Amoy dialect

Amoy
Amoyese, Amoynese, Xiamenese
廈門話ばなし Ē-mn̂g-ōe
Native to	China
Region	part of Xiamen (Amoy) (Siming and Huli districts), Haicang and Longhai districts to the west
Native speakers	2 million (2021)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Min Coastal Min Southern Min Hokkien Amoy
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese Proto-Min
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	xiam1236
Linguasphere	79-AAA-je > 79-AAA-jeb
Distribution of Hokkien dialects. Amoy dialect is in magenta.

The Amoy dialect or Xiamen dialect (Chinese: 廈門話ばなし; pinyin: Xiàménhuà; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ē-mn̂g-ōe), also known as Amoyese, 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. It has historically come to be one of the more standardized varieties.

Amoyese and Taiwanese are both historically mixtures of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects. 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. Amoyese and Taiwanese are mutually intelligible. Intelligibility with other Hokkien, especially inland, is more difficult. By that standard, Amoyese and Taiwanese may be considered dialects of a single language. Ethnolinguistically, however, Amoyese is part of mainland Hokkien.

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. 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 Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar.

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. 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 母はは	po 保ほ	pʰo 抱だき
velar stop	go 俄にわか	ko 果はて	kʰo 科か
	voiced	voiceless

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

Accents

Main article: Southern Min § Vowel shifts

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 number	Tone name	Tone letter
1	Yin level	˥
2	Yin rising	˥˧
3	Yin falling	˨˩
4	Yin entering	˩ʔ
5	Yang level	˧˥
6 (2)	Yang rising	˥˧
7	Yang falling	˧
8	Yang 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, 大だい, 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; the literary readings appear to have evolved from Middle Chinese. The following chart illustrates some of the more commonly seen sound shifts:

Colloquial	Literary	Example
[p-], [pʰ-]	[h-]	分ぶん	pun	hun	divide
[ts-], [tsʰ-], [tɕ-], [tɕʰ-]	[s-], [ɕ-]	成なり	chiâⁿ	sêng	to become
[k-], [kʰ-]	[tɕ-], [tɕʰ-]	指ゆび	kí	chí	finger
[-ã], [-uã]	[-an]	看み	khòaⁿ	khàn	to see
[-ʔ]	[-t]	食しょく	chia̍h	si̍t	to eat
[-i]	[-e]	世よ	sì	sè	world
[-e]	[-a]	家いえ	ke	ka	family
[-ia]	[-i]	企くわだて	khiā	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.

• The Amoy Min Nan Swadesh list
• The Sinitic Swadesh lists (Standard Mandarin, Sichuanese, Nanjingnese, Cantonese, Yuetai Hakka, Amoynese Hokkien, Hokchiu, Shanghainese, Suzhounese, Changshanese)

Phonology

Initials

		Labial	Alveolar	Alveolo- palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p	t		k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ
	voiced	b			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		ts	tɕ
	aspirated		tsʰ	tɕʰ
	voiced		dz	dʑ
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 [ɾ] or voiced alveolar plosive stop [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 阿おもね	ɔ 烏がらす	i 魚さかな	e 火ひ	o 好このみ	u 母はは	ɨ	/ai/ 愛あい	/au/ 抱だき
/i/-	/ia/ 寫うつし		/io/ 后きさき				/iu/ 救すくい		/iau/ 鳥とり
/u/-	/ua/ 花はな				/ue/ 話はなし		/ui/ 水みず	/uai/ 歪ひずみ

Rimes with nasal codas

/m̩/ 毋	/am/ 暗くら	/an/ 按		/ŋ̍/ 黃き	/aŋ/ 港みなと	/ɔŋ/ 風ふう
/im/ 心しん	/iam/ 薟	/in/ 今いま	/iɛn/ 免めん	/iŋ/ 英えい	/iaŋ/ 雙そう	iɔŋ 恭きょう
		/un/ 恩おん	/uan/ 完かん

Checked rimes

/ap/ 十じゅう

/at/ 克かつ

/ak/ 六ろく

/ɔk/ 樂らく

/aʔ/ 鴨かも

ɔʔ 索さく

oʔ 學がく

/eʔ/ 欲よく

/auʔ/ 落

ãʔ 肉にく

ɔ̃ʔ 乎

/ẽʔ/ 夾

ãiʔ 唉

ip 急きゅう

/iap/ 葉は

/it/ 必

/iɛt/ 閲

/ik/~/ek/ 色いろ

/iɔk/ 祝しゅく

iʔ 捏こね

/iaʔ 食しょく

ioʔ 尺しゃく

/iuʔ/ 搐

/ĩʔ/ 物もの

iãʔ 贏

/ut/ 骨ほね

/uat/ 越こし

/uʔ/ 嗍

/uaʔ/ 活かつ

/ueʔ/ 喂

• Final consonants are pronounced as unreleased [p̚ t̚ k̚].

