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Fuzhounese
福州話 / Hók-ciŭ-uâ 福州語 / Hók-ciŭ-ngṳ̄ 平話 / Bàng-uâ
Pronunciation	[huʔ˨˩ tsiu˥˧ ua˨˦˨]
Native to	China (Fuzhou and its surrounding counties) and Taiwan (Matsu Islands)
Ethnicity	Fuzhou
Native speakers	(10 million cited 1994)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Min Coastal Min Eastern Min Houguan Fuzhounese
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese Eastern Han Chinese Proto-Min
Dialects	Matsu
Writing system	Chinese characters and Foochow Romanized
Official status
Official language in	Matsu Islands, Taiwan (as local language)
Recognised minority language in	one of the statutory languages for public transport announcements in the Matsu Islands
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	fzho
Glottolog	fuzh1239
Linguasphere	79-AAA-ice
The Fuzhou dialect in Fujian Province, regions where the standard form is spoken are deep blue. 1: Fuzhou City Proper, 2: Minhou, 3: Fuqing, 4: Lianjiang, 5: Pingnan 6: Luoyuan, 7: Gutian, 8: Minqing, 9: Changle, 10: Yongtai, 11: Pingtan 12: Regions in Fuding, 13: Regions in Xiapu, 14: Regions in Ningde 15: Regions in Nanping, 16: Regions in Youxi
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.

The Fuzhou language (simplified Chinese: 福州话; traditional Chinese: 福州話; pinyin: Fúzhōuhuà; FR: Hók-ciŭ-uâ [huʔ˨˩ tsiu˥˧ ua˨˦˨] ), also Foochow, Hokchew, Hok-chiu, or Fuzhounese, is the prestige variety of the Eastern Min branch of Min Chinese spoken mainly in the Mindong region of Eastern Fujian Province. As it is mutually unintelligible to neighbouring varieties (e.g. Hokkien) in the province, under a technical linguistic definition Fuzhou is a language and not a dialect (conferring the variety a 'dialect' status is more socio-politically motivated than linguistic). Thus, while Fuzhou may be commonly referred to as a 'dialect' by laypersons, this is colloquial usage and not recognised in academic linguistics. Like many other varieties of Chinese, the Fuzhou dialect is dominated by monosyllabic morphemes that carry lexical tones, and has a mainly analytic syntax. While the Eastern Min branch it belongs to is relatively closer to other branches of Min such as Southern Min or Pu-Xian Min than to other Sinitic branches such as Mandarin, Wu Chinese or Hakka, they are still not mutually intelligible.

Centered in Fuzhou City, the Fuzhou dialect covers 11 cities and counties in China: Fuzhou City Proper, Pingnan, Gutian, Luoyuan, Minqing, Lianjiang, Minhou, Changle, Yongtai, Fuqing and Pingtan; and Lienchiang County (the Matsu Islands), in Taiwan (the ROC). It is also the second local language in many northern and middle Fujian cities and counties such as Nanping, Shaowu, Shunchang, Sanming and Youxi.

The Fuzhou dialect is also widely spoken in some regions abroad, especially in Southeastern Asian countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. The Malaysian city of Sibu is called "New Fuzhou" due to the influx of immigrants there in the late 19th century and early 1900s. Many Fuzhou people have also emigrated to Japan, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Name

In Chinese, it is generally termed in simplified Chinese: 福州话; traditional Chinese: 福州話; pinyin: Fúzhōuhuà, which in the native language (using the romanization Foochow Romanized) is: Hók-ciŭ-uâ [huʔ˨˩ tsiu˥˧ ua˨˦˨] . It is also sometimes called 福州語 (Hók-ciŭ-ngṳ̄; pinyin: Fúzhōuyǔ), using a different term for 'speech'. Native speakers also call it Bàng-uâ (平話), meaning "the everyday language".

In English, the term "Fuzhou dialect" dominates, although "Fuzhounese" is also frequently attested. In older works written in English, the variety is called "Foochow dialect", based on the Chinese postal romanization of Fuzhou.

In Indonesia (especially in Surabaya of East Java), it is known locally as "Hokchia". Meanwhile in Malaysia and Singapore, it is often called "Hokchiu" (pronounced [hɔk̚˥t͡ɕiu˦]), which is the pronunciation of Fuzhou in the Southern Min Hokkien language or "Huchiu" (pronounced [hu˨˩t͡ɕiu˥]), which is the pronunciation of Fuzhou in the Eastern Min language of Fuzhou itself. Eastern Min and Southern Min are both spoken in the same Fujian Province, but the name Hokkien, while etymologically derived from the same characters as Fujian (福建), is used in Southeast Asia and the English press to refer specifically to Southern Min, which has a larger number of speakers both within Fujian and in the Chinese diaspora of Southeast Asia.

History

Formation

After the Qin dynasty conquered the Minyue kingdom of Southeast China in 110 BC, Chinese people began settling what is now Fujian Province. The Old Chinese language brought by the mass influx of Chinese immigrants from the Chinese heartland, along with the influences of local languages, became the early Proto-Min language from which Eastern Min, Southern Min, and other Min languages arose. Within this Min branch of Chinese, Eastern Min and Southern Min both form part of a Coastal Min subgroup, and are thus closer to each other than to Inland Min groups such as Northern Min and Central Min.

