- Meixian dialect
-
Meixian Meizhou Spoken in Southern China, Taiwan Region Meixian Language family Sino-Tibetan- Chinese
- Gan–Hakka
- Hakka
- Meixian
- Hakka
- Gan–Hakka
Language codes ISO 639-3 – Linguist List hak-yue Meixian dialect (Moiyen), also known as Meizhou (梅州話) is the prestige dialect of Hakka Chinese and the primary form of Hakka on Taiwan. Ethnologue calls it Yue-Tai, and it also goes by the name Raoping.
Contents
Phonology
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 /m/ ⟨m⟩ /n/ ⟨n⟩ [ɲ] ⟨ng(i)⟩ ~ /ŋ/ ⟨ng⟩* Plosive plain /p/ ⟨b⟩ /t/ ⟨d⟩ /k/ ⟨g⟩ (ʔ) aspirated /pʰ/ ⟨p⟩ /tʰ/ ⟨t⟩ /kʰ/ ⟨k⟩ Affricate plain /ts/ ⟨z⟩ ~ [tɕ] ⟨j(i)⟩* aspirated /tsʰ/ ⟨c⟩ ~ [tɕʰ] ⟨q(i)⟩* Fricative /f/ ⟨f⟩ /s/ ~ [ɕ] ⟨x(i)⟩* /h/ ⟨h⟩ Approximant /ʋ/ ⟨v⟩ /l/ ⟨l⟩ /j/ ⟨y⟩ * When the initials /ts/ ⟨z⟩, /tsʰ/ ⟨c⟩, /s/ ⟨s⟩, and /ŋ/ ⟨ng⟩ are followed by a palatal medial /j/ ⟨i⟩, they become [tɕ] ⟨j⟩, [tɕʰ] ⟨q⟩, [ɕ] ⟨x⟩, and [ɲ] ⟨ng⟩, respectively.
Rimes
Moiyen Hakka has seven vowels, [i ɨ ɛ a ə ɔ u], that are romanised as i, ê, a, e, o and u,[clarification needed] respectively. The palatisation medial ([j]) is represented by i and the labialisation medial ([w]) is represented as u.
Moreover, Hakka rimes exhibits 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 Moiyen romanisation.
vowel medial + vowel -i -u -m -n -ŋ -p -t -k Syllabics m ŋ a ai au am an aŋ ap at ak ia iai iau iam ian iaŋ iap iat iak ua uai uan uaŋ uat uak ɛ ɛu ɛm ɛn ɛp ɛt iɛ iɛn iɛt uɛ uɛn uɛt i iu im in ip it ɔ ɔi ɔn ɔŋ ɔt ɔk iɔ iɔn iɔŋ iɔk uɔ uɔn uɔŋ uɔk u ui un uŋ ut uk iui iun iuŋ iut iuk ɨ əm ən əp ət Tone
Moiyen has four tones, which are reduced to two before a final stop consonant. The Middle Chinese fully voiced initial characters became aspirated voiceless initial characters 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.
Moiyen tones Tone number Tone name Hanzi Tone letters number English 1 yin ping 陰平 ˦ 44 high 2 yang ping 陽平 ˩ 11 low 3 shang 上 ˧˩ 31 low falling 4 qu 去 ˥˧ 53 high falling 5 yin ru 陰入 ˩ʔ 1 low checked 6 yang ru 陽入 ˥ʔ 5 high checked These so called yin-yang tonal splittings developed mainly as a consequence of the type of initial a Chinese character had during the Middle Chinese stage in the development of Chinese languages, with voiceless initial characters [p- t- k-] tending to become of the yin type, and the voiced initial characters [b- d- ɡ-] developing into the yang type. In modern Moiyen Hakka however, part of the Yin Ping tone characters have sonorant initials [m n ŋ l] originally from the Middle Chinese Shang tone characters 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 (長汀) 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 [ɛ] shifts to syllables with [t] finals in modern Hakka[1] as seen in the following table.
Character Guangyun Fanqie Middle Chinese
reconstruction[2]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 sɛt˩ colour, hue 德 多則切 tək tɛt˩ virtue 刻 苦得切 kʰək kʰɛt˩ carve, engrave, a moment 北 博墨切 pək pɛt˩ north 國 古或切 kuək kʷɛt˩ country, state Tone sandhi
For Moiyen 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.
References
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