# Matsu dialect

The Matsu dialect (Eastern Min: Mā-cū-uâ / 馬祖話) is the local dialect of Matsu Islands, Taiwan. Native speakers also call it Bàng-huâ (平話), meaning the language spoken in everyday life. It is recognised as one of the statutory languages for public transport announcements in Lienchiang County, Taiwan.
The dialect is a subdialect of the Fuzhou dialect of Eastern Min. The Matsu dialect is quite similar to the Changle dialect, another subdialect of the Fuzhou dialect.

## History

Previously the Eastern Min varieties in the Matsu Islands were seen as a part of general Fujian varieties. The establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 severed the Matsu Islands from the rest of Fujian province, and as communications were cut off between the Republic of China (now including Taiwan and without Mainland China) and the PRC, the identity of the Matsu Islands specifically became established. Additionally, the varieties of Eastern Min on the Matsu Islands became seen as a Matsu dialect.

## Phonology

The Matsu dialect has 17 initials, 46 rimes and 7 tones.

### Initials

| | | Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | /m/ (蒙) | /n/ (日) | /ŋ/ (語) | |
| Plosive | aspiration | /pʰ/ (波) | /tʰ/ (他) | /kʰ/ (氣) | |
| Plosive | plain | /p/ (邊) | /t/ (低) | /k/ (求) | /ʔ/ (鶯) |
| Fricative | Fricative | | /s/ (時) | | /h/ (喜) |
| Affricate | aspiration | | /tsʰ/ (出) | | |
| Affricate | plain | | /ts/ (曾) | | |
| Lateral | Lateral | | /l/ (柳) | | |
/β/ and /ʒ/ exist only in connected speech.

### Rimes

There are 46 rimes in the Matsu dialect.
| monophthong | compound vowel | nasal coda /-ŋ/ | checked coda /-ʔ/ |
| [a/ɑ] (蝦/罷) | [ia/iɑ](寫/夜) | [aŋ/ɑŋ](三/汗) | [aʔ/ɑʔ](盒/鴨) |
| [ɛ/a] (街/細) | [ie/iɛ](雞/毅) | [iŋ/ɛiŋ](人/任) | [øʔ/œʔ](扔/嗝) |
| [œ/ɔ] (驢/告) | [iu/ieu](秋/笑) | [uŋ/ouŋ](春/鳳) | [eʔ/ɛʔ](漬/咩) |
| [o/ɔ] (哥/抱) | [ua/uɑ](花/話) | [yŋ/øyŋ](銀/頌) | [oʔ/ɔʔ](樂/閣) |
| [i/ɛi] (喜/氣) | [uo/uɔ](科/課) | [iaŋ/iɑŋ](驚/命) | [iʔ/ɛiʔ](力/乙) |
| [u/ou] (苦/怒) | [yo/yɔ](橋/銳) | [ieŋ/iɛŋ](天/見) | [uʔ/ouʔ](勿/福) |
| [y/øy] (豬/箸) | [ai/ɑi](紙/再) | [uaŋ/uɑŋ](歡/換) | [yʔ/øyʔ](肉/竹) |
| | [au/ɑu](郊/校) | [uoŋ/uɔŋ](王/象) | [iaʔ/iɑʔ](擲/察) |
| | [ɛu/ɑu](溝/構) | [yoŋ/yɔŋ](鄉/樣) | [ieʔ/iɛʔ](熱/鐵) |
| | [øy/ɔy](催/罪) | [ɛiŋ/aiŋ](恒/硬) | [uaʔ/uɑʔ](活/法) |
| | [uai/uɑi](我/怪) | [ouŋ/ɔuŋ](湯/寸) | [uoʔ/uɔʔ](月/郭) |
| | [ui/uoi](杯/歲) | [øyŋ/ɔyŋ](桶/洞) | [yoʔ/yɔʔ](藥/弱) |
| | | | [ɛiʔ/aiʔ](賊/黑) |
| | | | [ouʔ/ɔuʔ](學/骨) |
| | | | [øyʔ/ɔyʔ](讀/角) |
Many rimes come in pairs: in the table above, the one to the left represents a close rime (緊韻), while the second represents an open rime (鬆韻). The close/open rimes are closely related with the tones (see below).

### Tone

| No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Tone name | dark level 陰平 | light level 陽平 | rising 上聲 | dark departing 陰去 | light departing 陽去 | dark entering 陰入 | light entering 陽入 |
| rime type | close rime | close rime | close rime | open rime | open rime | open rime | close rime |
| Tone contour | 55 ˥ | 51 ˥˩ | 33 ˧ | 312 ˧˩˨ | 131 ˩˧˩ | 13 ˩˧ | 5 ˥ |
| Example Hanzi | 君 /kuŋ˥/ | 臺 /tai˥˩/ | 祖 /tsu˧/ | 去 /kʰɔ˧˩˨/ | 話 /uɑ˩˧˩/ | 福 /houk̚˩˧/ | 掘 /kuk̚˥/ |