The famous book Qī Lín Bāyīn, which was compiled in the 17th century, is the first and the most full-scale rime book that provides a systematic guide to character reading for people speaking or learning the Fuzhou dialect. It once served to standardize the language and is still widely quoted as an authoritative reference book in modern academic research in Min Chinese phonology.

Studies by Western missionaries

In 1842, Fuzhou was open to Westerners as a treaty port after the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing. But due to the language barrier, however, the first Christian missionary base in this city did not take place without difficulties. In order to convert Fuzhou people, those missionaries found it very necessary to make a careful study of the Fuzhou dialect. Their most notable works are listed below:

• 1856, M. C. White: The Chinese language spoken at Fuh Chau
• 1870, R. S. Maclay & C. C. Baldwin: An alphabetic dictionary of the Chinese language in the Foochow dialect
• 1871, C. C. Baldwin: Manual of the Foochow dialect
• 1891, T. B. Adam: An English-Chinese Dictionary of the Foochow Dialect
• 1893, Charles Hartwell: Three Character Classic of Gospel in the Foochow Colloquial
• 1898, R. S. Maclay & C. C. Baldwin: An Alphabetic Dictionary of the Chinese Language of the Foochow Dialect, 2nd edition
• 1905, T. B. Adam: An English-Chinese Dictionary of the Foochow Dialect, 2nd edition]
• 1906, The Foochow translation of the complete Bible
• 1923, T. B. Adam & L. P. Peet: An English-Chinese dictionary of the Foochow dialect, 2nd edition
• 1929, R. S. Maclay & C. C. Baldwin (revised and enlarged by S. H. Leger): Dictionary of the Foochow dialect

Studies by Japanese scholars

During the Second World War, some Japanese scholars became passionate about studying the Fuzhou dialect, believing that it could be beneficial to the rule of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. One of their most famous works was the Japanese-Chinese Translation: Fuzhou Dialect (日華對譯: 福州語) published in 1940 in Taipei, in which katakana was used to represent Fuzhou pronunciation.

Status quo

By the end of the Qing dynasty, Fuzhou society had been largely monolingual. But for decades the Chinese government has discouraged the use of the vernacular in school education and in media, so the number of Mandarin speakers has been greatly boosted. Recent reports indicate that less than 50% of young people in Fuzhou are able to speak the Fuzhou dialect.

In Mainland China, the Fuzhou dialect has been officially listed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage and promotion work is being systematically carried out to preserve its use. In Matsu, currently controlled by the Republic of China located in Taiwan, the teaching of the local variant, the Matsu dialect, has been successfully introduced into elementary schools. It is also one of the statutory languages for public transport announcements in Matsu and in Fuzhou.

Phonology

Like all Chinese varieties, the Fuzhou dialect is a tonal language, and has extensive sandhi rules in the initials, rimes, and tones. These complicated rules make the Fuzhou dialect one of the most difficult Chinese varieties.

Tones

There are seven original tones in the Fuzhou dialect, compared with the eight tones of Middle Chinese:

The sample characters are taken from the Qī Lín Bāyīn. More modern studies have also been done in the late 20th century and early 21st centuries, including an acoustically quantified set of data for the citation tones.

In Qī Lín Bāyīn, the Fuzhou dialect is described as having eight tones, which explains how the book got its title (Bāyīn means "eight tones"). That name, however, is somewhat misleading, because Ĭng-siōng (陰上) and Iòng-siōng (陽上) are identical in tone contour; therefore, only seven tones exist.

Ĭng-ĭk and Iòng-ĭk (or so-called entering tone) syllables end with either velar stop or a glottal stop . However, they are both now realized as a glottal stop, though the two phonemes maintain distinct sandhi behavior in connected speech.

Besides those seven tones listed above, two new tonal values, "˨˩" (Buáng-ĭng-ké̤ṳ, 半陰去) and ˧˥ (Buáng-iòng-ké̤ṳ, 半陽去) occur in connected speech (see Tonal sandhi below).

Little discussed in the existing literature, there is some evidence that Fuzhou uses non-modal phonation with certain tones: creaky for 陰去 ĭng-ké̤ṳ, 陰入 ĭng-ĭk, 陽去 iòng-ké̤ṳ, and breathy for 上聲 siōng-siăng. This has been shown to be perceptually relevant for tonal identification.

Tonal sandhi

The rules of tonal sandhi in the Fuzhou dialect are complicated, even compared with those of other Min dialects. When two or more than two morphemes combine into a word, the tonal value of the last morpheme remains stable but in most cases those of the preceding morphemes change. For example, "獨", "立" and "日" are words of Iòng-ĭk (陽入) with the same tonal value ˥, and are pronounced , , and , respectively. When combined as the phrase "獨立日" (Independence Day), "獨" changes its tonal value to ˨˩, and "立" changes its to ˧, therefore the pronunciation as a whole is .

