p)	tʰ 他た (t)	kʰ 卡 (k)
Nasals		m 麻あさ (m)	n 拿 (n)	ŋ 雅まさ (ng)
Fricatives		βべーた*	ɬ 沙すな (s)		h 下した (h)
Affricates	unaspirated		ts 渣 (c)
Affricates	aspirated		tsʰ 査 (ch)
Approximant			l 拉ひしげ (l)

βべーた (only appears in connected speech. It's a result of consonant mutation of [p])

Finals[edit]

Pu-Xian Min has 53 finals (including nasalised finals)

Finals
	Vowel	Diphthong	Nasal	Glottal
no glide	a 鴉からす (a)	au 拗こじれ (au)	aŋ 王おう (ang)	aʔ 壓あつ (ah)
	ɒ 奥おく (o̤)		ɒŋ 用もちい (o̤ng)	ɒʔ 屋や (o̤h)
	ɔ 科か (eo)	ɔu 烏がらす (o)	ɔŋ 温あつし (eong)	oʔ 熨のし (eoh)
	e 裔 (a̤)	ai 愛あい (ai)	ɛŋ 煙けむり (eng)	ɛʔ 黑くろ (eh)
	œ 改あらため (e̤)		œŋ 換かわ (e̤ng)	œʔ 郁いく (e̤h)
			ŋ 伓 (ng)
/-i-/	i 衣ころも (i)	iu 油あぶら (iu)	iŋ 引 (ing)	iʔ 益えき (ih)
/-i-/	ia 夜よる (ia)	iau 要よう (a̤u)	iaŋ 鹽しお (iang)	iaʔ 葉は (iah)
/-u-/	u 夫おっと (u)	ui 位くらい (ui)	uŋ 黄き (ng)
/-u-/	ua 画が (ua)	ɔi/ue 歪ひずみ (oi)	uaŋ 碗わん (uang)	uaʔ 活かつ (uah)
/-y-/	y 余よ (ṳ)		yŋ 恩おん (ṳng)	yʔ 役やく (ṳh)
/-y-/	yɒ 安やす (io̤ⁿ)		yɒŋ 羊ひつじ (io̤ng)	yɒʔ 藥くすり (io̤h)

Chinese character	黃き (ńg)	方ほう (hng)	漲みなぎ (dn̂g)	幫 (bng)	光ひかり (gng)	兩りょう (nn̄g)	毛もう (mńg)
Putian	uŋ	huŋ	tuŋ	puŋ	kuŋ	nuŋ	muŋ
Xianyou	ŋ̍	hŋ̍	tŋ̍	pŋ̍	kŋ̍	nŋ̍	mŋ̍

Xianyou dialect nasals
IPA	ã	ẽ	ɛ̃	ĩ	ỹ	ɒ̃	iã	yã	uã	aĩ	aũ	uĩ	iũ
Romanization	aⁿ	a̤ⁿ		a̤ⁿ	e̤ⁿ	o̤ⁿ	iaⁿ	io̤ⁿ	uaⁿ			oiⁿ	a̤uⁿ
Romanized IPA	ã			ẽ	ø̃	ɒ̃	iã	yɒ̃	uã			oĩ	ɛũ

Chinese character	爭そう (caⁿ)	還かえ (há̤ⁿ)	段だん (dē̤ⁿ)	三さん (so̤ⁿ)	鼎かなえ (diáⁿ)	張ちょう (da̤uⁿ)	看み (kua̍ⁿ)	飯めし (bōiⁿ)	贏 (ió̤ⁿ)
Xianyou	tsã	hĩ	tỹ	sɒ̃	tiã	tiũ	kʰuã	puĩ	yɒ̃
Putian	tsa	hi	tø	sɒ	tia	tiau	kʰua	puai	yɒ

Tone[edit]

Tone	Ing-báⁿ 陰平かげひら	Ing-siō̤ng 陰かげ上じょう	Ing-kṳ̍ 陰かげ去さ	Ing-ci̍h 陰かげ入いれ	Ió̤ng-báⁿ 陽平ようへい	Ió̤ng-kṳ̍ 陽ひ去さ	Ió̤ng-ci̍h 陽ひ入いれ
Putian	˥˧˧ (533)	˦˥˧ (453)	˦˨ (42)	ʔ˨˩ (ʔ21)	˩˧ (13)	˩ (11)	ʔ˦ (ʔ4)
Xianyou	˥˦˦ (544)	˧˧˨ (332)	˥˨ (52)	ʔ˨ (ʔ2)	˨˦ (24)	˨˩ (21)	ʔ˦ (ʔ4)

Register[edit]

Xianyou dialect register chart
Chinese character	買かい	黃き	生せい	領りょう	師し	兩りょう	火ひ	壁かべ	著しる
Colloquial	pe	ŋ̍	ɬã, tsʰã	nia	ɬai	nŋ̍	hoe	pia	tieu
Literary	mai	hɒŋ	ɬɛŋ	liŋ	ɬo	løŋ	hɒ	piʔ	tøʔ

Assimilation[edit]

新婦しんぷ房ぼう　ɬiŋ pu paŋ　→　ɬiŋ mu βべーたaŋ

青草あおくさ tsʰɔŋ tsʰau　→　tsʰɔŋ nau

Comparison between Putian Min and Quanzhou Min Nan[edit]

Chinese character	埋うめ (lit.)	萬ばん (lit.)	人ひと (lit.)	入いれ	危 (lit.)	逆ぎゃく	內	諾だく
Putian	mai	man	tsin	tsiʔ	kui	kiʔ	tue	tɔʔ
Quanzhou	bai	ban	lin	dzip	ɡui	ɡiak	lue	lɔk

Sentence-final particles[edit]

ah (啊): used to express exclamation.
lah (啦): used to stress or for adding emotional effect to your words.
neh (呢): used for questioning.
nɔ (唔): used to express emotion.
yɔu (哟): used to denote obviousness or contention.

