Amoy dialect

Amoy
Amoy
Amoyese, Amoynese, Xiamenese
廈門話 Ē-mn̂g-ōe
Native to	China
Region	part of Xiamen (Amoy) (Siming and Huli districts), Haicang and Longhai districts to the west
Native speakers	2 million (2021)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Min Coastal Min Southern Min Hokkien Amoy; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese Proto-Min ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	xiam1236
Linguasphere	> 79-AAA-jeb 79-AAA-je > 79-AAA-jeb
	Distribution of Hokkien dialects. Amoy dialect is in magenta.
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

The Amoy dialect or Xiamen dialect (Chinese: 廈門話; pinyin: Xiàménhuà; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ē-mn̂g-ōe), also known as Amoyese,^[5] Amoynese, Amoy Hokkien, Xiamenese or Xiamen Hokkien, is a dialect of Hokkien spoken in the city of Xiamen (historically known as "Amoy") and its surrounding metropolitan area, in the southern part of Fujian province. Currently, it is one of the most widely researched and studied varieties of Southern Min.^[6] It has historically come to be one of the more standardized varieties.^[7]

Quick Facts Native to, Region ...

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Amoyese and Taiwanese are both historically mixtures of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects.^[8] As such, they are very closely aligned phonologically. There are some differences between the two, especially lexical, as a result of physical separation and the differing histories of mainland China and Taiwan during the 20th century. Amoyese and Taiwanese are mutually intelligible. Intelligibility with other Hokkien, especially inland, is more difficult. By that standard, Amoyese and Taiwanese may be considered dialects of a single language. Ethnolinguistically, however, Amoyese is part of mainland Hokkien.^[1]

In 1842, as a result of the signing of the Treaty of Nanking, Amoy was designated as a trading port in Fujian. Amoy and Kulangsu rapidly developed, which resulted in a large influx of people from neighboring areas such as Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. The mixture of these various accents formed the basis for the Amoy dialect.

Over the last several centuries, a large number of Southern Fujianese people from these same areas migrated to Taiwan during Dutch and Qing rule. The "Amoy dialect" was considered the vernacular of Taiwan.^[9] Eventually, the mixture of accents spoken in Taiwan became popularly known as Taiwanese during Imperial Japanese rule. As in American and British English, there are subtle lexical and phonological differences between modern Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien; however, these differences do not generally pose any barriers to communication. Amoy dialect speakers also migrated to Southeast Asia, mainly in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar.

The spoken Amoy dialect preserves many of the sounds and words from Old Chinese. However, the vocabulary of Amoy was also influenced in its early stages by the Minyue languages spoken by the ancient Minyue peoples.^[10] Spoken Amoy is known for its extensive use of nasalization.

Unlike Mandarin, the Amoy dialect distinguishes between voiced and voiceless unaspirated initial consonants (Mandarin has no voicing of initial consonants). Unlike English, it differentiates between unaspirated and aspirated voiceless initial consonants (as Mandarin does too). In less technical terms, native Amoy speakers have little difficulty in hearing the difference between the following syllables:

More information unaspirated, aspirated ...

	unaspirated		aspirated
bilabial stop	bo 母	po 保	pʰo 抱
velar stop	go 俄	ko 果	kʰo 科
	voiced	voiceless

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However, these fully voiced consonants did not derive from the Early Middle Chinese voiced obstruents, but rather from fortition of nasal initials.^[11]

Accents

A comparison between Amoy and other Southern Min languages can be found there.

Tones

Amoy is similar to other Southern Min variants in that it largely preserves the Middle Chinese tone system of six distinct tones in syllables which do not end in a stop consonant and two tones in syllables which do end in a stop consonant (the checked tones). The tones are traditionally numbered from 1 through 8, with 4 and 8 being the checked tones. The distinction between tones 2 and 6 has been lost among most speakers.

More information Tone number, Tone name ...

