# Meixian dialect

The Meixian dialect (Chinese: 梅縣話; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Mòi-yan-fa; IPA: [moi˩ jan˥ fa˥˧]), also known as Moiyan dialect, as well as Meizhou dialect (梅州話), or Jiaying dialect and Gayin dialect, Kayin dialect is the prestige dialect of Hakka Chinese. It is named after Meixian District, Meizhou, Guangdong. Sixian dialect (in Taiwan) is very similar to Meixian dialect.

## Phonology

Source:

### Initials

There are two series of stops and affricates in Hakka, both voiceless: tenuis /p t ts k/ and aspirated /pʰ tʰ tsʰ kʰ/.
| | | Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | /m/ ⟨m⟩ | /n/ ⟨n⟩ | [ɲ] ⟨ng(i)⟩* | /ŋ/ ⟨ng⟩ | |
| Plosive | tenuis | /p/ ⟨b⟩ | /t/ ⟨d⟩ | [c] ⟨g(i)⟩* | /k/ ⟨g⟩ | (ʔ) |
| Plosive | aspirated | /pʰ/ ⟨p⟩ | /tʰ/ ⟨t⟩ | [cʰ] ⟨k(i)⟩* | /kʰ/ ⟨k⟩ | |
| Affricate | tenuis | | /ts/ ⟨z⟩ | | | |
| Affricate | aspirated | | /tsʰ/ ⟨c⟩ | | | |
| Fricative | Fricative | /f/ ⟨f⟩ | /s/ ⟨s⟩ | [ç] ⟨h(i)⟩* | | /h/ ⟨h⟩ |
| Approximant | Approximant | /ʋ/ ⟨v⟩ | /l/ ⟨l⟩ | | | |
* When the initials /k/ ⟨g⟩, /kʰ/ ⟨k⟩, /h/ ⟨h⟩, and /ŋ/ ⟨ng⟩ are followed by a palatal medial /j/ ⟨i⟩, they become [c̟]/[c] ⟨g(i)⟩, [c̟ʰ]/[cʰ] ⟨k(i)⟩, [ç] ⟨h(i)⟩, and [ɲ̟]/[ɲ] ⟨ng(i)⟩, respectively.

### Rimes

Moiyan Hakka has seven vowels, /ɹ̩/, /i/, /e/, /a/, /ə/, /ɔ/ and /u/, that are romanised as ii, i, ê, a, e, o and u, respectively.
| | Out | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | /ɹ̩/ ⟨ii⟩ | /i/ ⟨i⟩ | | /u/ ⟨u⟩ |
| Mid | | /e̞/ ⟨ê⟩ | /ə/ (/ɘ/) ⟨e⟩ | /ɔ/ ⟨o⟩ |
| Open | | | /a/ ⟨a⟩ | |

#### Finals

Moreover, Hakka finals exhibit the final consonants found in Middle Chinese, namely [m, n, ŋ, p, t, k] which are romanised as m, n, ng, b, d, and g respectively in the official Moiyan romanisation.
Finals of Meixian dialect :
| nucleus | medial | coda | coda | coda | coda | coda | coda | coda | coda | coda |
| nucleus | medial | -∅ | -i | -u | -m | -n | -ŋ | -p | -t | -k |
| -a- | ∅- | a | ai | au | am | an | aŋ | ap | at | ak |
| -a- | j- | ja | jai | jau | jam | jan | jaŋ | jap | jat | jak |
| -a- | w- | wa | wai | | | wan | waŋ | | wat | wak |
| -e- | ∅- | e̞ | | e̞u | e̞m | e̞n | | e̞p | e̞t | |
| -e- | j- | je̞ | | | | je̞n | | | je̞t | |
| -e- | w- | we̞ | | | | we̞n | | | we̞t | |
| -i- | ∅- | i | wi | | im | in | | ip | it | |
| -o- | ∅- | o | oi | | | on | oŋ | | ot | ok |
| -o- | j- | jo | joi | | | jon | joŋ | | | jok |
| -o- | w- | wo | | | | won | woŋ | | | wok |
| -u- | ∅- | u | | | | un | uŋ | | ut | uk |
| -u- | j- | | jui | ju | | jun | juŋ | | jut | juk |
| -ə- | ∅- | | | | əm | ən | | əp | ət | |
| Syllabics | Syllabics | ɹ̩ | | | m̩ | n̩ | ŋ̩ | | | |