Nasalized rimes without codas

	/ã/ 三さん	/ɔ̃/ 魯	/ẽ/ 明あきら		/ãi/ 歹
/ĩ/ 暝	/iã/ 定じょう			/iũ/ 想そう		/ãu/ 腦のう
	/uã/ 山やま			/uĩ/ 莓いちご	/uãi/ 彎

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:

伊い

i

he

走はし

cháu

runs

會かい

ē

obtains

緊

kín

quick

伊い 走はし 會かい 緊

i cháu ē kín

he runs obtains quick

He runs quickly.

Mandarin: tā pǎo de kuài (他た跑得快かい)

In the case of the adverb "very":

伊い

i

He

走はし

cháu

runs

真しん

chin

obtains

緊

kín

quick

伊い 走はし 真ま 緊

i cháu chin kín

He runs obtains quick

He runs very quickly.

Mandarin: tā pǎo de hěn kuài (他た跑得很快)

伊い

i

He

走はし

cháu

runs

袂たもと

bōe

not

緊

kín

quick

伊い 走はし 袂たもと 緊

i cháu bōe kín

He runs not quick

He does not run quickly.

Mandarin: tā pǎo bù kuài (他た跑不快ふかい)

伊い

i

He

看み

khòaⁿ

see

會かい

ē

obtains

著しる

tio̍h

already achieved

伊い 看み 會かい 著ちょ

i khòaⁿ ē tio̍h

He see obtains {already achieved}

He can see.

Mandarin: tā kàn de dào (他た看み得え到いた)

For the negative,

伊い

i

He

看み

khòaⁿ

sees

袂たもと

bōe

not

著しる

tio̍h

already achieved

伊い 看み 袂たもと 著ちょ

i khòaⁿ bōe tio̍h

He sees not {already achieved}

He cannot see.

Mandarin: tā kàn bù dào (他た看み不ふ到いた)

For the adverb "so," Amoy uses kah (甲かぶと) instead of Mandarin de (得とく):

伊い

i

He

驚おどろき

kiaⁿ

startled

甲きのえ

kah

to the point of

話はなし

ōe

words

著しる

tio̍h

also

講こう

kóng

say

袂たもと

bōe

not

出來でき

chhut-lâi

come out

伊い 驚おどろき 甲かぶと 話ばなし 著ちょ 講こう 袂たもと 出來でき

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 (他た嚇得話ばなし都と說せつ不出來ふでき)

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. m̄, 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. m̄ (毋/伓) - is not + noun (Mandarin 不ふ, bù)

   i m̄-sī gún lāu-bú. (伊い毋是阮老母はは) "She is not my mother."

2. m̄ (毋/伓) - does not/will not + verb (Mandarin 不ふ, bù)

   i m̄ lâi. (伊い毋來) "He will not come."

3. verb + bōe (袂たもと/𣍐 (⿰勿會)) + particle - is not able to (Mandarin 不ふ, bù)

   góa khòaⁿ-bōe-tio̍h. (我わが看み袂たもと著ちょ) "I am not able to see it."

4. bōe (袂たもと/𣍐 (⿰勿會)) + helping verb - cannot (opposite of ē 會かい, "is able to") (Mandarin 不ふ, bù)

   i bōe-hiáu kóng Eng-gú. (伊い袂たもと曉あかつき講こう英語えいご) "He can't speak English."

   • helping verbs that go with bōe (袂たもと)

     bōe-sái (袂たもと使し) - is not permitted to (Mandarin 不可ふか以 bù kěyǐ)

     bōe-hiáu (袂たもと曉あかつき) - does not know how to (Mandarin 不ふ會かい, búhuì)

     bōe-tàng (袂たもと當とう) - not able to (Mandarin 不能ふのう, bùnéng)

5. mài (莫/勿愛) - do not (imperative) (Mandarin 別べつ, bié)

   mài kóng! (莫講) "Don't speak!"

6. bô (無む) - do not + helping verb (Mandarin 不ふ, bù)

   i bô beh lâi. (伊い無欲むよく來らい) "He is not going to come."

   • helping verbs that go with bô (無む):

     beh (欲よく) - want to + verb; will + verb

     ài (愛あい) - must + verb

     èng-kai (應おう該) - should + verb

     kah-ì (合意ごうい) - like to + verb

7. bô (無む) - does not have (Mandarin 沒ぼつ有ゆう, méiyǒu)

   i bô chîⁿ. (伊い無む錢ぜに) "He does not have any money."