Tone number	Tone name	Tone letter
1	Yin level	˥
2	Yin rising	˥˧
3	Yin falling	˨˩
4	Yin entering	˩ʔ
5	Yang level	˧˥
6 (2)	Yang rising	˥˧
7	Yang falling	˧
8	Yang entering	˥ʔ

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Tone sandhi

Amoy has extremely extensive tone sandhi (tone-changing) rules: in an utterance, only the last syllable pronounced is not affected by the rules. What an 'utterance' is, in the context of this language, is an ongoing topic for linguistic research. For the purpose of this article, an utterance may be considered a word, a phrase, or a short sentence. The diagram illustrates the rules that govern the pronunciation of a tone on each of the syllables affected (that is, all but the last in an utterance):

Literary and colloquial readings

Like other languages of Southern Min, Amoy has complex rules for literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters. For example, the character for big/great, 大, has a vernacular reading of tōa ([tua˧]), but a literary reading of tāi ([tai˧]). Because of the loose nature of the rules governing when to use a given pronunciation, a learner of Amoy must often simply memorize the appropriate reading for a word on a case-by-case basis. For single-syllable words, it is more common to use the vernacular pronunciation. This situation is comparable to the on and kun readings of the Japanese language.

The vernacular readings are generally thought to predate the literary readings, as is the case with the Min Chinese varieties;^[12] the literary readings appear to have evolved from Middle Chinese.^[13] The following chart illustrates some of the more commonly seen sound shifts:

More information Colloquial, Literary ...

Colloquial	Literary	Example
[p-], [pʰ-]	[h-]	分	pun	hun	divide
[ts-], [tsʰ-], [tɕ-], [tɕʰ-]	[s-], [ɕ-]	成	chiâⁿ	sêng	to become
[k-], [kʰ-]	[tɕ-], [tɕʰ-]	指	kí	chí	finger
[-ã], [-uã]	[-an]	看	khòaⁿ	khàn	to see
[-ʔ]	[-t]	食	chia̍h	si̍t	to eat
[-i]	[-e]	世	sì	sè	world
[-e]	[-a]	家	ke	ka	family
[-ia]	[-i]	企	khiā	khì	to stand

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For further information, read the article: Swadesh list

The Swadesh word list, developed by the linguist Morris Swadesh, is used as a tool to study the evolution of languages. It contains a set of basic words which can be found in every language.

The Amoy Min Nan Swadesh list
The Sinitic Swadesh lists (Standard Mandarin, Sichuanese, Nanjingnese, Cantonese, Yuetai Hakka, Amoynese Hokkien, Hokchiu, Shanghainese, Suzhounese, Changshanese)

Initials

More information Labial, Alveolar ...

		Labial	Alveolar	Alveolo- palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p	t		k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ
	voiced	b			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		ts	tɕ
	aspirated		tsʰ	tɕʰ
	voiced		dz	dʑ
Fricative			s	ɕ		h
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Approximant			l

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Word-initial alveolar consonants /ts, tsʰ, dz/ when occurring before /i/ are pronounced as alveo-palatal sounds [tɕ, tɕʰ, dʑ].
/l/ can fluctuate freely in initial position as either a flap [ɾ] or voiced alveolar plosive stop [d].^[14]
[ʔ] can occur in both word initial and final position.
/m ŋ/ when occurring before /m̩ ŋ̍/ can be pronounced as voiceless sounds [m̥], [ŋ̊].

