Jian'ou dialect

Jian'ou dialect (Northern Min: Gṳ̿ing-é-dī / 建甌事; Chinese: simplified Chinese: 建瓯话; traditional Chinese: 建甌話; pinyin: Jiàn'ōu huà), also known as Kienow dialect, is a local dialect of Northern Min Chinese spoken in Jian'ou in northern Fujian province. It is regarded as the standard common language in Jian'ou.

Jian'ou
Gṳ̿ing-é-dī / 建甌事
Pronunciation[kuiŋ˧ ɪ˥˦ ti˦]
Native toSouthern China
RegionJian'ou, Fujian province
Chinese character, Kienning Colloquial Romanized
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottologjian1240
Bible in Jian'ou Romanised (Genesis), published by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

Phonetics and phonology

According to The Eight Tones of Kien-chou (建州八音), a rime dictionary which published in 1795, Jian'ou dialect has 15 initials, 34 rimes and 7 tones in the 18th century, however there are only 6 tones in the modern dialect as the "light level" (陽平) tone disappeared.

Initials

Initials of Jian'ou dialect
  Bilabial Alveolar Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ  
Plosive voiceless unaspirated p t k ʔ
voiceless aspirated  
Affricate voiceless unaspirated   ts    
voiceless aspirated   tsʰ    
Fricative   s x  
Approximant   l    

Rimes

Rimes of Jian'ou dialect
Open syllable Nasal coda
Open mouth a ɪ ɛ œ ʊ ɔ ai au aiŋ eiŋ œyŋ ɔŋ [1]
Even mouth i ia iau iu iaŋ ieiŋ[2] iɔŋ
Closed mouth u ua [3] uai uiŋ [4] uaŋ uaiŋ uɔŋ
Round mouth y [3] yiŋ [4]

Tones

Jian'ou has four tones, which are reduced to two in checked syllables.

Tone chart of the Jian'ou dialect
Tone numberTone nameTone contour
1 level (平聲)˥˦ (54) or ˥ (5)
2 rising (上聲)˨˩ (21) or ˩ (1)
3 dark departing (陰去)˨ (2)
4 light departing (陽去)˦ (4)
5 dark entering (陰入)˨˦ (24)
6 light entering (陽入)˦˨ (42)

The entering tones in Jian'ou dialect do not have any entering tone coda (入聲韻尾) such as /-ʔ/, /-p̚/, /-t̚/ and /-k̚/ which makes it distinct from many other Chinese varieties.

Footnotes

  1. /oŋ/ which is mentioned in Kienning Colloquial Romanized has merged into /ɔŋ/ in the modern dialect.
  2. /ieiŋ/ is not mentioned in Kienning Colloquial Romanized as it diverged from /iŋ/ after the romanization system was established.
  3. /yɛ/ tends to merge into /uɛ/.
  4. /yiŋ/ tends to merge into /uiŋ/.

References

  • Běijīng dàxué zhōngguóyǔyánwénxuéxì yǔyánxué jiàoyánshì. (1989) Hànyǔ fāngyīn zìhuì. Běijīng: Wénzìgǎigé chūbǎnshè.(北京大學中國語言文學系語言學教研室. 1989. 漢語方音字匯. 北京: 文字改革出版社)
  • Norman, Jerry. [1988] (2002). Chinese. Cambridge, England: CUP ISBN 0-521-29653-6
  • Yuán, jiāhuá (1989). Hànyǔ fāngyán gàiyào (An introduction to Chinese dialects). Beijing, China: Wénzì gǎigé chūbǎnshè. (袁家驊. 1989. 漢語方言概要. 北京:文字改革出版社.)
  • Compilation Commission of Chorography of Jian'ou County 建瓯县地方志编纂委员会 (1994). Jian ou xian zhi 建瓯县志 ["Chorography of Jian'ou County"]. 36. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. ISBN 7-101-01283-3.
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