8. bô (無む) - did not (Mandarin 沒ぼつ有ゆう, méiyǒu)

   i bô lâi. (伊い無む來らい) "He did not come."

9. bô (無む) - is not + adjective (Mandarin 不ふ, bù)

   i bô súi. (伊い無む媠/水みず) "She is not beautiful."

   • hó (好このみ) ("good") is an exception, as it can use both m̄ and bô.

Common particles

Commonly seen particles include:

• 與あずか (hō·) - indicates passive voice (Mandarin 被ひ, bèi)

伊い

i

與あずか

hō·

人ひと

lâng

騙かた

phiàn

去さ

khì

伊い 與あずか 人ひと 騙かた 去ざ

i hō· lâng phiàn khì

"They were cheated."

• 共とも (kā) - identifies the object (Mandarin 把わ, bǎ)

伊い

i

共とも

kā

錢ぜに

chîⁿ

交

kau

與あずか

hō·

你

lí

伊い 共とも 錢ぜに 交 與あずか 你

i kā chîⁿ kau hō· lí

"He handed the money to you"

• 加か (ke) - "more"

伊い

i

加か

ke

食しょく

chia̍h

一いち

chi̍t

碗わん

óaⁿ

伊い 加か 食しょく 一いち 碗わん

i ke chia̍h chi̍t óaⁿ

"He ate one more bowl."

• 共とも (kā) - identifies the object

我わが

góa

共とも

kā

你

lí

講こう

kóng

我わが 共とも 你 講こう

góa kā lí kóng

"I'm telling you."

• 濟すみ (chōe) - "more"

伊い

i

有ゆう

ū

較

khah

濟すみ

chōe

的てき

ê

朋友ほうゆう

pêng-iú

伊い 有ゆう 較 濟すみ 的てき 朋友ほうゆう

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

IPA

a

ap

at

ak

aʔ

ã

ɔ

ɔk

ɔ̃

ə

o

e

ẽ

i

iɛn

iəŋ

Pe̍h-ōe-jī

a

ap

at

ak

ah

aⁿ

o͘

ok

oⁿ

o

o

e

eⁿ

i

ian

eng

Revised TLPA

a

ap

at

ak

ah

aN

oo

ok

ooN

o

o

e

eN

i

ian

ing

TLPA

a

ap

at

ak

ah

ann

oo

ok

oonn

o

o

e

enn

i

ian

ing

BP

a

ap

at

ak

ah

na

oo

ok

noo

o

o

e

ne

i

ian

ing

MLT

a

ab/ap

ad/at

ag/ak

aq/ah

va

o

og/ok

vo

ø

ø

e

ve

i

ien

eng

DT

a

āp/ap

āt/at

āk/ak

āh/ah

ann/aⁿ

o

ok

onn/oⁿ

or

or

e

enn/eⁿ

i

ian/en

ing

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 bopomofo

ㄚ

ㄚㆴ

ㄚㆵ

ㄚㆻ

ㄚㆷ

ㆩ

ㆦ

ㆦㆻ

ㆧ

ㄜ

ㄛ

ㆤ

ㆥ

ㄧ

ㄧㄢ

ㄧㄥ

Tâi-lô

a

ap

at

ak

ah

ann

oo

ok

onn

o

o

e

enn

i

ian

ing

Example (traditional Chinese)

亞あ 洲しま

壓あつ 力ちから

警 察

沃 水みず

牛うし 肉にく

三さん 十じゅう

烏がらす 色いろ

中なか 國くに

澳 洲しま

澳 洲しま

下した 晡

醫い 學がく

鉛なまり 筆ふで

英えい 國くに

Example (simplified Chinese)

