Wenchang dialect

Wenchang dialect
文昌话
Native to Southern China
Region Wenchang, Hainan
Sino-Tibetan
Language codes
ISO 639-3 –
Glottolog None
Linguasphere 79-AAA-kd > 79-AAA-kdb

Wenchang dialect (simplified Chinese: 文昌话; traditional Chinese: 文昌話; pinyin: Wénchāng huà) is a dialect of Hainanese which is spoken in Wenchang, a county-level city in the northeast of Hainan, an island province in southern China. It is considered the prestige form of Hainanese, and is used by the provincial broadcasting media.

Phonology

The initials of the Wenchang dialect are:[1]

BilabialDentalPalatalVelarGlottal
Stop / Affricate voiceless ttɕkʔ
voiced implosive ɓɗ
voiced bddʑg
Nasal mnŋ
Fricative voiceless ɸɕh
voiced (w)(j)ɦ
Lateral l

The semivowels [w] and [j] are in complementary distribution with [ɦ], and may be treated as allophones of the same phoneme.[2] The voiced stops /d/ and /g/ occur with only about ten words each.[3]

There are five vowels, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/ and /a/.[4] The high vowels /i/ and /u/ may also occur as medials.[5]

The possible finals are:[6]

Vocalic codas Nasal codas Stop codas
aaiauamanaŋapatak
iaiauiamianiaŋiapiatiak
uauaiuanuaŋuatuak
eeieŋek
ue
ooiouomoŋopok
ioiomioŋiopiok
iiu
uuiunut

There are also two syllabic nasals, /m̩/ and /ŋ̍/, which occur in a total of three words.[7]

Wenchang dialect has six tones on isolated syllabes:[8]

Middle Chinese tone
level (píng 平) rising (shàng 上) departing (qù 去) entering (rù 入)
upper (yīn 阴) 4421ʔ1151ʔ
lower (yáng 阳) 3342ʔ

References

  1. ↑ Woon (1979a), pp. 66–70.
  2. ↑ Woon (1979a), p. 70.
  3. ↑ Woon (1979a), pp. 69, 70.
  4. ↑ Woon (1979a), p. 73.
  5. ↑ Woon (1979a), pp. 74–75.
  6. ↑ Woon (1979a), pp. 71–75.
  7. ↑ Woon (1979a), pp. 72, 75.
  8. ↑ Woon (1979a), pp. 75–81.

Sources

  • Woon, Wee-Lee (1979a), "A synchronic phonology of Hainan dialect: Part I", Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 7 (1): 65–100, JSTOR 23753034.
  • Woon, Wee-Lee (1979b), "A synchronic phonology of Hainan dialect: Part II", Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 7 (2): 268–302, JSTOR 23752923.
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