The Xianyou dialect (Pu-Xian Min: Sing-iú-uā / 仙遊話; IPA: [ɬiŋ˨˨ iu˨˦ ua˨˩]) is a dialect of Pu-Xian Min Chinese spoken in Xianyou, Putian in the southeast coast of Fujian province, China.

Putian
Sing-iú-uā / 仙遊話
Native toSouthern China
RegionXianyou, Putian, Fujian
Early forms
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottologxian1252
Linguasphere79-AAA-ida
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.
Xianyou dialect
Traditional Chinese仙遊話
Simplified Chinese仙游话
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinXiānyóuhuà
Pu-Xian Min
Hinghwa BUCSing-iú-uā
(IPA: [ɬiŋ˨˨ iu˨˦ ua˨˩])

Phonology

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The Xianyou dialect has 15 initials, 45 rimes and 7 tones.

Initials

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  Bilabial Alveolar Lateral Velar Glottal
Stop Unaspirated voiceless p t k ʔ
Aspirated voiceless
Nasal m n ŋ
Fricative Voiceless ɬ h
Voiced β* ɣ*
Affricate Unaspirated voiceless ts
Aspirated voiceless tsʰ
Approximant l

Rimes

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a ã au
ɒ ɒ̃ ɒŋ ɒʔ
o ɔu
e ai ɛŋ ɛʔ
ø
ŋ
i ĩ iu
ia ieu iɛŋ iɛʔ
u ui
ua uoi uaŋ uoʔ
y
ya yøŋ yøʔ

Tones

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No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Tones dark level
陰平
light level
陽平
rising
上聲
dark departing
陰去
light departing
陽去
dark entering
陰入
light entering
陽入
Tone contour ˥˦˦ (544) ˨˦ (24) ˧˧˨ (332) ˥˨ (52) ˨˩ (21) ʔ˨ (ʔ2) ʔ˦ (ʔ4)
Example Hanzi 詩巴 時爬 始把 試霸 寺罷 濕北 實拔

Assimilation

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Coda of
the Former Syllable
Initial of
the Latter Syllable
Assimilation Coda of
the Former Syllable
Initial of
the Latter Syllable
Group A Open syllable /p/, // remain unchanged /β/, /ɣ/
/t/, //, /ts/, /tsʰ/, /ɬ/ /l/
/k/, //, /h/ /ɣ/
Group B /-ŋ/ (nasal coda) /p/, // /-m/ /m/
/t/, //, /ts/, /tsʰ/, /l/, /ɬ/ /-n/ /n/, remain unchanged
/k/, //, /h/, null initial remain unchanged, or /-n/ /ŋ/, /n/
/m/, /n/, /ŋ/ /-m/, /-n/, /-ŋ/ remain unchanged
Group C /-ʔ/ (glottal coda) /p/, //, /m/ /-p̚/ remain unchanged
/t/, //, /ts/, /tsʰ/, /ɬ/, /l/, /n/ /-t̚/
/k/, //, /ŋ/, /h/ /-k̚/
null initial /-ʔ/
Group E Open syllable /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ nasalization remain unchanged
nasalized rime nasalization
nasalized rime remain unchanged /n/

Tone sandhi

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The Xianyou dialect has extremely extensive tone sandhi rules: in an utterance, only the last syllable pronounced is not affected by the rules.

The two-syllable tonal sandhi rules are shown in the table below (the rows give the first syllable's original citation tone, while the columns give the citation tone of the second syllable):

Tone sandhi of the first syllable
dark level
544
light level
24
rising
332
dark departing
52
light departing
21
dark entering
ʔ2
light entering
ʔ4
dark level
544
24 22 24 22
light level
24
22 44 52 22
rising
332
24 44 24
dark departing
52
44 33 44 52 44
light departing
21
22 44 52 22
dark entering
ʔ2
ʔ4
light entering
ʔ4
ʔ2 ʔ4 ʔ2

Notes

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  1. ^ Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.[1][2][3]

References

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  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ 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.