Fuzhou dialect

The Fuzhou language, also known as Foochow, Hokchew, Hok-chiu, Fuzhounese, or Fujianese, is a special way of speaking mainly used in the Mindong region of Eastern Fujian Province. It belongs to the Eastern Min branch of Min Chinese.

This way of speaking is centered in Fuzhou City and is used in 11 cities and counties in China, including places like Pingnan, Gutian, and Fuqing. It is also spoken in Lienchiang County, also known as the Matsu Islands, which belongs to Taiwan.

Many people who speak the Fuzhou dialect have moved to other countries, such as Japan, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. In Malaysia, the city of Sibu is called "New Fuzhou" because many Fuzhou people settled there a long time ago.

Name

In Chinese, this language is called 福州话 (Fúzhōuhuà). It is also known as Hók-ciŭ-uâ. Another name is 福州語 (Fúzhōuyǔ), which means "the speech of Fuzhou." Local speakers often call it Bàng-uâ, meaning "the everyday language."

In English, it is most commonly called the "Fuzhou dialect." It is also known as "Fuzhounese." Older English writings sometimes use the name "Foochow dialect."

History

After the Han dynasty took control of the Minyue kingdom in 110 BC, many Chinese people moved to what is now Fujian Province. They brought their language, Old Chinese, which mixed with local languages to create early Min languages. This helped create Eastern Min, Southern Min, and other Min languages.

A famous book from the 1600s called Qī Lín Bāyīn was the first big guide to help people learn to read and speak the Fuzhou dialect. Western missionaries also studied the Fuzhou dialect to help teach local people. By the end of the old Chinese government, most people in Fuzhou spoke only one language. Today, efforts are being made to keep the Fuzhou dialect alive, including teaching it in schools in some places.

Writing system

Most words in the Fuzhou dialect come from very old Chinese and can be written with Chinese characters. But Chinese characters don’t work perfectly for Fuzhou because many words are special to this dialect and it didn’t have a proper writing system for a long time.

Foochow Romanized

Main article: Foochow Romanized

Foochow Romanized, also called Bàng-uâ-cê or BUC, is a way to write the Fuzhou dialect using regular letters instead of Chinese characters. It was created in the middle of the 1800s by American and English missionaries. It changed over time and was later made standard. Foochow Romanized was mostly used in church groups and taught in some mission schools in Fuzhou.

Phonology

This section is about the standard Fuzhou dialect. For a discussion of other dialects, see § Regional variations.

Like all Chinese varieties, the Fuzhou dialect is a tonal language, and has rules in the initials, rimes, and tones. These rules make the Fuzhou dialect one of the more 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 later years.

In Qī Lín Bāyīn, the Fuzhou dialect is described as having eight tones. That name, however, is somewhat misleading, because two tones 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 [k] or a glottal stop [ʔ]. However, they are both now realized as a glottal stop.

Besides those seven tones listed above, two new tonal values occur in connected speech.

Initials

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

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.

[β] and [ʒ] exist only in connected speech (see Initial assimilation below).

Initial assimilation

In the Fuzhou dialect, there are various kinds of initial assimilation. 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.

Note that although /-k/ and /-ʔ/ are generally pronounced the same in isolation, they cause different effects on the initials that follow.

Rimes

The table below shows the seven vowel phonemes of the Fuzhou dialect. Fuzhou is known for its vowel alternations.

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.

In connected speech, an open rime shifts to its close counterpart in the tonal sandhi.

As with initial assimilation, the closing of open rimes in connected speech is not as compulsory as tone sandhi.

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.

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.

Vocabulary

Most words in the Fuzhou dialect are related to words in other Chinese languages. This makes them easier to understand when you see them written down. However, some words sound similar but mean different things. For example, "莫細膩" means "don’t be too polite," and "我對手汝洗碗" means "I help you wash dishes."

Many words in the Fuzhou dialect have been used for over 1,200 years, from very old times. Some everyday words are still used exactly as they were long ago, showing how the language has stayed the same.

¹ "看" (káng) is also used as the verb "to look" in the Fuzhou dialect.

² "養" (iōng) in the Fuzhou dialect means "give birth to (a child)".

Some daily words in the Fuzhou dialect come from very old languages, keeping meanings that have changed in other Chinese languages.

The Fuzhou dialect, like other Chinese languages, uses different sounds for the same written word depending on whether it is used in formal writing or everyday speech.

After traders and visitors arrived in Fuzhou, some English words entered the dialect. These words do not have fixed written forms but are used in everyday speech. For example:

• kŏk means "coat"
• nă̤h means "net"
• pèng means "paint"
• pĕng-giāng means "penny"
• tă̤h means "money"
• sò̤ means "shoot"
• ă-gì means "again"
• Mā-lăk-gă means "Southeastern Asian (especially Singapore and Malaysia)".

Tang dynasty Gu Kuang Old Chinese Mandarin Chinese Minyue language literary and colloquial readings First Opium War Treaty of Nanjing Qing government Fuzhou British English came into noun verb Singapore Malaysia Malacca

Examples

Some common phrases in the Fuzhou dialect:

• Fuzhou dialect: 福州話 Hók-ciŭ-uâ
• Hello: 汝好 Nṳ̄ hō̤
• Good-bye: 再見 Cái-giéng
• Please: 請 Chiāng; 起動 Kī-dâe̤ng
• Thank you: 謝謝 Siâ-siâ; 起動 Kī-dâe̤ng
• Sorry: 對不住 Dó̤i-bók-cê̤ṳ
• This: 嚽 Cuòi; 啫 Ciā; 茲 Cī
• That: 噲 Huòi; 嘻 Hiā; 許 Hī
• How much?: 偌 Nuâi
• Yes: 正是 Ciáng-sê; 無綻 Mò̤ dâng; 著 Diŏh
• No: 伓是 Ng-sê; 綻 Dâng; 賣著 Mâ̤ diŏh
• I don't understand: 我賣會意 Nguāi mâ̤ huôi-é
• What's his name?: 伊名什乇？ Ĭ miàng sié-nó̤h?
• Where's the hotel?: 賓館洽底所？ Bĭng-guāng găk diē-nē̤?
• How can I go to the school?: 去學校怎樣行？ Kó̤ hăk-hâu cuōng-iông giàng?
• Do you speak the Fuzhou dialect?: 汝會講福州話賣？ Nṳ̄ â̤ gōng Hók-ciŭ-uâ mâ̤?
• Do you speak English?: 汝會講英語賣？ Nṳ̄ â̤ gōng Ĭng-ngṳ̄ mâ̤?

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

[tě.ěiʔ.téu]
[sū.jū.nø̂ŋ.séiŋ.kjǎ.lî.tsěu.sěi.tsø̌y.jú.kî,]
[pěiŋ.tsʰjá.tjóʔ.tsóuŋ.ŋjêŋ.kǎøŋ.kwôŋ.líʔ.sjǒŋ.ěiʔ.lúʔ.pîŋ.tēiŋ]
[í.kǎuʔ.nø̂ŋ.ǒu.lī.sèiŋ.kǎøŋ.ljôŋ.síŋ,]
[pěiŋ.tsʰjá.èiŋ.kāi.ī.hjáŋ.tjě.kwáŋ.hjě.kî.tsíŋ.lî.hǒu.sjóŋ.tòi.tài]

Literary and art forms

The Fuzhou dialect has a long history in literature and art. Many traditional stories, songs, and plays have been made in this language. This shows how important it is to the culture of the area. Artists and writers have used the Fuzhou dialect to share their ideas and connect with their community through lovely and important works.