The Quanzhou dialect, also known as the Chin-chew dialect, is a dialect of Hokkien that is spoken in southern Fujian, in the area centered on the city of Quanzhou. Due to migration, variations of the Quanzhou dialect are spoken outside of Quanzhou, notably in Taiwan and many Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Classification
The Quanzhou dialect is a variety of Hokkien, a group of Southern Mindialects. In Fujian, the Quanzhou dialect forms the northern subgroup of Southern Min. It is one of the oldest dialects of Southern Min, and along the Zhangzhou dialect, it forms the basis for all modern varieties. When compared with other varieties of Hokkien, it has an intelligibility of 87.5% with the Amoy dialect and 79.7% with the Zhangzhou dialect.
Cultural role
Before the 19th century, the Quanzhou dialect was the representative dialect of Southern Min in Fujian because of Quanzhou's historical and economic prominence, but as Xiamen developed into the political, economic and cultural center of southern Fujian, the Amoy dialect gradually took the place of the Quanzhou dialect as the representative dialect. However, the Quanzhou dialect is still considered to be the standard dialect for Liyuan opera and nanyin music.
There are 14 phonemic initials, including the zero initial : When the rhyme is nasalized, the three voiced phonemes, and are realized as the nasal stops, and, respectively. The inventory of initial consonants in the Quanzhou dialect is identical to the Amoy dialect and almost identical to the Zhangzhou dialect. The Quanzhou dialect is missing the phoneme found in the Zhangzhou dialect due to a merger of into. The distinction between and was still made in the early 19th century, as seen in Huìyīn Miàowù by Huang Qian, but Huìyīn Miàowù already has nine characters categorized into both initials. Rev. Carstairs Douglas has already observed the merger in the late 19th century. In some areas of Yongchun, Anxi and Nan'an, there are still some people, especially those in the older generation, who distinguish from, showing that the merger is a recent innovation.
Rimes
There are 87 rimes:
The actual pronunciation of the vowel has a wider opening, approaching. For some speakers, especially younger ones, the vowel is often realized as, e.g. pronouncing 飞 / 飛 as, and the vowel is either realized as, e.g. pronouncing 猪 / 豬 as, or as, e.g. pronouncing 女 as.
In addition to these tones, there is also a neutral tone.
Tone sandhi
As with other dialects of Hokkien, the tone sandhi rules are applied to every syllable but the final syllable in an utterance. The following is a summary of the rules:
The yin level and yang rising tones do not undergo tone sandhi.
The yang level and entering tones are pronounced as the yang rising tone.
The yin rising tone is pronounced as the yang level tone.
The departing tone depends on the voicing of the initial consonant in Middle Chinese:
* If the Middle Chinese initial consonant is voiceless, it is pronounced as the yin rising tone.
* If the Middle Chinese initial consonant is voiced, it is pronounced as the yang rising tone.
The yin entering depends on the final consonant:
* If the final consonant is, or, it is pronounced as the yang level tone.
* If the final consonant is, it does not undergo tone sandhi.