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):

Ĭng-ĭk-gák (陰入甲) are ĭng-ĭk (陰入) syllables ending with -k /k/ and ĭng-ĭk-ék (陰入乙) are those with a final -h /ʔ/. This distinction made between the glottal stop and the -k is said to have been maintained in the literary readings of characters until quite recently. Both are usually realized as the glottal stop by most modern speakers of the Fuzhou dialect, and have the same tone in isolation, but they are still distinguished both in the above tone sandhi behavior, and in initial assimilation that occurs after them. Although the iòng-ĭk (陽入) tone is also a checked tone composed of both types of syllables, in -k and in -h, there is no split in its realization, either in isolation or in its tone sandhi behavior.

The three patterns of tone sandhi exhibited in the Fuzhou dialect may be a reflex of the voicing split from Middle Chinese into different registers. This is based on a comparison with the tonal sandhi system of the subdialect of Lianjiang, a very similar but more conservative Eastern Min variety, where three tonal categories on penultimate syllables ("Yin" / Ĭng / 陰 from unvoiced consonants in Middle Chinese; "Yang" / Iòng / 陽 from voiced consonants in Middle Chinese; and a third "Shang" / Siōng / 上 tonal category from the Middle Chinese "rising tone" 上聲 where the Yin and Yang registers have merged) interact with the tonal category of the final syllable to form the sandhi pattern in Lianjiang. Although the effect of the historical tonal registers from Middle Chinese is clear in Lianjiang, the Fuzhou tonal sandhi system has deviated from the older pattern, in that the tone Iòng-ké̤ṳ 陽去˨˦˨, which is from the historical "Yang" tonal register, now follows the sandhi rules for the "Yin" register; and the sandhi tone Ĭng-ĭk-gák 陰入乙 ˨˦, which comes from the historical "Yin" register, follow the sandhi rules for the merged "Shang" tone.

The tonal sandhi rules of more than two syllables display further complexities. For three-syllable domains:

Four-syllable words can be treated as two sequential two-syllable units, and undergo two-syllable tone sandhi accordingly; in faster speech, the first two syllables are reduced to a half dark departing tone, and the remaining two syllables undergo two-syllable tone sandhi. A domain of four syllables is the maximum, with anything larger broken down to into smaller domains.

Initials

There are fifteen initials, including a zero initial realized as a glottal stop :

The Chinese characters in the brackets are also sample characters from Qī Lín Bāyīn.

Some speakers find it difficult to distinguish between the initials /n/ and /l/.

No labiodental phonemes, such as /f/ or /v/, exist in the Fuzhou dialect, which is one of the most conspicuous characteristics shared by all branches in the Min Family.

and exist only in connected speech (see Initial assimilation below).

Initial assimilation

In the Fuzhou dialect, there are various kinds of initial assimilation, all of which are progressive. When two or more than two syllables combine into a word, the initial of the first syllable stays unchanged while those of the following syllables, in most cases, change to match its preceding phoneme, i.e., the coda of its preceding syllable. As with the rime changes, initial assimilation is not as mandatory as tone sandhi in connected speech, and its presence and absence may indicate different parts of speech, different meanings of a single word, or different relationships between groups of words syntactically.

Note that although /-k/ and /-ʔ/ are generally pronounced the same in isolation, realized as a final glottal stop , they cause drastically different effects on the initials that follow. They also differ in how common it is to drop them in natural linked speech. These have been called prelinked and floating glottal stops respectively in academic literature.

Rimes

The table below shows the seven vowel phonemes of the Fuzhou dialect. Fuzhou is known for its vowel alternations much discussed in the linguistic literature.

In the Fuzhou dialect, the codas /-m/, /-n/, and /-ŋ/ have all merged as /-ŋ/, and /-p/, /-t/, /-k/ have all merged as /-ʔ/. Seven vowel phonemes, together with the codas /-ŋ/ and /-ʔ/, are organized into forty-six rimes.

As has been mentioned above, there are theoretically two different entering tonal codas in the Fuzhou dialect: /-k/ and /-ʔ/. However, for most Fuzhou dialect speakers, those two codas are only distinguishable when in the tonal sandhi or initial assimilation.

Close/Open rimes

Some rimes come in pairs in the above table: the one to the left represents a close rime (緊韻), while the other represents an open rime (鬆韻). This vowel alternation of close/open rimes is closely related with the tones. In single syllables, the tones of Ĭng-bìng (陰平), Siōng-siăng (上聲), Iòng-bìng (陽平) and Iòng-ĭk (陽入) have close rimes, while Ĭng-ké̤ṳ (陰去), Ĭng-ĭk (陰入) and Iòng-ké̤ṳ (陽去) have open rimes.

In connected speech, an open rime shifts to its close counterpart in the tonal sandhi. For instance, "福" (hók) is a Ĭng-ĭk syllable and is pronounced and "州" (ciŭ) a Ĭng-bìng syllable with the pronunciation of . When these two syllables combine into the word "福州" (Hók-ciŭ, Fuzhou), "福" changes its tonal value from ˨˦ to ˨˩ and, simultaneously, shifts its rime from to , so the phrase is pronounced . In contrast, in the word "中國" (Dṳ̆ng-guók, China), "中" is a Ĭng-bìng syllable and therefore its close rime never changes, though it does change its tonal value from ˥ to ˥˧ in tonal sandhi.

