Matsu dialect

The Matsu dialect (Eastern Min: / ) is the local dialect of Matsu Islands, Taiwan. Native speakers also call it (), 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 a general Fuzhounese group. It is under the name 'Northern Fujian (Fuzhou) Dialect' () that the 2000 Act of Broadcasting Language Equality Protection in Public Transport mandated the use of the Matsu dialect on public transportation in the Matsu Islands.

The establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 severed the Matsu Islands from the rest of Fujian province, and as during the Cold War communications and transit were cut off between the Republic of China (now including the island of Taiwan and without mainland China) and the PRC, the identity of the Matsu Islands became established as separate to that of Fuzhou. The varieties of Eastern Min on the Matsu Islands have subsequently come to be seen as the Matsu dialect, which the ROC recognized as a 'native language' in 2017.

Phonology The Matsu dialect has 17 initials, 46 rimes and 7 tones, as reported by Tu (2006) based on elderly informants from Beigan:

Initials BilabialAlveolarVelarGlottalNasal // () // () // ()Plosiveaspiration // () // () // ()plain // () // () // () // ()Fricative // () // ()Affricateaspiration // ()plain // () Lateral // () // and // exist only in connected speech.

Rimes There are 46 rimes in the Matsu dialect.

monophthongcompound vowelnasal coda -checked coda - [/] () () () () [/] () () () [/]() [/] () () () [/]() [/] () () () () [/] () () () () [/] () () () () [/] () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () Many rimes come in pairs: in the table above, the one to the left represents a close rime (), while the second represents an open rime (). The close/open rimes are closely related with the tones (see below).

Tone These tones in isolation are as reported by Tu (2006), and use the historic names from Middle Chinese:

No.1234567Tone 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 rimeTone contour 55 51 33 312 131 13 5 Example Hanzi 君// 臺// 祖// 去// 話// 福// 掘//

The relationship between tone and rime In the Matsu dialect, both the level tones (), rising tone () and the light entering tone () should be read using 'close rimes' (); both departing tones () and the dark entering tone () should be read with 'open rimes' (). The closeness or openness of the rime refers to the height of the vowel.

For example, the vowel phoneme transcribed in Bàng-uâ-cê as "" has two pronunciations, // as a close rime and // as an open rime; the entering tone equivalent "" has two pronunciations, close rime // and open rime //. This is summarized in the following table:

Tone name dark level light level rising dark departing light departing dark entering light enteringTone contour 55 51 33 312 131 13 5 Rime type close rime close rime close rime open rime open rime open rime close rimeBàng-uâ-cê Pronunciation

Thus, in a close rime tone such as dark level "" should be pronounced as instead of ; and in the open rime tone of light departing "" should be pronounced as instead of .

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 level55light level51light entering5rising33dark departing312light departing131dark entering13dark level55 rising (33) light level (51)dark departing312 rising (33) light level (51)light departing131 rising (33) light level (51)dark entering B13 rising (33) light level (51)rising33 half dark departing (31) modified dark entering (13)(with the tone value but not the entering coda ) dark level (55)dark entering A13 half dark departing (31) + (the first syllable retains its entering coda ) dark entering (13) light entering (5)light level51 rising (33) half dark departing (31) rising (33) half dark departing (31)light entering5 rising (33)or rising + light level (51),or light entering (5)

In the table above, "dark entering A" means a dark entering coda that ends with , "dark entering B" refers to ending with . In the modern spoken language, the final plosive is difficult to distinguish in isolation, having merged into , but the two categories exhibit different behaviors from each other in tone sandhi environments. This feature is shared with many modern Eastern Min varieties, such as in Fuzhou.

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 and change to ; , and , and change to ; and change to ; , and change to null initial; and remain unchanged. Nasal coda and change to ; , , , and change to ; and change to ; , , and null initial change to ; and remain unchanged. entering coda (, ) 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, "" is a syllable which has dark departing tone, it's an open rime; "" has a dark level tone. When combined as the phrase "" (technician), "" changes its tonal value to rising tone. Rising tone is a close rime tone, therefore the pronunciation as a whole is .

Notes

References

Matsu dialect

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