# Zhangzhou dialects

The Zhangzhou dialects (simplified Chinese: 漳州话; traditional Chinese: 漳州話; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chiang-chiu-ōa), also rendered Changchew, Chiangchew or Changchow, are a collection of Hokkien dialects spoken in southern Fujian province (in southeast China), centered on the city of Zhangzhou. The Zhangzhou dialect proper is the source of some place names in English, including Amoy (from [ɛ˨˩ mui˩˧], now called Xiamen), and Quemoy (from [kim˨ mui˩˧], now called Kinmen).

## Classification

The Zhangzhou dialects are classified as Hokkien, a group of Southern Min varieties. In Fujian, the Zhangzhou dialects form the southern subgroup (南片) of Southern Min. The dialect of urban Zhangzhou is one of the oldest dialects of Southern Min, and along with the urban Quanzhou dialect, it forms the basis for all modern varieties. When compared with other varieties of Hokkien, it has an intelligibility of 89.0% with the Amoy dialect and 79.7% with the urban Quanzhou dialect.

## Phonology

This section is mostly based on the variety spoken in the urban area of Zhangzhou.

### Initials

There are 15 phonemic initials:
| | | Bilabial | Alveolar | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal |
| | | Bilabial | plain | sibilant | Velar | Glottal |
| Plosive/ Affricate | plain | /p/ ⟨p⟩ 邊 / 边 | /t/ ⟨t⟩ 地 | /ts/ ⟨ch⟩ 曾 | /k/ ⟨k⟩ 求 | /ʔ/ ⟨-⟩ 英 |
| Plosive/ Affricate | aspirated | /pʰ/ ⟨ph⟩ 頗 / 颇 | /tʰ/ ⟨th⟩ 他 | /tsʰ/ ⟨chh⟩ 出 | /kʰ/ ⟨kh⟩ 氣 / 气 | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiced | /b/ ⟨b⟩ 門 / 门 | | /dz/ ⟨j⟩ 熱 / 热 | /g/ ⟨g⟩ 語 / 语 | |
| Fricative | Fricative | | | /s/ ⟨s⟩ 時 / 时 | | /h/ ⟨h⟩ 喜 |
| Lateral | Lateral | | /l/ ⟨l⟩ 柳 | | | |
When the rime is nasalized, the three voiced phonemes /b/, /l/ and /g/ are realized as the nasals [m], [n] and [ŋ], respectively.

### Rimes

There are 85 rimes:
| | | Open syllable | Open syllable | Open syllable | Open syllable | Open syllable | Open syllable | Open syllable | Nasal coda | Nasal coda | Nasal coda | Nasal coda | Nasal coda | Nasal coda | Nasal coda | Nasal vowel coda | Nasal vowel coda | Nasal vowel coda | Nasal vowel coda | Nasal vowel coda |
| open mouth | | /a/ 阿 | /ɔ/ 烏 / 乌 | /o/ 好 | /e/ 鞋 | /ɛ/ 家 | /ai/ 愛 / 爱 | /au/ 歐 / 欧 | /m̩/ 毋 | /am/ 庵 | /ɔm/ 森 | /an/ 按 | /ŋ̍/ 霜 | /aŋ/ 港 | /ɔŋ/ 王 | /ã/ 餡 / 馅 | /ɔ̃/ 毛 | /ɛ̃/ 暝 | /ãi/ 妹 | /ãu/ 矛 |
| open mouth | checked | /aʔ/ 鴨 / 鸭 | /ɔʔ/ 嘔 / 呕 | /oʔ/ 學 / 学 | /eʔ/ 八 | /ɛʔ/ 百 | | /auʔ/ 落 | /m̩ʔ/ 默 | /ap/ 合 | /ɔp/ 啑 | /at/ 達 / 达 | /ŋ̍ʔ/ 嗆 / 呛 | /ak/ 六 | /ɔk/ 國 / 国 | /ãʔ/ 焓 | /ɔ̃ʔ/ 膜 | /ɛ̃ʔ/ 脈 / 脉 | | /ãuʔ/ 澩 / 泶 |
| even teeth | | /i/ 魚 / 鱼 | /ia/ 椰 | /io/ 叫 | | /iu/ 油 | /iau/ 鳥 / 鸟 | | /im/ 心 | /iam/ 薟 / 莶 | /in/ 今 | /ian/ 燕 | /iŋ/ 星 | /iaŋ/ 央 | /iɔŋ/ 衝 / 冲 | /ĩ/ 圓 / 圆 | /iã/ 影 | /iɔ̃/ 娘 | /iũ/ 妞 | /iãu/ 貓 / 猫 |
| even teeth | checked | /iʔ/ 滴 | /iaʔ/ 頁 / 页 | /iɔʔ/ 諾 / 诺 | /ioʔ/ 藥 / 药 | /iuʔ/ 喌 | /iauʔ/ 寂 | | /ip/ 入 | /iap/ 葉 / 叶 | /it/ 必 | /iat/ 滅 / 灭 | /ik/ 色 | /iak/ 約 / 约 | /iɔk/ 祝 | /ĩʔ/ 物 | /iãʔ/ 嚇 / 吓 | | | /iãuʔ/ 蟯 / 蛲 |
| closed mouth | | /u/ 有 | /ua/ 花 | /ue/ 火 | /ui/ 水 | /uai/ 歪 | | | /un/ 溫 / 温 | /uan/ 完 | | | | | | /uã/ 山 | /uĩ/ 黃 / 黄 | /uãi/ 檨 / 檨 | | |
| closed mouth | checked | /uʔ/ 托 | /uaʔ/ 辣 | /ueʔ/ 郭 | | | | | /ut/ 骨 | /uat/ 越 | | | | | | | | /uãiʔ/ 跩 | | |
The vowel /a/ is the open central unrounded vowel [ä] in most rimes, including /a/, /ua/, /ia/, /ai/, /uai/, /au/, /iau/, /ã/, /ãʔ/. In the rimes /ian/ and /iat/, /a/ is realized as [ɛ] (i.e. as [iɛn] and [iɛt̚]) or [ə] (i.e. as [iən] and [iət̚]).
The rimes /iŋ/ and /ik/ are usually realized with a short [ə] between the vowel [i] and the velar consonant. In many areas outside of the urban area of Zhangzhou, including Pinghe, Changtai, Yunxiao, Zhao'an and Dongshan, /iŋ/ and /ik/ are pronounced as /eŋ/ and /ek/ instead.
The codas /p/, /t/ and /k/ are unreleased, i.e. [p̚], [t̚] and [k̚], respectively.