As with initial assimilation, the closing of open rimes in connected speech is not as compulsory as tone sandhi. It has been described as "a sort of switch that flips on and off to indicate different things", so its presence or absence can indicate different meanings or different syntactic functions.

The phenomenon of close/open rimes is nearly unique to the Fuzhou dialect and this feature makes it especially intricate and reduces its intelligibility, even to speakers of other Min varieties. Even cross-linguistically, such phonological tone-vowel interactions are rare.

Other phonological features

Neutral tone

The neutral tone is attested in the Fuzhou dialect, as well as being found in the Southern Min group and in varieties of Mandarin Chinese, including Beijing-based Standard Mandarin. It is commonly found in some modal particles, aspect markers, and some question-forming negative particles that come after units made up of one tone sandhi domain, and in some adverbs, aspect markers, conjunctions etc. that come before such units. These two types, the post-nucleus and the pre-nucleus neutral tone, exhibit different tone sandhi behavior. Disyllabic neutral tone words are also attested, as are some inter-nuclei neutral tones, mainly connected to the use of 蜀 siŏh /suoʔ˥/ in verbal reduplication.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2012)

Vocabulary

Most words in the Fuzhou dialect have cognates in other varieties of Chinese, so a non-Fuzhou speaker would find it much easier to understand the Fuzhou dialect written in Chinese characters than spoken in conversation. However, false friends do exist: for example, "莫細膩" (mŏ̤h sá̤-nê) means "don't be too polite" or "make yourself at home", "我對手汝洗碗" (nguāi dó̤i-chiū nṳ̄ sā̤ uāng) means "I help you wash dishes", "伊共伊老媽嚟冤家" (ĭ gâe̤ng ĭ lâu-mā lā̤ uŏng-gă) means "he and his wife are quarreling (with each other)", etc. Mere knowledge of Mandarin vocabulary, with the cognates 細膩 xìnì, 對手 duìshǒu and 冤家 yuānjiā, does not assist in understanding the nuance of such sentences.

The majority of Fuzhou dialect vocabulary dates back more than 1,200 years. Some everyday words are still in use as they were in the Tang dynasty, as illustrated by a poem of a renowned Chinese poet of the era, Gu Kuang. In his poem Jiǎn (囝), Gu Kuang explicitly noted:

囝，音蹇。閩俗呼子為囝，父為郎罷。
"囝 is pronounced as 蹇. In Fujian vernacular son is called 囝, and father 郎罷."

In the Fuzhou dialect, "囝" (giāng) for 'son' and "郎罷" (nòng-mâ) for 'father' are still in use today.

Words from Old Chinese

Quite a few words from Old Chinese have retained the original meanings for thousands of years, while their counterparts in Mandarin Chinese have either fallen out of daily use or varied to different meanings.

This table shows some Fuzhou dialect words from Old Chinese, as contrasted to Mandarin Chinese:

"看" (káng) is also used as the verb "to look" in the Fuzhou dialect.

"養" (iōng) in the Fuzhou dialect means "give birth to (a child)".

This table shows some words that are used in the Fuzhou dialect close to as they were in Classical Chinese, while the meanings in Mandarin Chinese have altered:

Words from Ancient Minyue language

Some daily used words, shared by all Min varieties, came from the ancient Minyue language. Such as follows:

Literary and colloquial readings

The literary and colloquial readings is a feature commonly found in all Chinese dialects throughout China. Literary readings are mainly used in formal phrases derived from the written language, while the colloquial ones are used in colloquial phrases in the spoken language, as well as when used on their own.

Phonologically, a large range of phonemes can differ between the character's two readings: in tone, final, initial, or any and all of these features.

This table displays some widely used characters in the Fuzhou dialect which have both literary and colloquial readings:

Loan words from English

The First Opium War, also known as the First Anglo-Chinese War, was ended in 1842 with the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing, which forced the Qing government to open Fuzhou to all British traders and missionaries. Since then, quite a number of churches and Western-style schools have been established. Consequently, some English words came into the Fuzhou dialect, but without fixed written forms in Chinese characters. The most frequently used words are listed below:

• kŏk, , noun, meaning "an article of dress", is from the word "coat";
• nă̤h, , noun, meaning "a meshwork barrier in tennis or badminton", is from the word "net";
• pèng, , noun, meaning "oil paint", is from the word "paint";
• pĕng-giāng, , noun, meaning "a small sum of money", is from the word "penny";
• tă̤h, , noun, meaning "money", is from the word "take";
• sò̤, , verb, meaning "to shoot (a basket)", is from the word "shoot";
• ă-gì, , verb, meaning "to pause (usually a game)", is from the word "again".
• Mā-lăk-gă, , meaning "Southeastern Asian (esp. Singapore and Malaysia)", is from the word "Malacca".

