# Putian dialect

The Putian dialect (Pu-Xian Min: Pó-chéng-uā / 莆田話;) is a dialect of Pu-Xian Min Chinese spoken in urban area of Putian, which is a prefecture-level city in the southeast coast of Fujian province.

## Phonology

The Putian dialect has 15 initials, 40 rimes and 7 tones.

### Initials

| | | Bilabial | Alveolar | Alveolar | Lateral | Velar | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | /m/ 麻 | /n/ 拿 | /n/ 拿 | | /ŋ/ 雅 | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | Unaspirated | /p/ 巴 | /t/ 打 | /ts/ 渣 | | /k/ 家 | /ʔ/ 烏 |
| Plosive/ Affricate | Aspirated | /pʰ/ 彭 | /tʰ/ 他 | /tsʰ/ 査 | | /kʰ/ 卡 | |
| Fricative | Fricative | /β/* | | | /ɬ/ 沙 | /ɣ/* | /h/ 下 |
| Approximant | Approximant | | | | /l/ 拉 | | |

### Rimes

| | Open syllable | Open syllable | Nasal Coda /-ŋ/ | Glottal Coda /-ʔ/ |
| open mouth | a 鴉 | au 拗 | aŋ 江 | aʔ 壓 |
| open mouth | ɒ 奥 | | ɒŋ 王 | ɒʔ 屋 |
| open mouth | o 科 | ɔu 烏 | ɔŋ 温 | ɔʔ 熨 |
| open mouth | e 裔 | ai 愛 | ɛŋ 煙 | ɛʔ 黑 |
| open mouth | ø 改 | | œŋ 熊 | œʔ 郁 |
| open mouth | | | ŋ 伓 | |
| even teeth | i 衣 | iu 油 | iŋ 引 | iʔ 益 |
| even teeth | ia 夜 | iau 要 | iaŋ 鹽 | iaʔ 葉 |
| closed mouth | u 夫 | ui 位 | uŋ 廣 | |
| closed mouth | ua 画 | uai 歪 | uaŋ 碗 | uaʔ 活 |
| round mouth | y 余 | | yŋ 恩 | yʔ 役 |
| round mouth | yɒ 安 | | yɒŋ 羊 | yɒʔ 藥 |

### Tones

| No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Tones | 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 |
| Tone contour | ˥˧˧ (533) | ˩˧ (13) | ˦˥˧ (453) | ˦˨ (42) | ˩ (11) | ʔ˨˩ (21ʔ) | ʔ˦ (4ʔ) |
| Example Hanzi | 詩巴 | 時爬 | 始把 | 試霸 | 寺罷 | 濕北 | 實拔 |

### Assimilation

| | Coda of the Former Syllable | Initial of the Latter Syllable | Assimilation | Coda of the Former Syllable | Initial of the Latter Syllable |
| Group A | Open syllable | /p/, /pʰ/ | → | remain unchanged | /β/, /ɣ/ |
| Group A | Open syllable | /t/, /tʰ/, /ts/, /tsʰ/, /ɬ/ | → | remain unchanged | /l/ |
| Group A | Open syllable | /k/, /kʰ/, /h/ | → | remain unchanged | /ɣ/ |
| Group A | Open syllable | /m/, /n/, /l/, /ŋ/, null initial | → | remain unchanged | remain unchanged |
| Group B | /-ŋ/ (nasal coda) | /p/, /pʰ/ | → | /-m/ | /m/ |
| Group B | /-ŋ/ (nasal coda) | /t/, /tʰ/, /ts/, /tsʰ/, /l/, /ɬ/ | → | /-n/ | /n/, remain unchanged |
| Group B | /-ŋ/ (nasal coda) | /k/, /kʰ/, /h/, null initial | → | remain unchanged | /ŋ/ |
| Group B | /-ŋ/ (nasal coda) | /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ | → | /-m/, /-n/, /-ŋ/ | remain unchanged |
| Group C | /-ʔ/ (glottal Coda) | /p/, /pʰ/, /m/ | → | /-p̚/ | remain unchanged |
| Group C | /-ʔ/ (glottal Coda) | /t/, /tʰ/, /ts/, /tsʰ/, /ɬ/, /l/, /n/ | → | /-t̚/ | remain unchanged |
| Group C | /-ʔ/ (glottal Coda) | /k/, /kʰ/, /ŋ/, /h/ | → | /-k̚/ | remain unchanged |
| Group C | /-ʔ/ (glottal Coda) | null initial | → | /-ʔ/ | remain unchanged |

### Tone sandhi

Putian 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):
Tone sandhi of first syllable :
| | dark level 533 | light level 13 | rising 453 | dark departing 42 | light departing 11 | dark entering ʔ21 | light entering ʔ4 |
| dark level 533 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 11 |
| light level 13 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 55 | 42 | 42 | 11 |
| rising 453 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 11 |
| dark departing 42 | 55 | 42 | 55 | 55 | 42 | 42 | 55 |
| light departing 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 55 | 42 | 42 | 55 |
| dark entering ʔ21 | ʔ4 | ʔ4 | ʔ4 | ʔ4 | ʔ4 | ʔ4 | ʔ4 |
| light entering ʔ4 | ʔ21 | ʔ21 | ʔ21 | ʔ21 | ʔ21 | ʔ21 | ʔ21 |