Finals

Rimes without codas
	a 阿	ɔ 烏	i 魚	e 火	o 好	u 母	ɨ	/ai/ 愛	/au/ 抱
/i/-	/ia/ 寫		/io/ 后				/iu/ 救		/iau/ 鳥
/u/-	/ua/ 花				/ue/ 話		/ui/ 水	/uai/ 歪

Rimes with nasal codas
/m̩/ 毋	/am/ 暗	/an/ 按		/ŋ̍/ 黃	/aŋ/ 港	/ɔŋ/ 風
/im/ 心	/iam/ 薟	/in/ 今	/iɛn/ 免	/iŋ/ 英	/iaŋ/ 雙	iɔŋ 恭
		/un/ 恩	/uan/ 完

Checked rimes
	/ap/ 十		/at/ 克		/ak/ 六	/ɔk/ 樂		/aʔ/ 鴨	ɔʔ 索	oʔ 學	/eʔ/ 欲	/auʔ/ 落			ãʔ 肉	ɔ̃ʔ 乎	/ẽʔ/ 夾	ãiʔ 唉
ip 急	/iap/ 葉	/it/ 必	/iɛt/ 閲	/ik/~/ek/ 色		/iɔk/ 祝	iʔ 捏	/iaʔ 食		ioʔ 尺			/iuʔ/ 搐	/ĩʔ/ 物	iãʔ 贏
		/ut/ 骨	/uat/ 越			/uʔ/ 嗍	/uaʔ/ 活				/ueʔ/ 喂

Final consonants are pronounced as unreleased [p̚ t̚ k̚].

Nasalized rimes without codas
	/ã/ 三	/ɔ̃/ 魯	/ẽ/ 明		/ãi/ 歹
/ĩ/ 暝	/iã/ 定			/iũ/ 想		/ãu/ 腦
	/uã/ 山			/uĩ/ 莓	/uãi/ 彎

Amoy grammar shares a similar structure to other Chinese dialects, although it is slightly more complex than Mandarin. Moreover, equivalent Amoy and Mandarin particles are usually not cognates.

Complement constructions

Amoy complement constructions are roughly parallel to Mandarin ones, although there are variations in the choice of lexical term. The following are examples of constructions that Amoy employs.

In the case of adverbs:

伊

i

he

走

cháu

runs

會

ē

obtains

緊

kín

quick

He runs quickly.

Mandarin: tā pǎo de kuài (他跑得快)

In the case of the adverb "very":

伊

i

He

走

cháu

runs

真

chin

obtains

緊

kín

quick

He runs very quickly.

Mandarin: tā pǎo de hěn kuài (他跑得很快)

伊

i

He

走

cháu

runs

袂

bōe

not

緊

kín

quick

He does not run quickly.

Mandarin: tā pǎo bù kuài (他跑不快)

伊

i

He

看

khòaⁿ

see

會

ē

obtains

著

tio̍h

already achieved

He can see.

Mandarin: tā kàn de dào (他看得到)

For the negative,

伊

i

He

看

khòaⁿ

sees

袂

bōe

not

著

tio̍h

already achieved

He cannot see.

Mandarin: tā kàn bù dào (他看不到)

For the adverb "so," Amoy uses kah (甲) instead of Mandarin de (得):

伊

i

He

驚

kiaⁿ

startled

甲

kah

to the point of

話

ōe

words

著

tio̍h

also

講

kóng

say

袂

bōe

not

出來

chhut-lâi

come out

He was so startled, that he could not speak.

Mandarin: tā xià de huà dōu shuō bù chūlái (他嚇得話都說不出來)

Negative particles

Negative particle syntax is parallel to Mandarin about 70% of the time, although lexical terms used differ from those in Mandarin. For many lexical particles, there is no single standard Hanji character to represent these terms (e.g. m̄, a negative particle, can be variously represented by 毋, 呣, and 唔), but the most commonly used ones are presented below in examples. The following are commonly used negative particles:

m̄ (毋/伓) - is not + noun (Mandarin 不, bù)
i m̄-sī gún lāu-bú. (伊毋是阮老母) "She is not my mother."
m̄ (毋/伓) - does not/will not + verb (Mandarin 不, bù)
i m̄ lâi. (伊毋來) "He will not come."
verb + bōe (袂/𣍐 (⿰勿會)) + particle - is not able to (Mandarin 不, bù)
góa khòaⁿ-bōe-tio̍h. (我看袂著) "I am not able to see it."
bōe (袂/𣍐 (⿰勿會)) + helping verb - cannot (opposite of ē 會, "is able to") (Mandarin 不, bù)
i bōe-hiáu kóng Eng-gú. (伊袂曉講英語) "He can't speak English."
- helping verbs that go with bōe (袂)
  bōe-sái (袂使) - is not permitted to (Mandarin 不可以 bù kěyǐ)
  