Examples

Some common phrases in the Fuzhou dialect:

• Fuzhou dialect: 福州話 Hók-ciŭ-uâ [huʔ˨˩ tsiu˥˧ ua˨˦˨]
• Hello: 汝好 Nṳ̄ hō̤ [ny˧ ho˧]
• Good-bye: 再見 Cái-giéng [tsai˥˧ kjeŋ˨˩˧]
• Please: 請 Chiāng [tsʰjaŋ˧] ; 起動 Kī-dâe̤ng [kʰi˥ lɔyŋ˨˦˨]
• Thank you: 謝謝 Siâ-siâ [sja˥˧ lja˨˦˨] ; 起動 Kī-dâe̤ng [kʰi˥ lɔyŋ˨˦˨]
• Sorry: 對不住 Dó̤i-bók-cê̤ṳ [tøy˨˩ puʔ˥ tsøy˨˦˨]
• This: 嚽 Cuòi [tsui˥˧] ; 啫 Ciā [tsja˧] ; 茲 Cī [tsi˧]
• That: 噲 Huòi [hui˥˧] ; 嘻 Hiā [hja˧] ; 許 Hī [hi˧]
• How much?: 偌 Nuâi [nwai˨˦˨] (niŏh-uâi [nwoʔ˨˩ wai˨˦˨])
• Yes: 正是 Ciáng-sê [tsjaŋ˥˧ nɛi˨˦˨] ; 無綻 Mò̤ dâng [mo˨˩ laŋ˨˦˨] ; 著 Diŏh [tɥoʔ˥] (Duŏh [twoʔ˥])
• No: 伓是 Ng-sê [ŋ˥˧ nɛi˨˦˨] ; 綻 Dâng [taŋ˨˦˨] ; 賣著 Mâ̤ diŏh [me˥ tɥoʔ˥] (Mâ̤ duŏh [me˥ twoʔ˥])
• I don't understand: 我賣會意 Nguāi mâ̤ huôi-é [ŋwai˧ me˨˩ hui˥˧ ɛi˨˩˧]
• What's his name?: 伊名什乇？ Ĭ miàng sié-nó̤h? [i˥ mjaŋ˥˧ sje˨˩ nɔʔ˨˦]
• Where's the hotel?: 賓館洽底所？ Bĭng-guāng găk diē-nē̤? [piŋ˥˧ kwaŋ˧ kaʔ˥ tje˨˦ nø˧]
• How can I go to the school?: 去學校怎樣行？ Kó̤ hăk-hâu cuōng-iông giàng? [kʰo˥˧ haʔ˨˩ hau˨˦˨ tswoŋ˥ ɥoŋ˨˦˨ kjaŋ˥˧]
• Do you speak the Fuzhou dialect?: 汝會講福州話賣？ Nṳ̄ â̤ gōng Hók-ciŭ-uâ mâ̤? [ny˧ e˥˧ kouŋ˧ huʔ˨˩ tsiu˥˧ wa˨˦˨ ma˨˦˨]
• Do you speak English?: 汝會講英語賣？ Nṳ̄ â̤ gōng Ĭng-ngṳ̄ mâ̤? [ny˧ e˥˧ kouŋ˧ iŋ˥˧ ŋy˧ ma˨˦˨]

Writing system

Chinese characters

Most words of the Fuzhou dialect stem from Old Chinese and can therefore be written in Chinese characters. Many books published during the Qing dynasty had been written in this traditional way, such as the famous Mǐndū Biéjì (閩都別記, Foochow Romanized: Mìng-dŭ Biék-gé). However, Chinese characters as the writing system for the Fuzhou dialect can have many shortcomings.

First, a great number of words are unique to the Fuzhou dialect, so that they can only be written in informal ways. For instance, the word "mâ̤", a negative word, has no common form. Some write it as "賣" or "袂", both of which share with it an identical pronunciation but have an irrelevant meaning; and others prefer to use a newly created character, 𣍐, combining "勿" and "會", but this character is not included in most fonts.

Second, the Fuzhou dialect has been excluded from the educational system for many decades. As a result, many if not all take for granted that the Fuzhou dialect does not have a formal writing system and when they have to write it, they tend to employ characters with a similar Mandarin Chinese enunciation. For example, "會使 (â̤ sāi)", meaning "okay", are frequently written as "阿塞" because they are uttered almost in the same way.

Foochow Romanized

Foochow Romanized, also known as Bàng-uâ-cê (平話字, BUC for short) or Hók-ciŭ-uâ Lò̤-mā-cê (福州話羅馬字), is a romanized orthography for the Fuzhou dialect adopted in the middle of 19th century by American and English missionaries. It had varied at different times, and became standardized several decades later. Foochow Romanized was mainly used inside of church circles, and was taught in some mission schools in Fuzhou.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008)

Mǐnqiāng Kuàizì

Mǐnqiāng Kuàizì (閩腔快字, Foochow Romanized: Mìng-kiŏng Kuái-cê), literally meaning "Fujian Colloquial Fast Characters", is a Qieyin System (切音系統) for Fuzhou dialect designed by Chinese scholar and calligrapher Li Jiesan (力捷三) in 1896.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008)

Example text

Below is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights written in the Fuzhou dialect, using both Foochow Romanized (left) and Chinese characters (center).

IPA

Literary and art forms

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008)

See also

• Fuzhou
• Fuzhou people
• Fuqing dialect
• Chinatown, Brooklyn
• Chinatown, Flushing
• Chinatown, Manhattan
• Manhattan's Little Fuzhou

Notes

1. Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.