### Tones

There are seven tones:
| No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Tone name | dark level 陰平 / 阴平 | light level 陽平 / 阳平 | rising 上聲 / 上声 | dark departing 陰去 / 阴去 | light departing 陽去 / 阳去 | dark entering 陰入 / 阴入 | light entering 陽入 / 阳入 |
| Tone contour | ˦ (44) | ˩˧ (13) | ˥˧ (53) | ˨˩ (21) | ˨ (22) | ˧˨ (32) | ˩˨˩ (121) |
| Example hanzi | 東 / 东 | 同 | 董 | 棟 / 栋 | 動 / 动 | 督 | 獨 / 独 |
Most people in the urban area do not pronounce the dark level tone as high-level, but slightly mid-rising. While most sources still records this tone as 44, its tone value has also been recorded as 24, 45, 34 or 35 to reflect its rising nature.

### Tone sandhi

The Zhangzhou dialect has nine tone sandhi rules: only the last syllable of nouns and clause endings remain unchanged by tone sandhi. The two-syllable tone sandhi rules are shown in the table below:
Tone sandhi of first syllable :
| Original citation tone | Original citation tone | Tone sandhi | Example word & sandhi |
| dark level 44 | dark level 44 | 22 | 詩/si˦[si˨經kiŋ˦/kiŋ˦](诗经) 詩 經/si˦ kiŋ˦/[si˨ kiŋ˦] |
| light level 13 | light level 13 | 22 | 南/lam˩˧[lam˨京kiã˦/kiã˦]南 京/lam˩˧ kiã˦/[lam˨ kiã˦] |
| rising 53 | rising 53 | 44 | 紙/tsua˥˧[tsua˦箱siɔ̃˦/siɔ̃˦](纸箱) 紙 箱/tsua˥˧ siɔ̃˦/[tsua˦ siɔ̃˦] |
| dark departing 21 | dark departing 21 | 53 | 世/si˨˩[si˥˧間kan˦/kan˦](世间) 世 間/si˨˩ kan˦/[si˥˧ kan˦] |
| light departing 22 | light departing 22 | 21 | 是/si˨[si˨˩非hui˦/hui˦]是 非/si˨ hui˦/[si˨˩ hui˦] |
| dark entering 32 | coda /-ʔ/ | 53 (the glottal stop /-ʔ/ is lost) | 鐵/tʰiʔ˧˨[tʰi˥˧釘tiŋ˦/tiŋ˦](铁钉) 鐵 釘/tʰiʔ˧˨ tiŋ˦/[tʰi˥˧ tiŋ˦] |
| dark entering 32 | coda /-p/, /-t/, /-k/ | 5 | 接/tsiap˧˨[tsiap˥收siu˦/siu˦]接 收/tsiap˧˨ siu˦/[tsiap˥ siu˦] |
| light entering 121 | coda /-ʔ/ | 21 (the glottal stop /-ʔ/ is lost) | 石/tsioʔ˩˨˩[tsio˨˩山suã˦/suã˦]石 山/tsioʔ˩˨˩ suã˦/[tsio˨˩ suã˦] |
| light entering 121 | coda /-p/, /-t/, /-k/ | 21 | 立/lip˩˨˩[lip˨˩春tsʰun˦/tsʰun˦]立 春/lip˩˨˩ tsʰun˦/[lip˨˩ tsʰun˦] |