  bōe-hiáu (袂曉) - does not know how to (Mandarin 不會, búhuì)
  
  bōe-tàng (袂當) - not able to (Mandarin 不能, bùnéng)
mài (莫/勿愛) - do not (imperative) (Mandarin 別, bié)
mài kóng! (莫講) "Don't speak!"
bô (無) - do not + helping verb (Mandarin 不, bù)
i bô beh lâi. (伊無欲來) "He is not going to come."
- helping verbs that go with bô (無):
  beh (欲) - want to + verb; will + verb
  
  ài (愛) - must + verb
  
  èng-kai (應該) - should + verb
  
  kah-ì (合意) - like to + verb
bô (無) - does not have (Mandarin 沒有, méiyǒu)
i bô chîⁿ. (伊無錢) "He does not have any money."
bô (無) - did not (Mandarin 沒有, méiyǒu)
i bô lâi. (伊無來) "He did not come."
bô (無) - is not + adjective (Mandarin 不, bù)
i bô súi. (伊無媠/水) "She is not beautiful."
- hó (好) ("good") is an exception, as it can use both m̄ and bô.

Common particles

Commonly seen particles include:

與 (hō·) - indicates passive voice (Mandarin 被, bèi)

伊

i

與

hō·

人

lâng

騙

phiàn

去

khì

"They were cheated."

共 (kā) - identifies the object (Mandarin 把, bǎ)

伊

i

共

kā

錢

chîⁿ

交

kau

與

hō·

你

lí

"He handed the money to you"

加 (ke) - "more"

伊

i

加

ke

食

chia̍h

一

chi̍t

碗

óaⁿ

"He ate one more bowl."

共 (kā) - identifies the object

我

góa

共

kā

你

lí

講

kóng

"I'm telling you."

濟 (chōe) - "more"

伊

i

有

ū

較

khah

濟

chōe

的

ê

朋友

pêng-iú

"He has comparatively many friends."

A number of Romanization schemes have been devised for Amoy. Pe̍h-ōe-jī is one of the oldest and best established. However, the Taiwanese Language Phonetic Alphabet has become the romanization of choice for many of the recent textbooks and dictionaries from Taiwan.

Vowels
IPA	a	ap	at	ak	aʔ	ã	ɔ	ɔk	ɔ̃	ə	o	e	ẽ	i	iɛn	iəŋ
Pe̍h-ōe-jī	a	ap	at	ak	ah	aⁿ	o͘	ok	oⁿ	o	o	e	eⁿ	i	ian	eng
Revised TLPA	a	ap	at	ak	ah	aN	oo	ok	ooN	o	o	e	eN	i	ian	ing
TLPA	a	ap	at	ak	ah	ann	oo	ok	oonn	o	o	e	enn	i	ian	ing
BP	a	ap	at	ak	ah	na	oo	ok	noo	o	o	e	ne	i	ian	ing
MLT	a	ab/ap	ad/at	ag/ak	aq/ah	va	o	og/ok	vo	ø	ø	e	ve	i	ien	eng
DT	a	āp/ap	āt/at	āk/ak	āh/ah	ann/aⁿ	o	ok	onn/oⁿ	or	or	e	enn/eⁿ	i	ian/en	ing
Taiwanese kana	アア	アㇷ゚	アッ	アㇰ	アァ	アア	オオ	オㇰ	オオ	オオ	ヲヲ	エエ	エエ	イイ	イェヌ	イェン
Extended bopomofo	ㄚ	ㄚㆴ	ㄚㆵ	ㄚㆻ	ㄚㆷ	ㆩ	ㆦ	ㆦㆻ	ㆧ	ㄜ	ㄛ	ㆤ	ㆥ	ㄧ	ㄧㄢ	ㄧㄥ
Tâi-lô	a	ap	at	ak	ah	ann	oo	ok	onn	o	o	e	enn	i	ian	ing
Example (traditional Chinese)	亞洲	壓力	警察	沃水	牛肉	三十	烏色	中國		澳洲	澳洲	下晡		醫學	鉛筆	英國
Example (simplified Chinese)	亚洲	压力	警察	沃水	牛肉	三十	乌色	中国		澳洲	澳洲	下晡		医学	铅笔	英国