References

1. Li, Rulong 李如龙; Liang, Yuzhang 梁玉璋, eds. (1994). Fúzhōu fāngyán cídiǎn 福州方言词典 [Fuzhou dialect dictionary]. Fuzhou: Fujian People's Publishing House. ISBN 7-211-02354-6.
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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.
5. ^ 本土語言納中小學必修 潘文忠：將按語發法實施 (in Chinese)
6. "國家語言發展法 第二條".
7. 大眾運輸工具播音語言平等保障法
8. "WALS Online - Language Fuzhou". World Atlas of Language Structures. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
9. 陈泽平. (1998). 福州方言研究: 福建人民出版社, 福州.
10. Li Rulong, Liang Yuzhang: Fuzhou Dialect Records, 2001, ISBN 7-80597-361-X
11. Li, Zhuqing: A study of the "Qī Lín Bāyīn", University of Washington, 1993
12. Survey by Fuzhou Evening Paper Showing Less Than Half of Fuzhou Youth Able to Speak Fuzhou Dialect (in Chinese)
13. Fuzhou Dialect Protected as Intangible Cultural Heritage Archived 2011-08-07 at the Wayback Machine (in Chinese)
14. "馬祖小朋友個個得學福州話 - GetIt01". www.getit01.com. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
15. 大眾運輸工具播音語言平等保障法
16. "地铁2号线通车后公共交通出行逐步改善_工作动态_市交通局". fzjt.fuzhou.gov.cn. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
17. Yuan Jiahua: Summary of Chinese Dialects, 2nd Edition, 2003, ISBN 978-7-80126-474-9
18. 李如龙, & 梁玉璋. (Eds.). (1994) 福州方言词典. 福州: 福建人民出版社.
19. 冯爱珍, & 李荣. (Eds.). (1998) 福州方言词典. 江苏教育出版社.
20. ^ Donohue, Cathryn (2013). Fuzhou tonal acoustics and tonology. Muenchen. ISBN 9783862885220. OCLC 869209191.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
21. Donohue, Cathryn (2012). The role of contour and phonation in Fuzhou tonal identification In Quantitative approaches to problems in linguistics : studies in honour of Phil Rose. Donohue, Cathryn, Ishihara, Shunichi, Steed, William, Rose, Philip, 1949-. Muenchen. ISBN 9783862883844. OCLC 822991941
22. Nguāi Muōng Gōng Nṳ̄ Muōng Tiăng (我罔講汝罔聽), post of March 17th, 2006, retrieved December 26th, 2011.
23. ^ Chan, Marjorie K.M. (December 1990). "Prelinked and Floating Glottal Stops In Fuzhou Chinese". Canadian Journal of Linguistics. 35 (4): 331–349. doi:10.1017/S000841310001392X. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
24. Wu, J., & Chen, Y. (2012). The Effect of Historical Tone Categories on Tone Sandhi in Lianjiang. Paper presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the IACL, Hongkong.
25. Wu, J., & Chen, Y. (2012). An account of Lianjiang tone Sandhi: Pitch target, context, and historical tone categories. Paper presented at the Tone and Intonation Conference 2012 (TIE5), Londen.
26. ^ Li Zhuqing: Fuzhou Phonology and Grammar, Dunwoody Press (2002), page 6.
27. ^ Donohue, Cathryn (18 December 2017). "Tones and vowels in Fuzhou revisited". Segmental Structure and Tone. pp. 99–108. doi:10.1515/9783110341263-004. ISBN 9783110341263. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
28. Peng, Gongguan (2011). A phonetic study of Fuzhou Chinese (PDF) (Thesis). City University of Hong Kong. Note that the thesis does not mention the open rimes for /e/, /ø/ and /eu/ and does not analyse phonemes independently from tonal allophones.
29. Becker, Michael; Jurgec, Peter (18 December 2017). "Interactions of tone and ATR in Slovenian". Segmental Structure and Tone. pp. 11–26. doi:10.1515/9783110341263-002. ISBN 9783110341263. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
30. Li Zhuqing: Fuzhou Phonology and Grammar, Dunwoody Press (2002), page 106.
31. Zhao Rihe: Fuzhou Dialect Rhyme Dictionary, 1998, MRXN-1998-0465
32. Chen Zeping: Loan Words in Fuzhou dialect, Fujian Normal University, 1994
33. "福州女校三鼎甲" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2008-04-08.

Further reading

Missionary texts

• White, M.C. (1856). "The Chinese Language Spoken at Fuh Chau". The Methodist Review. 38: 352–381.
• Maclay, R.S.; Baldwin, C.C. (1870). An alphabetic dictionary of the Chinese language in the Foochow dialect. Foochow: Methodist Episcopal Mission Press.
• Baldwin, C.C. (1871). A manual of the Foochow dialect. Foochow: Methodist Episcopal Mission Press.
• Maclay, R.S.; Baldwin, C.C.; Leger, S.H. (1929). Dictionary of the Foochow dialect. Shanghai: Presbyterian Mission Press.

