Hokkien phonology

This number does not include the three nasal consonants ([m], [n], [ŋ]), which are usually considered allophones of the non-nasal voiced initials (e.g. 命; miā; 'life' is analyzed as /bĩã⊇/, but pronounced as [mĩã²²]).

This allophony also leads to a notable feature of the Hokkien accent in other languages, such as Japanese or Mandarin, when the nasal sounds like [m] are denasalized into non-nasal voiced consonants like [b].

[2] Syllables starting with vowels or approximants (/w/, /j/) are considered to have the zero initial /∅/ (which can be articulated as a glottal stop [ʔ]).

This merger is still incomplete in some peripheral northern dialects, such as those of Tong'an or Yongchun, where /dz/ is reported to be present in some localities, in the speech of older speakers, or in a limited set of words (usually the more common ones, such as 日; ji̍t; 'day' or 二; jī; 'two').

E.g., characters like 潤 jūn 'wet', 軟 joán 'soft', 偌 jǒa 'how much' are now pronounced lūn, loán, lǒa even in Zhangzhou, although older Hokkien dictionaries record them with /dz/.

A final in Hokkien consists of a nucleus (a vowel, a diphthong, or a syllabic nasal /m̩/ or /ŋ̍/), with an optional medial (/i/ or /u/, some dialects also allow /ɯ/) and coda (/m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /p/, /t/, /k/, /ʔ/).

The exact number can vary depending on the specific dialect, as well as the inclusion of marginal finals from onomatopoeia and contractions.

The final -o͘ /ɔ/ is realized as a diphthong -ou [ou] in many rural Zhangzhou dialects (in Pinghe, Zhangpu, Yunxiao, Chawan, etc), similarly to Teochew.

-m /m̩/ is assigned mainly to the syllables with zero initial, e.g. in 毋 m̄ "not", 媒 m̂, hm̂ "matchmaker", 梅 m̂ "plum", 莓 m̂ "berry", etc.

These rimes also share some phonological constraints with /ɯ/ rather than /ə/, e.g. they do not cooccur with labial initials (so */pɯ/, */pʰɯk/~/pʰək/ or */mɯt/~/mət/ are not valid syllables in Hokkien, while /pə/ or /pʰə/ are possible).

They are found only in a few exceptionally conservative dialects, such as Quanzhou operatic, or, per Ang Ui-jin's survey, in the Taiwanese "Old Anxi accent", spoken among older generations in some areas of New Taipei (namely Sanxia, Linkou, Pinglin, Xizhi, Qidu, Pingxi, and Taishan), in Baozhong Township, and in a few villages in Xihu and Puyan.

Some Southern Zhangzhou dialects (such as Chawan, Yunxiao, and Zhangpu) differentiate between the rimes o͘ ⁿ /õu/ and oⁿ /õ/.

Similar distinction is found in other Southern Min languages, such as Teochew or Luichow, but in most dialects of Hokkien the two rimes are merged into o͘ ⁿ /ɔ̃/.

The rimes ioⁿ /iɔ̃/ and ohⁿ /ɔ̃ʔ/ (as in 漠漠 mo̍h-mo̍h, 膜 mo̍h, 瘼 moh) may be also described as /iõ/ and /õʔ/ for the aforementioned Southern Zhangzhou dialects.

Traditionally, four Middle Chinese tones are called "level" 平 piâⁿ, "rising" 上 chiǔⁿ, "departing" 去 khṳ̀ and "entering" 入 ji̍p.

Aside from having the neutral tone, unstressed syllables may undergo other changes, the most prominent of them being the loss the glottal stop and voicing of the initial:[16] The following combinations with the generic classifier 個 ê may have the preceding coda voiced and reduplicated: Neutral tone is used in the following contexts:[16] The suffix 仔 -á is related to some special phonetic changes.

E.g. in Tong'an dialect, a syllable ending in -a changes it to -ai before 仔 -á: 車仔 chhia-á > chhiai-á, 鴨仔 ah-á > aih-á, 籃仔 nâ-á > nâi-á, 衫仔 saⁿ-á > saiⁿ-á, etc.

Current Hokkien-speaking area mostly coincides with the 10th century Chheng-goân Circuit, a de facto independent polity that emerged after the fall of the Min Empire.

The charts below follow the classification of The Language Atlas of China, where Hai Lok Hong is included in Teochew.

It is divided into two dialects, Qianlu (the 'Frontlect') and Houlu, the former lying closer to Hokkien, and the latter having more Central Min influence.

In Teochew, most syllables with codas preserve the nasal initial, with a few exceptions: denasalization frequently occurs in some specific syllables, like buang (亡, 忘, 望, 萬), bak (木, 墨, but mak: 目), leng (能, 寧, 獰), long (農, 膿, 濃), lang (濃, 難, 囊, but nang: 儂), lung (嫩, 媆), bung (悶, 聞, 文, 紋, but mung: 門, 晚, 問).

In Hinghwa, Hokkien voiced consonants /b/, /dz/, /g/, including cases when they are derived from nasal initials, are further devoiced into /p/, /ts/, /k/.

The charts below illustrate the common correspondences in rimes between various dialects of Hokkien, as well as related Southern Min languages.

Middle Chinese finals are transcribed using Baxter's transcription, and Proto-Southern-Min reconstructions are per Kwok Bit-chee.

The choose of -ian/-iat or -uan/-uat for a given character derived from MC rhymes 仙三合 -jw(i)en and 先四合 -wen is not consistent among different languages.

For 仙三合 -jw(i)en, the generally used reflex is -uan/-uat for most Southern Min languages, except Hinghwa and Lengna, where it is -ian/-iat.

However, there is a tendency in Hokkien to have -ian/-iat here when the MC initial was 以 y-, either as the only reading or a non-standard popular variant.

Characters with 肙 as the phonetic element (涓, 罥, 鵑, 鞙) tend to have -uan in Hokkien, but -ian in other languages.

Characters derived from 夬 and 癸 tend to have -uat in mainstream Hokkien and Teochew, but -iat in Hinghwa, Lengna, Hai Lok Hong, etc.

Although this analysis is not typical for Hokkien, it is more common in the descriptions of Teochew (e.g. the Peng'im romanization would spell 迷 as mi5, and 棉 as min5, even though both are actually /mĩ⁵⁵/, or mî in Pe̍h-ūe-jī).