亚 洲しま

压 力ちから

警 察

沃 水みず

牛うし 肉にく

三さん 十じゅう

乌 色いろ

中なか 国くに

澳 洲しま

澳 洲しま

下した 晡

医い 学がく

铅 笔

英えい 国くに

Vowels

IPA

iək

ĩ

ai

aĩ

au

am

ɔm

m̩

ɔŋ

ŋ̍

u

ua

ue

uai

uan

ɨ

(i)ũ

Pe̍h-ōe-jī

ek

iⁿ

ai

aiⁿ

au

am

om

m

ong

ng

u

oa

oe

oai

oan

i

(i)uⁿ

Revised TLPA

ik

iN

ai

aiN

au

am

om

m

ong

ng

u

ua

ue

uai

uan

ir

(i)uN

TLPA

ik

inn

ai

ainn

au

am

om

m

ong

ng

u

ua

ue

uai

uan

ir

(i)unn

BP

ik

ni

ai

nai

au

am

om

m

ong

ng

u

ua

ue

uai

uan

i

n(i)u

MLT

eg/ek

vi

ai

vai

au

am

om

m

ong

ng

u

oa

oe

oai

oan

i

v(i)u

DT

ik

inn/iⁿ

ai

ainn/aiⁿ

au

am

om

m

ong

ng

u

ua

ue

uai

uan

i

(i)unn/uⁿ

Taiwanese kana

イェㇰ

イイ

アイ

アイ

アウ

アム

オム

ム

オン

ン

ウウ

ヲア

ヲエ

ヲァイ

ヲァヌ

ウウ

ウウ

Extended bopomofo

ㄧㆻ

ㆪ

ㄞ

ㆮ

ㆯ

ㆰ

ㆱ

ㆬ

ㆲ

ㆭ

ㄨ

ㄨㄚ

ㄨㆤ

ㄨㄞ

ㄨㄢ

ㆨ

ㆫ

Tâi-lô

ik

inn

ai

ainn

au

am

om

m

ong

ng

u

ua

ue

uai

uan

ir

(i)unn

Example (traditional Chinese)

翻こぼし 譯わけ

病やまい 院いん

愛あい 情じょう

歐おう 洲しま

暗くら 時とき

阿おもね 姆

王おう 梨なし

黃き 色いろ

有ゆう 無む

歌うた 曲きょく

講こう 話はなし

奇き 怪かい

人ひと 員いん

豬 肉にく

舀 水みず

Example (simplified Chinese)

翻こぼし 译

病やまい 院いん

爱 情じょう

欧おう 洲しま

暗くら 时

阿おもね 姆

王おう 梨なし

黄き 色いろ

有ゆう 无

歌うた 曲きょく

讲 话

奇き 怪かい

人ひと 员

猪いのしし 肉にく

舀 水みず

Consonants

IPA

p

b

pʰ

m

t

tʰ

n

nŋ

l

k

ɡ

kʰ

h

tɕi

ʑi

tɕʰi

ɕi

ts

dz

tsʰ

s

Pe̍h-ōe-jī

p

b

ph

m

t

th

n

nng

l

k

g

kh

h

chi

ji

chhi

si

ch

j

chh

s

Revised TLPA

p

b

ph

m

t

th

n

nng

l

k

g

kh

h

zi

ji

ci

si

z

j

c

s

TLPA

p

b

ph

m

t

th

n

nng

l

k

g

kh

h

zi

ji

ci

si

z

j

c

s

BP

b

bb

p

bb

d

t

n

lng

l

g

gg

k

h

zi

li

ci

si

z

l

c

s

MLT

p

b

ph

m

t

th

n

nng

l

k

g

kh

h

ci

ji

chi

si

z

j

zh

s

DT

b

bh

p

m

d

t

n

nng

l

g

gh

k

h

zi

r

ci

si

z

r

c

s

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

サア

ザア

サ̣ア

サア

Extended bopomofo

ㄅ

ㆠ

ㄆ

ㄇ

ㄉ

ㄊ

ㄋ

ㄋㆭ

ㄌ

ㄍ

ㆣ

ㄎ

ㄏ

ㄐ

ㆢ

ㄑ

ㄒ

ㄗ

ㆡ

ㄘ

ㄙ

Tâi-lô

p

b

ph

m

t

th

n

nng

l

k

g

kh

h

tsi

ji

tshi

si

ts

j

tsh

s

Example (traditional Chinese)

報ほう 紙かみ

閩 南みなみ

普ひろし 通つう

請 問とい

豬 肉にく

普ひろし 通つう

過か 年とし

雞 卵たまご

樂らく 觀かん

價あたい 值

牛うし 奶

客きゃく 廳ちょう

煩はん 惱

支ささえ 持もち

漢かん 字じ

支ささえ 持もち

是これ 否いや

報ほう 紙かみ

熱ねつ 天てん

參まいり 加か

司つかさ 法ほう

Example (simplified Chinese)

