The Jian'ou dialect (Northern Min: / ; Chinese: ), 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.
Phonetics and phonology According to The Eight Tones of Kien-chou (), a rime dictionary published in 1795, the Jian'ou dialect had 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" () tone has disappeared.
Initials
+ Initials of the Jian'ou dialect Bilabial Alveolar Velar GlottalNasal Plosive voiceless unaspirated voiceless aspirated Affricatevoiceless unaspirated voiceless aspirated Fricative Approximant
Rimes + Rimes of the Jian'ou dialect Open syllable Nasal coda Open mouth /e/ tends to merge to [ɪ] /o/ tends to merge to [ʊ] which is mentioned in Kienning Colloquial Romanized has merged into in the modern dialect. Even mouth is not mentioned in Kienning Colloquial Romanized as it diverged from after the romanization system was established. Closed mouth Round mouth tends to merge into . tends to merge into .
Tones Jian'ou has four tones, which are reduced to two in checked syllables. + Tone chart of the Jian'ou dialect Tone number Tone name Tone contour 1 level () (54) or (5) 2 rising () (21) or (1) 3 dark departing () ˧ (3) 4 light departing () (4) 5 dark entering () (24) 6 light entering () (42)
The entering tones in the Jian'ou dialect do not have any entering tone coda () such as , , and which makes it distinct from many other Chinese varieties.
Notes
References
Sources
External links Cantonese and other dialects (in Chinese) Classification of Northern Min Dialects from Glossika Jian'ou Romanized Vernacular Bible