Romanization[edit]

Hing-hua̍ báⁿ-uā-ci̍ (興きょう化か平話へいわ字じ) is the Romanization system for Pu-Xian Min. It has 23 letters: a a̤ b c ch d e e̤ g h i k l m n ng o o̤ p s t u ṳ.

The Romanization only needs five tone marks for seven tones:

陰平かげひら Ing-báⁿ　(unmarked)
陰かげ上じょう Ing-siō̤ng　ˆ (â)
陰かげ去さ Ing-kṳ̍　ˈ (a̍)
陰かげ入にゅう Ing-ci̍h (unmarked)
陽平ようへい Ió̤ng-báⁿ　́ (á)
陽ひ去さ Ió̤ng-kṳ̍　– (ā)
陽ひ入にゅう Ió̤ng-ci̍h　ˈh (a̍h)

IPA	Pu-Xian Min (Xinghua)	Fuzhou
pʰ	p	p
tʰ	t	t
kʰ	k	k
p	b	b
t	d	d
k	g	g
tsʰ	ch	ch
ts	c	c

Tone	陰平かげひら Ing-báⁿ	陰かげ上じょう Ing-siō̤ng	陰かげ去さ Ing-kṳ̍	陰かげ入にゅう Ing-ci̍h	陽平ようへい Ió̤ng-báⁿ	陽ひ去さ Ió̤ng-kṳ̍	陽ひ入にゅう Ió̤ng-ci̍h
Báⁿ-uā-ci̍	a	â	a̍	ah	á	ā	a̍h
Pe̍h-ōe-jī	a	á	à	ah	â	ā	a̍h

Notes[edit]

^ Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.^[2]^[3]^[4]

References[edit]

^ Pu–Xian Min at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
^ 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
^ 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
^ 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.
^ Cai, Guo-mei 蔡国妹いもうと (2013). "Fúdǐng Àoyāo Púxiān fāngyán dǎo zài diàochá" 福ぶく鼎かなえ澳腰莆仙方言ほうげん岛再调查 [A Further Study on Pu-Xian Dialect Zone in Aoyao Village, Fuding]. Lóngyán Xuéyuàn xuébào / Journal of Longyan University (in Chinese). 2013 (1): 38–43. doi:10.16813/j.cnki.cn35-1286/g4.2013.01.008 – via en.cnki.com.cn.
^ "Shìjiè shàng gēnběn wú Mǐnnányǔ ~ Wáng Huánán" 世界せかい上根本かみねもと無む閩南語ご ~ 王おう華南かなん [There is no Hokkien in the World ~ Wang Huanan]. Táiwān wǎng lù jiàohuì 台灣たいわん網もう路ろ教會きょうかい (in Chinese). 2011-05-27.
^ "Cháozhōuhuà" 潮うしお州しゅう话 [Teochew Dialect]. 8944.net (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2015-06-21. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
^ Lien, Chinfa (August 17–19, 1998). "Denasalization, Vocalic Nasalization and Related Issues in Southern Min: A Dialectal and Comparative Perspective". International Symposium on Linguistic Change and the Chinese Dialects.
^ Li, Rulong 李り如龍; Chen, Zhangtai 陳ちん章あきら太ふとし (1991). Lùn Mǐn fāngyán nèibù de zhǔyào chāyì 論ろん閩方言ほうげん內部的てき主要しゅよう差異さい – 閩語硏究けんきゅう [On the Main Differences in Min Dialects] (in Chinese). Beijing: Yuwen Chubanshe. pp. 58–138.

External links[edit]

[minClassification-5] Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.^[2]^[3]^[4]

[e26-1] Pu–Xian Min at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)

[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

[glottoMin-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.

[6] Cai, Guo-mei 蔡国妹いもうと (2013). "Fúdǐng Àoyāo Púxiān fāngyán dǎo zài diàochá" 福ぶく鼎かなえ澳腰莆仙方言ほうげん岛再调查 [A Further Study on Pu-Xian Dialect Zone in Aoyao Village, Fuding]. Lóngyán Xuéyuàn xuébào / Journal of Longyan University (in Chinese). 2013 (1): 38–43. doi:10.16813/j.cnki.cn35-1286/g4.2013.01.008 – via en.cnki.com.cn.

[7] "Shìjiè shàng gēnběn wú Mǐnnányǔ ~ Wáng Huánán" 世界せかい上根本かみねもと無む閩南語ご ~ 王おう華南かなん [There is no Hokkien in the World ~ Wang Huanan]. Táiwān wǎng lù jiàohuì 台灣たいわん網もう路ろ教會きょうかい (in Chinese). 2011-05-27.

[8] "Cháozhōuhuà" 潮うしお州しゅう话 [Teochew Dialect]. 8944.net (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2015-06-21. Retrieved 2015-06-19.

[9] Lien, Chinfa (August 17–19, 1998). "Denasalization, Vocalic Nasalization and Related Issues in Southern Min: A Dialectal and Comparative Perspective". International Symposium on Linguistic Change and the Chinese Dialects.

[10] Li, Rulong 李り如龍; Chen, Zhangtai 陳ちん章あきら太ふとし (1991). Lùn Mǐn fāngyán nèibù de zhǔyào chāyì 論ろん閩方言ほうげん內部的てき主要しゅよう差異さい – 閩語硏究けんきゅう [On the Main Differences in Min Dialects] (in Chinese). Beijing: Yuwen Chubanshe. pp. 58–138.

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