### Tone

Moiyan Hakka has six tones. The Middle Chinese fully voiced initial syllables became aspirated voiceless initial syllable in Hakka. Before that happened, the four Middle Chinese 'tones', ping, shang, qu, ru, underwent a voicing split in the case of ping and ru, giving the dialect six tones in traditional accounts.
Moiyan tones :
| Tone number | Tone name | Hanzi | Tone letters | number | English |
| 1 | yin ping | 陰平 | ˦ | 44 | high level |
| 2 | yang ping | 陽平 | ˩ | 11 | low level |
| 3 | shang | 上 | ˧˩ | 31 | low falling |
| 4 | qu | 去 | ˥˧ | 53 | high falling |
| 5 | yin ru | 陰入 | ˩ | 2 | low checked |
| 6 | yang ru | 陽入 | ˥ | 5 | high checked |
These so-called yin-yang tonal splittings developed mainly as a consequence of the type of initial a Chinese syllable had during the Middle Chinese stage in the development of Chinese, with voiceless initial syllables [p- t- k-] tending to become of the yin type, and the voiced initial syllables [b- d- ɡ-] developing into the yang type. In modern Moiyan Hakka however, part of the Yin Ping tone characters have sonorant initials [m n ŋ l] originally from the Middle Chinese Shang tone syllables and fully voiced Middle Chinese Qu tone characters, so the voiced/voiceless distinction should be taken only as a rule of thumb.
Hakka tone contours differs more as one moves away from Moiyen. For example, the Yin Ping contour is ˧ (33) in Changting and ˨˦ (24) in Sixian (四縣), Taiwan.

#### Entering tone

Hakka preserves all of the entering tones of Middle Chinese and it is split into two registers. Meixian has the following:
* 陰入 [ ˩ ] a low pitched checked tone
* 陽入 [ ˥ ] a high pitched checked tone
Middle Chinese entering tone syllables ending in [k] whose vowel clusters have become front high vowels like [i] and [e] shifts to syllables with [t] finals in modern Hakka as seen in the following table.
| Character | Guangyun Fanqie | Middle Chinese reconstruction | Hakka | Main meaning in English |
| 職 | 之翼切 | tɕĭək | tsit˩ | vocation, profession |
| 力 | 林直切 | lĭək | lit˥ | strength, power |
| 食 | 乗力切 | dʑʰĭək | sit˥ | eat, consume |
| 色 | 所力切 | ʃĭək | set˩ | colour, hue |
| 德 | 多則切 | tək | tet˩ | virtue |
| 刻 | 苦得切 | kʰək | kʰet˩ | carve, engrave, a moment |
| 北 | 博墨切 | pək | pet˩ | north |
| 國 | 古或切 | kuək | kuet˩ | country, state |

#### Tone sandhi

For Moiyan Hakka, the yin ping and qu tone characters exhibit sandhi when the following character has a lower pitch. The pitch of the yin ping tone changes from ˦ (44) to ˧˥ (35) when sandhi occurs. Similarly, the qu tone changes from ˥˧ (53) to ˦ (55) under sandhi. These are shown in red in the following table.
Moiyen tone sandhi :
| | + ˦ Yin Ping | + ˩ Yang Ping | + ˧˩ Shang | + ˥˧ Qu | + ˩ʔ Yin Ru | + ˥ʔ YangRu | + Neutral |
| ˦ Yin Ping + | ˦.˦ | ˧˥.˩ | ˧˥.˧˩ | ˧˥.˥˧ | ˧˥.˩ʔ | ˦.˥ʔ | ˧˥.˧ |
| ˥˧ Qu + | ˥˧.˦ | ˥.˩ | ˥.˧˩ | ˥.˥˧ | ˥.˩ʔ | ˥˧.˥ʔ | ˥.˧ |
The neutral tone occurs in some postfixes. It has a mid pitch.

## Internal variation

The Meixian dialect can be divided into four accents, which are:
Meicheng accent: Most of the townships in the central part of Meixian County (including present-day Meijiang District)
Songkou accent: Songkou, Longwen, Taoyao.
Meixi accent: Meixi.
Shejiang River accent: Shejiang River in the southwest of Meixian County.