### The relationship between tone and rime

In the Matsu dialect, level tone (平聲), rising tone (上聲) and light entering (陽入) should be read in close rimes (緊韻); departing tone and dark entering should be read in open rimes (鬆韻).
For example, "a̤" have two pronunciations, /ɛ/ in close rime and /a/ in open rime; "a̤h" have two pronunciations, /eʔ/ in close rime and /ɛʔ/ in open rime. This is summarized in the table:
| Tone name | dark level | light level | rising | dark departing | light departing | dark entering | light entering |
| Tone contour | 55 ˥ | 51 ˥˩ | 33 ˧ | 312 ˧˩˨ | 131 ˩˧˩ | 13 ˩˧ | 5 ˥ |
| Rime type | close rime | close rime | close rime | open rime | open rime | open rime | close rime |
| Foochow Romanized | ă̤ | à̤ | ā̤ | á̤ | â̤ | á̤h | ă̤h |
| Pronunciation | ɛ˥ | ɛ˥˩ | ɛ˧ | a˧˩˨ | a˩˧˩ | ɛʔ˩˧ | eʔ˥ |
Close rime tone "ă̤" should be pronounced as /ɛ˥/ instead of /a˥/; and open rime tone "â̤" should be pronounced as /a˩˧˩/ instead of /ɛ˩˧˩/.

### Sandhi and assimilation
#### Tone sandhi

The Matsu dialect has extremely extensive tone sandhi rules: in an utterance, only the last syllable pronounced is not affected by the rules. The two-syllable tonal sandhi rules are shown in the table below (the rows give the first syllable's original citation tone, while the columns give the citation tone of the second syllable):
| | dark level 55 | light level 51 | light entering 5 | rising 33 | dark departing 312 | light departing 131 | dark entering 13 |
| dark level 55 | rising (33) | rising (33) | rising (33) | light level (51) | light level (51) | light level (51) | light level (51) |
| dark departing 312 | rising (33) | rising (33) | rising (33) | light level (51) | light level (51) | light level (51) | light level (51) |
| light departing 131 | rising (33) | rising (33) | rising (33) | light level (51) | light level (51) | light level (51) | light level (51) |
| dark entering B 13 | rising (33) | rising (33) | rising (33) | light level (51) | light level (51) | light level (51) | light level (51) |
| rising 33 | half dark departing (31) | half dark departing (31) | half dark departing (31) | 13 (dark entering lost its entering coda) | dark level (55) | dark level (55) | dark level (55) |
| dark entering A 13 | 31 + /-ʔ/ (half dark departing added a entering coda "/-ʔ/") | 31 + /-ʔ/ (half dark departing added a entering coda "/-ʔ/") | 31 + /-ʔ/ (half dark departing added a entering coda "/-ʔ/") | dark entering (13) | light entering (5) | light entering (5) | light entering (5) |
| light level 51 | rising (33) | half dark departing (31) | half dark departing (31) | rising (33) | half dark departing (31) | half dark departing (31) | half dark departing (31) |
| light entering 5 | rising (33) or rising + /-ʔ/ | rising (33) or rising + /-ʔ/ | rising (33) or rising + /-ʔ/ | light level (51), or light entering (5) | light level (51), or light entering (5) | light level (51), or light entering (5) | light level (51), or light entering (5) |
In the table above, "dark entering A" means dark entering coda ended with /-k̚/, "dark entering B" means ended with /-ʔ/. In the modern spoken language, the final plosive is difficult to distinguish in isolation, having merged into /-ʔ/, but the two categories exhibit different behaviors from each other in tone sandhi environments. This feature is shared with most modern Eastern Min varieties.
Like the Fuzhou dialect, the tonal sandhi rules of more than two syllables display further complexities.

#### Initial assimilation

The two-syllable initial assimilation rules are shown in the table below:
| Coda of the Former Syllable | Initial Assimilation of the Latter Syllable |
| Null coda | /p/ and /pʰ/ change to /β/; /t/, /tʰ/ and /s/, /l/ and /n/ change to /l/; /ts/ and /tsʰ/ change to /ʒ/; /k/, /kʰ/ and /h/ change to null initial; /m/ and /ŋ/ remain unchanged. |
| Nasal coda /-ŋ/ | /p/ and /pʰ/ change to /m/; /t/, /tʰ/, /s/, /l/ and /n/ change to /n/; /ts/ and /tsʰ/ change to /ʒ/; /k/, /kʰ/, /h/ and null initial change to /ŋ/; /m/ and /ŋ/ remain unchanged. |
| entering coda (/-ʔ/, /-k̚/) | remain unchanged. |

#### Rime tensing

In the Matsu dialect, if the rime type of the former syllable is changed while tone sandhi occurred, the rime of the former syllable should be changed to adapt the rule of close/open rimes.
For example, "技" /kɛi˧˩˨/ is a syllable which has dark departing tone, it's an open rime; "師" /sy˥/ has a dark level tone. When combined as the phrase "技師" (technician), "技" changes its tonal value to rising tone. Rising tone is a close rime tone, therefore the pronunciation as a whole is /ki˧ ly˥/.