报 纸

闽 南みなみ

普ひろし 通つう

请 问

猪いのしし 肉にく

普ひろし 通つう

过 年とし

鸡 卵たまご

乐 观

价 值

牛うし 奶

客きゃく 厅

烦 恼

支ささえ 持もち

汉 字じ

支ささえ 持もち

是これ 否いや

报 纸

热 天てん

参まいり 加か

司つかさ 法ほう

Tones

Tone name	Yin level 陰平かげひら(1)	Yin rising 陰かげ上じょう(2)	Yin departing 陰かげ去さ(3)	Yin entering 陰かげ入いれ(4)	Yang level 陽平ようへい(5)	Yang rising 陽ひ上じょう(6)	Yang departing 陽ひ去さ(7)	Yang entering 陽ひ入いれ(8)	High rising (9)	Neutral tone (0)
IPA	a˥	a˥˧	a˨˩	ap˩ at˩ ak˩ aʔ˩	a˧˥		a˧	ap˥ at˥ ak˥ aʔ˥	a˥˥	a˨
Pe̍h-ōe-jī	a	á	à	ap at ak ah	â		ā	a̍p a̍t a̍k a̍h		--a
TLPA (and Revised TLPA)	a1	a2	a3	ap4 at4 ak4 ah4	a5	a6	a7	ap8 at8 ak8 ah8	a9	a0
BP	ā	ǎ	à	āp āt āk āh	á		â	áp át ák áh
MLT	af	ar	ax	ab ad ag aq	aa	aar	a	ap at ak ah		~a
DT	a	à	â	āp āt āk āh	ǎ		ā	ap at ak ah	á	å
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 bopomofo	ㄚ	ㄚˋ	ㄚ˪	ㄚㆴ ㄚㆵ ㄚㆻ ㄚㆷ	ㄚˊ		ㄚ˫	ㄚㆴ˙ ㄚㆵ˙ ㄚㆻ˙ ㄚㆷ˙
Tâi-lô	a	á	à	ah	â	ǎ	ā	a̍h	a̋	--ah
Example (traditional Chinese)	公おおやけ司つかさ	報ほう紙かみ	興きょう趣おもむき	血ち壓あつ 警察 中なか國くに 牛うし肉にく	人ひと員いん		草くさ地ち	配はい合ごう 法ほう律りつ 文ぶん學がく 歇熱ねつ	昨さく昏	入いれ去さ
Example (simplified Chinese)	公おおやけ司つかさ	报纸	兴趣おもむき	血ち压 警察 中なか国くに 牛うし肉にく	人ひと员		草くさ地ち	配はい合ごう 法ほう律りつ 文ぶん学がく 歇热	昨さく昏	入いれ去さ

• Note: The bopomofo extended characters in the zhuyin row require a UTF-8 font capable of displaying Unicode values 31A0–31B7 (ex. Code2000 true type font).

See also

• Amoy
• Southern Min
• Hokkien
  • Quanzhou & Zhangzhou
  • Taiwanese
  • Penang Hokkien
  • Medan Hokkien
  • Lan-nang
• Written Hokkien
• Holopedia
• Speak Hokkien Campaign
• Languages of China
• Languages of Taiwan
• Languages of Singapore
• List of prestige dialects
• Amoy Min Nan Swadesh list
• Sino-Tibetan Swadesh lists

Sources

• Huanan, Wang 王おう華南かなん (2007). Ài shuō Táiyǔ wǔqiān nián: Táiyǔ shēngyùn zhīměi 愛あい說せつ台だい語ご五ご千せん年ねん : 台たい語ご聲ごえ韻いん之の美よし [To Understand the Beauty of Taiwanese] (in Chinese). Taibei Shi: Gao tan wenhua chuban. ISBN 978-986-7101-47-1.
• Li, Shunliang 李り順じゅん涼りょう (2004). Hong, Hongyuan 洪ひろし宏ひろし元もと (ed.). Huá-Tái-Yīng cíhuì jùshì duìzhào jí / Chinese-Taiwanese-English Lexicon 華はな台たい英えい詞し彙句式しき對照たいしょう集しゅう / Chinese-Taiwanese-English Lexicon (in Chinese and English). Taibei Shi: Wunan tushu chuban gufen youxian gongsi. ISBN 957-11-3822-3.
• Tang, Tingchi 湯ゆ廷池 (1999). Mǐnnányǔ yǔfǎ yánjiū shìlùn 閩南語ご語法ごほう研究けんきゅう試論しろん [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.

External links

• {Why it is Called Amoy}, Why Minnan is called "Amoy"
• listen to the news in Amoy Min Nan Archived 2016-07-11 at the Wayback Machine (site is in Chinese script)
• Database of Pronunciations of Chinese Dialects (in English, Chinese and Japanese)
• Glossika - Chinese Languages and Dialects
• Voyager - Spacecraft - Golden Record - Greetings From Earth - Amoy, includes translation and sound clip

  (The voyager clip says: Thài-khong pêng-iú, lín-hó. Lín chia̍h-pá--bē? Ū-êng, to̍h lâi gún chia chē--ô·! 太ふと空むなし朋友ほうゆう，恁好。恁食飽未？有ゆう閒あいだ著ちょ來らい阮遮坐すわ哦!)