Modern studies

• Chen, Leo (1969). Foochow-English, English-Foochow glossary (PDF). San Francisco, CA: Asian Language Publication.
• Chen, Leo; Norman, Jerry (1965). An Introduction to the Foochow Dialect. San Francisco State College.
• Chen, Zeping 陈泽平 (1998). Fúzhōu fāngyán yánjiū 福州方言研究 [Studies of the Fuzhou dialect]. Fuzhou: Fujian People's Publishing House. ISBN 978-7-211-03080-4.
• —— (2010). Shíjiǔ shìjì yǐlái de Fúzhōu fāngyán - Chuánjiào shì Fúzhōu tǔ bái wénxiàn zhī yǔyán xué yánjiū 十九世纪以来的福州方言——传教士福州土白文献之语言学研究 [Fuzhou dialect since the 19th century – Missionary literature on the Fuzhou dialect]. Fuzhou: Fujian People's Publishing House. ISBN 978-7-211-06054-2.
• Dai, Ligang 戴黎刚 (2010). "Fúzhōuhuà shēngmǔ lèi huà lìwài de yuányīn" 福州话声母类化例外的原因. Fangyan. 3.
• Donohue, Cathryn (2013). Fuzhou tonal acoustics and tonology. LINCOM Europa. ISBN 978-3-86288-522-0.
• Feng, Aizhen 冯爱珍; Li, Rong, eds. (1998). Fúzhōu fāngyán cídiǎn 福州方言词典 [Fuzhou dialect dictionary]. Jiangsu Educational Press. ISBN 7-5343-3421-7.
• Li, Rulong 李如龙, ed. (2000). 福州话声母类化的制约条件. Xiamen University (Philosophy and Social Sciences). Archived from the original on 2019-11-09. Retrieved 2015-02-06.
• Li, Rulong 李如龙; Liang, Yuzhang 梁玉璋, eds. (1994). Fúzhōu fāngyán cídiǎn 福州方言词典 [Fuzhou dialect dictionary]. Fuzhou: Fujian People's Publishing House. ISBN 7-211-02354-6.
• Li, Zhuqing (1997). Fuzhou-English Dictionary. Dunwoody Press. ISBN 978-1-881265-52-8.
• —— (2002). Fuzhou Phonology and Grammar. Dunwoody Press. ISBN 978-1-881265-93-1.
• Liang, Yuzhang 梁玉璋 (1982). "Fúzhōu fāngyán de 'qiè jiǎo cí'" 福州方言的"切脚词". Fangyan. 1: 37–46.

External links

• Fuzhou Dialect Textbook: Elementary school textbook in Matsu.
• Fuzhou dialect phonology, by James Campbell.
• Five Languages Translator
• Fuzhou Dialect Resources
• Eastern Min Chinese (Speech variety #113): Globalrecordings.net. Eastern Min Chinese (Speech variety #113)
• OLAC resources in and about the Eastern Min Chinese language: OLAC. OLAC resources in and about the Eastern Min Chinese language

v t e Sino-Tibetan branches
Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim)	West Himalayish Tamangic Newaric Newar Baram–Thangmi Kiranti Dhimalish Dhimal Toto Lhokpu Lepcha Greater Magaric Magaric Magar Kham Chepangic Chepang Bhujel Raji–Raute Dura–Tandrange
Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal)	Bodish Tibetic East Bodish Tshangla Basum Nam? Gongduk ʼOle Tani Chamdo
Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border	Karbi Kuki-Chin Mruic Mru Hkongso Pyu Taman "Naga" Ao Angami–Pochuri Meitei Tangkhulic Zeme Sal Boro–Garo Konyak Jingpho–Luish
East and Southeast Asia	Sinitic Bai Tujia Nungish Karenic Gong Kathu Cai–Long Caijia Longjia Luren Burmo-Qiangic Qiangic Gyalrongic Ersuic Naic Lolo-Burmese Mondzish Burmish Loloish
Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal)	Hrusish Hruso Mijiic Kho-Bwa Puroik Miju–Meyor Songlin Greater Siangic Siangic Koro Milang Idu–Taraon
Proposed groupings	Central Tibeto-Burman Kuki-Chin–Naga Macro-Bai Mahakiranti Rung Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Kanauri
Proto-languages	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Proto-Tibeto-Burman Proto-Loloish Proto-Karenic Proto-Min Proto-Hakka
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches.

v t e Min Chinese
Languages Eastern Min Houguan Fuzhou dialect Fuqing dialect Changle dialect Gutian dialect Matsu dialect Funing Xiapu dialect Fu'an dialect Ningde dialect Others Manjiang dialect Zhongshan Min Longdu dialect Nanlang dialect Southern Min Teochew Min Swatow dialect Hokkien Amoy dialect Quanzhou dialects Hui'an dialect Yongchun dialect Zhangzhou dialects Chawan dialect Longyan dialect Taiwanese Banana colloquial speech Northern Malacca Straits Hokkien Penang Hokkien Medan Hokkien Kelantan Peranakan Hokkien Philippine Hokkien Southern Malacca Straits Hokkien Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien Singaporean Hokkien Others Datian Min Houlu dialect Haklau Min Zhenan Min Zhongshan Min Sanxiang dialect Pu–Xian Min (Hinghwa) Putian dialect Xianyou dialect Northern Min Jian'ou dialect Jianyang dialect Shao–Jiang Min Shaowu dialect Jiangle dialect Central Min Sanming dialect Shaxian dialect Yong'an dialect Leizhou Min Zhanjiang dialect Hainanese Haikou dialect Wenchang dialect
Writing system Logographic Chinese characters Alphabetic Pe̍h-ōe-jī Pe̍h-ūe-jī Hainan Romanized Foochow Romanized Hinghwa Romanized Kienning Colloquial Romanized Taiwanese Romanization System Taiwanese Language Phonetic Alphabet Daighi tongiong pingim Bbánlám pìngyīm Peng'im Fuzhou Transliteration Scheme Hainanese Transliteration Scheme Mixed Hàn-lô
Research Proto-languages Proto-Min Rime dictionaries Qi Lin Bayin Jianzhou Ba Yin

