Wiktionary:About Chinese/Puxian Min

Puxian Min, also known as Puxian (莆仙語／莆仙语, 莆仙話／莆仙话), Hinghua (興化話／兴化话), is a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Putian City.

Historically, Puxian Min was written using Báⁿ-uā-ci̍ (平話字／平话字) system (Hinghwa Romanized), which recorded the accent of urban Putian in the late 19th century. This system differs significantly from the phonology of various modern Puxian accents. Consequently, online communities, led by the Puxian Dialect Society (莆仙鄉音社／莆仙乡音社), developed Pouseng Ping'ing (莆仙話拼音／莆仙话拼音) to document modern phonologies. Wiktionary uses Pouseng Ping'ing as the main romanization system, while Báⁿ-uā-ci̍ being an alternative form of Putian dialect if it is input manually.

This article aims to explain the usage of these romanization systems. It assumes a basic understanding of Puxian phonology.

Unless otherwise specified, all pronunciations are given in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Initials undergo changes when the syllable is a non-initial syllable of a (fossilised) compound:

• Lenited pronunciations are used when the previous syllable has a null coda.
• Nasal pronunciations are used when the previous syllable has a /-ŋ/ ‹-ng› coda.
• Nasalized pronunciations are used when the previous syllable has a nazalized final ‹-ⁿ›.
• The pronunciations are remain unchanged when the previous syllable has a /-ʔ/ ‹-h› coda.

Puxian Min has two non-independent tone classes:

Additionally, Puxian Min has three tones that only appear in tone sandhi.

Tone sandhi rules in the Puxian Min are complex. Generally, only non-final syllables in a word undergo tone sandhi.

Regular two-syllable tone sandhi are automatically done by the module. The table below shows these sandhi rules. The rows represent the tone of the first syllable, while the columns represent the tone of the second syllable. Each cell in the table indicates the resulting tone of the first syllable after tone sandhi occurs. For cells divided by a slash, the left side represents the Putian dialect, while the right side represents the Xianyou dialect.

The tone sandhi rules for three-syllable and four-syllable compounds are even more complex and are omitted here. When adding pronunciations for these words, one can manually specify the correct tone sandhi (see the section below).

- is used to handle irregular tone sandhi. The format is: original_pronunciation + - + actual_tone_number. For example:

• 龍脊骨: pt:loeng2-5 zih6-7 goh6/xy:lyeng2-5 zih6-7 guoh6
• 木虱鬼: pt,xy:bah7-6 seh6 gui3

* preceding an initial can be used to block lenition or nasal assimilation. For example:

• 經理: pt,xy:ging1 *li3
• 政治: pt,xy:zing4 *di5
• 手指: pt,xy:ciu5 *zai3

# succeeding a final can be used to block tone sandhi. For example:

• 日食: pt,xy:dih7# sih6
• 鴨母聽雷公: pt,xy:or5 bo3# *tia1 lui2 gorng1

> is used to handle irregular sound change except for tones. For example:

• 仙遊: pt,xy:sing1 iu>niu2

In the following table, C and L represent colloquial reading and literary reading respectively.

BUC has 15 initials.

BUC has 63 finals. Some finals with -h coda are divided into two categories: A and B. The contrast between these two categories only occurs in the light checked tone. See the below section for more information.

BUC has 8 tones, with the light checked tone being divided into two categories A and B. While they have identical BUC forms, their descendants have evolved into different tones. Category A characters retain the light checked tone, whereas Category B characters have merged with the light level tone in the Putian and Xianyou dialects, and with the rising tone in the Jiangkou dialect.

• 莆田市政协文化文史和学习委员会 , editor (2021), “About Chinese/Puxian Min”, in 莆仙方言大词典 (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN.
• 陈浩淼 (2020) 莆仙方言语音比较研究 , Fujian Normal University
• 黃金恳, 莆田市地方志编纂委员会, editor (2001), 莆田市志 , Beijing: 方志出版社, →ISBN
• 李如龍等 (2019) 莆仙方言調查報告 , Xiamen University Press