Hui'an dialect

The Hui'an dialect (simplified Chinese: 惠安话; traditional Chinese: 惠安話; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hūi-oaⁿ-ōe), is a variety of Chinese mostly spoken in Hui'an in South Fujian Province, China. It belongs to the Hokkien subgroup of Southern Min.^[4]

Hui'an
惠安话 / 惠安話
Native to	China
Region	Mainly in Hui'an and parts of Quangang District (formerly part of Hui'an), South Fujian province.
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Min Coastal Min Southern Min Hokkien Hui'an
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese[a] Proto-Min
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None
Linguasphere	79-AAA-jda

Phonology

The Hui'an dialect has 14 phonemic initials and over 80 finals.^[5][6]

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Velar	Glottal
			plain	sibilant[b]
Plosive/ Affricate	tenuis	/p/ 布	/t/ 大	/ts/ 左	/k/ 歌	/ʔ/ 乌 / 烏
	aspirated	/pʰ/ 坡	/tʰ/ 兔	/tsʰ/ 菜	/kʰ/ 去
	voiced[c]	/b/ 马 / 馬	/l/[d] 旅		/ɡ/ 鹅 / 鵝
Fricative				/s/ 苏 / 蘇		/h/ 鱼 / 魚

Finals

/i/

/ĩ/

/iʔ/

/ĩʔ/

/u/

/uʔ/

/un/

/ut/

/a/

/ã/

/au/

/aʔ/

/ãʔ/

/auʔ/

/ãuʔ/

/am/

/an/

/aŋ/

/ap/

/at/

/ak/

/ai/

/ãi/

/ãiʔ/

/e/

/ẽ/

/eʔ/

/ẽʔ/

/em/

/en/

/eŋ/

/ep/

/et/

/o/

/oʔ/

/ɔ/

/ɔ̃/

/ɔ̃ʔ/

/ɔŋ/

/ɔk/

/ɯ/

/ɯʔ/

/ə/

/əʔ/

/ən/

/ət/

/iu/

/iũ/

/iuʔ/

/iũʔ/

/ia/

/iã/

/iau/

/iãu/

/iaʔ/

/iãʔ/

/iauʔ/

/iãuʔ/

/iaŋ/

/iak/

/io/

/ioʔ/

/iɔŋ/

/iɔk/

/ui/

/uĩ/

/uiʔ/

/uĩʔ/

/ua/

/uã/

/uai/

/uãi/

/uaʔ/

/uãiʔ/

/uan/

/uaŋ/

/uat/

/ue/

/ueʔ/

/m̩ʔ/

/m̩/

/ŋ̍ʔ/

/ŋ̍/

Grammar

The demonstrative system has five pairs of pronouns with a two-way distinction:^[9][10]

Proximal	Distal	Translation
这 / 這 tsit7 (+ number) + numerative	彼 hit7 (+ number) + numerative	this/that; these/those; this/that kind of
这 / 這 tsat8	彼 hat8	this/that
这 / 這 tse2	彼 hə2	this/that kind of (generic)
遮 tsuai2	徊 huai2	these/those; this/that
种个 / 種個 tsiɔŋ3-2 e2	响个 / 響個 hiɔŋ3-2 e2	this/that kind of

Comparison with other varieties of Hokkien

Compared with the Quanzhou dialect (spoken in the central urban area of Quanzhou city), the greatest differences are present in the rimes:^[11][12]

Hui'an	Quanzhou	Example
		Hui'an	Quanzhou
/em/	/iam/	粘
		/lem˨˦/	/liam˨˦/
	/im/	林
		/lem˨˦/	/lim˨˦/
/ep/	/iap/	接
		/tsep˥/	/tsiap˥/
	/ip/	执 / 執
		/tsep˥/	/tsip˥/
/en/	/ian/	烟 / 煙
		/en˧/	/ian˧/
	/in/	因
		/en˧/	/in˧/
/et/	/iat/	浙
		/tset˥/	/tsiat˥/
	/it/	质 / 質
		/tset˥/	/tsit˥/
/eŋ/	/iŋ/	兵
		/peŋ˧/	/piŋ˧/
/ən/	/un/	银 / 銀
		/gən˨˦/	/gun˨˦/
/ət/	/ut/	核
		/hət˨˧/	/hut˨˦/

Notes

1. Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.^[1][2][3]
2. The alveolar sibilant phonemes /ts/, /tsʰ/ and /s/ are palatalized to [tɕ], [tɕʰ] and [ɕ], respectively, before /i/.^[7]
3. The three voiced phonemes /b/, /l/ and /ɡ/ are realized as the nasal stops [m], [n] and [ŋ], respectively, before nasalized finals.^[8][6]
4. The phoneme /l/ may be treated as a plosive, i.e. /d/.^[7]