Ningde dialect

In today's world, Ningde dialect has become a very important issue in society. From its impact on the global economy to its influence on people's daily lives, Ningde dialect has generated great interest and debate in various areas. As time progresses, interest in Ningde dialect has been increasing, as its relevance becomes increasingly evident. With so many different opinions and interpretations, it is essential to thoroughly examine Ningde dialect to understand its scope and impact on different aspects of modern life. In this article, we will explore in detail the various aspects of Ningde dialect and its impact on today's society.

Ningde
寧德話
Native toNingde, Fujian
Early forms
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone
Linguasphere79-AAA-icb
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The Ningde dialect (Eastern Min: 寧德話) is a dialect of Eastern Min Chinese spoken in urban areas of Ningde, China, which is a prefecture-level city in the northeastern coast of Fujian province.

Phonology

The Ningde dialect has 15 initials, 78 rimes and 7 tones.

Initials

p, pʰ, m, t, tʰ, n, l, ts, tsʰ, s, k, kʰ, ŋ, x, ʔ

Rimes

10 monophthongs: a, ɛ, œ, ø, ɔ, o, i, u, y

18 compound vowels: ai, ei, ɔi, oi, øy, au, ɛu, eu, ou, ia, ie, iu, iɐu, ua, uo, ui, uai, uoi

15 nasal rimes: aŋ, ɛŋ, eŋ, œŋ, øŋ, ɔŋ, oŋ, iŋ, uŋ, yŋ, iaŋ, iɛŋ, uaŋ, uoŋ, yøŋ

26 checked rimes: aʔ, ɛʔ, œʔ, øʔ, ɔʔ, iʔ, iaʔ, iɛʔ, uaʔ, uoʔ, yøʔ, ak̚, ɛk̚, ek̚, œk̚, øk̚, ɔk̚, ok̚, ik̚, uk̚, yk̚, iak̚, iɛk̚, uak̚, uok̚, yøk̚

These 6 nasal rimes tend to merge into nasal rimes ending with coda -ŋ, and will disappear in future: am, ɛm, em, im, iɛm, ɔn

These 5 checked rimes tend to merge into nasal rimes ending with coda -k̚, and will disappear in future: ap̚, ɛp̚, ep̚, ip̚, iɛp̚

Tones

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Tone name 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 ˦ (44) ˨ (22) ˦˨ (42) ˧˥ (35) ˧˧˨ (332) ˨ (2) ˥ (5)

Initial assimilation

The two-syllable initial assimilation rules are shown in the table below:

Coda of the Former Syllable Initial Assimilation
Null coda The initial of the latter syllable may change:
  • /p/, /pʰ/ change to null initial or /β/;
  • /t/, /tʰ/ and /s/ change to /l/;
  • /ts/ and /tsʰ/ change to null initial or /ʒ/;
  • /k/, /kʰ/ and /x/ change to null initial;
  • /m/, /n/, /l/, /ŋ/ and null initial remain unchanged.
Nasal coda The initial of the latter syllable may change:
  • /p/ and /pʰ/ change to /m/;
  • /t/, /tʰ/ and /s/ change to /n/;
  • /ts/ and /tsʰ/ change to /ʒ/ or /m/;
  • /k/, /kʰ/, /x/ and null initial change to /ŋ/ or /m/;
  • /m/, /n/, /l/ and /ŋ/ remain unchanged.
checked coda The former syllable lost its checked coda at first; then, the initial assimilation of latter syllable follow the law above.
checked coda /-p̚/ The Initial of latter syllable change to /p/ while the former syllable lost its checked coda /-p̚/

Tone sandhi

The Ningde 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 columns give the first syllable's original citation tone, while the rows give the citation tone of the second syllable):

dark level
44 		light level
22 		rising
42 		dark departing
35 		light departing
332 		dark entering
2 		light entering
5
dark level
44 		44 21 44 21 44 21
light level
22 		remain unchanged
rising
42 		55
dark departing
35 		55
light departing
332 		44 21 44 21 44 21
dark entering
2 		55
light entering
5 		44 21 44 21 44 21

Notes

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

References

  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.