v t e Chinese language
Sinitic languages
Major groups	Mandarin Northeastern Changchun Harbin Shenyang Taz Beijing Beijing Taiwan Jilu Tianjin Jinan Jiaoliao Dalian Qingdao Weihai Central Plains Dongping Gangou Guanzhong Xi'an Luoyang Xuzhou Dungan Xinjiang Southwestern Sichuanese Chengdu–Chongqing Minjiang Leshan Renshou–Fushun Zigong Kunming Nanping Wuhan Gui–Liu Wuming Jianghuai Nanjing Nantong Nanping Lanyin Lanzhou dialect [zh] Urumqi dialect [zh] Xinjiang Other Junjiahua Qinjiang Gyami Jin Zhangjiakou–Hohhot Zhi–Yan Wu Taihu Shanghai Suzhou Wuxi Changzhou Hangzhou (?) Shaoxing Ningbo Jinxiang Jiangyin Shadi Taizhou Wu Taizhou Tiantai Oujiang Wenzhou Rui'an Wencheng Wuzhou Jinhua Chu–Qu Quzhou Jiangshan Qingtian Xuanzhou Xuancheng Huizhou Ji-She [zh] Xiu-Yi [zh] Qi-De [zh] Yanzhou [zh] Jing-Zhan [zh] Gan Chang–Du Nanchang Yi–Liu Ying–Yi Da–Tong Xiang Changyi Changsha Loushao Shuangfeng Xiangxiang Wugang Ji–Xu Yong–Quan Qiyang Min Eastern Houguan Fuzhou Fuqing Changle Gutian Matsu Fu–Ning Ningde Fu'an Other Manjiang Zhongshan Longdu Nanlang Southern Hokkien Quanzhou Zhangzhou Amoy Chawan Taiwan Philippine Pedan Penang Singapore Malaysian Teochew Swatow Haklau Zhongshan Sanxiang Other Zhenan Longyan Other Northern Jian'ou Jianyang Central Pu–Xian Shao–Jiang Leizhou Zhanjiang Hainan Wenchang Haikou Banqiao Hakka Meixian Wuhua Huizhou Tingzhou Changting Taiwanese Sixian Hailu Raoping Yue Yuehai Guangzhou Hong Kong Malaysia Xiguan Jiujiang Shiqi Weitou Dapeng Siyi Taishan Xinhui Other Gao–Yang Goulou Wu–Hua Yong–Xun Luo–Guang Qin–Lian Pinghua Northern Tongdao Younian Southern Yongjiang Guandao Rongjiang Unclassified Shaozhou Tuhua Xiangnan Tuhua Badong Yao Danzhou Mai Shehua Waxiang Yeheni Huizhou Bai Cai-Long Caijia Longjia Luren Laobeizi
Standard forms	Standard Chinese Sichuanese Taiwanese Philippine Malaysian Singaporean Standard Singdarin Cantonese Hokkien Hakka
Phonology	Historical Old Old National Cantonese Hokkien Northern Wu Mandarin Literary and colloquial readings
Grammar	Numerals Classifiers Honorifics Cantonese grammar Classical grammar
Idioms	Chengyu Xiehouyu
Input	Biaoxingma Boshiamy Cangjie Simplified CKC Dayi Pinyin Google Microsoft Sogou Stroke count Wubi (Wang Ma) ZhengMa
History	Old Chinese Eastern Han Middle Chinese Old Mandarin Middle Mandarin Proto-Min Proto-Hakka Ba–Shu Gan
Literary forms	Official Classical Adoption in Japan in Vietnam Vernacular Written Cantonese Written Dungan Written Hokkien Written Sichuanese
Scripts	Logographic Script styles Oracle bone Bronze Seal Clerical Semi-cursive Cursive Chinese characters Simplified Traditional Punctuation Braille Cantonese Mainland Chinese Taiwanese Two-cell Phonetic Cyrillization Dungan Cyrillic Romanization Gwoyeu Romatzyh Hanyu Pinyin MPS II Postal Tongyong Pinyin Wade–Giles EFEO Lessing-Othmer Yale Bopomofo Cantonese Bopomofo Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols Taiwanese kana Taiwanese Hangul Xiao'erjing Nüshu
List of varieties of Chinese

• Eastern Min
• City colloquials
• Culture in Fujian
• Languages of China