Vowels
IPA	iək	ĩ	ai	aĩ	au	am	ɔm	m̩	ɔŋ	ŋ̍	u	ua	ue	uai	uan	ɨ	(i)ũ
Pe̍h-ōe-jī	ek	iⁿ	ai	aiⁿ	au	am	om	m	ong	ng	u	oa	oe	oai	oan	i	(i)uⁿ
Revised TLPA	ik	iN	ai	aiN	au	am	om	m	ong	ng	u	ua	ue	uai	uan	ir	(i)uN
TLPA	ik	inn	ai	ainn	au	am	om	m	ong	ng	u	ua	ue	uai	uan	ir	(i)unn
BP	ik	ni	ai	nai	au	am	om	m	ong	ng	u	ua	ue	uai	uan	i	n(i)u
MLT	eg/ek	vi	ai	vai	au	am	om	m	ong	ng	u	oa	oe	oai	oan	i	v(i)u
DT	ik	inn/iⁿ	ai	ainn/aiⁿ	au	am	om	m	ong	ng	u	ua	ue	uai	uan	i	(i)unn/uⁿ
Taiwanese kana	イェㇰ	イイ	アイ	アイ	アウ	アム	オム	ム	オン	ン	ウウ	ヲア	ヲエ	ヲァイ	ヲァヌ	ウウ	ウウ
Extended bopomofo	ㄧㆻ	ㆪ	ㄞ	ㆮ	ㆯ	ㆰ	ㆱ	ㆬ	ㆲ	ㆭ	ㄨ	ㄨㄚ	ㄨㆤ	ㄨㄞ	ㄨㄢ	ㆨ	ㆫ
Tâi-lô	ik	inn	ai	ainn	au	am	om	m	ong	ng	u	ua	ue	uai	uan	ir	(i)unn
Example (traditional Chinese)	翻譯	病院	愛情		歐洲	暗時		阿姆	王梨	黃色	有無	歌曲	講話	奇怪	人員	豬肉	舀水
Example (simplified Chinese)	翻译	病院	爱情		欧洲	暗时		阿姆	王梨	黄色	有无	歌曲	讲话	奇怪	人员	猪肉	舀水

Consonants
IPA	p	b	pʰ	m	t	tʰ	n	nŋ	l	k	ɡ	kʰ	h	tɕi	ʑi	tɕʰi	ɕi	ts	dz	tsʰ	s
Pe̍h-ōe-jī	p	b	ph	m	t	th	n	nng	l	k	g	kh	h	chi	ji	chhi	si	ch	j	chh	s
Revised TLPA	p	b	ph	m	t	th	n	nng	l	k	g	kh	h	zi	ji	ci	si	z	j	c	s
TLPA	p	b	ph	m	t	th	n	nng	l	k	g	kh	h	zi	ji	ci	si	z	j	c	s
BP	b	bb	p	bb	d	t	n	lng	l	g	gg	k	h	zi	li	ci	si	z	l	c	s
MLT	p	b	ph	m	t	th	n	nng	l	k	g	kh	h	ci	ji	chi	si	z	j	zh	s
DT	b	bh	p	m	d	t	n	nng	l	g	gh	k	h	zi	r	ci	si	z	r	c	s
Taiwanese kana	パア	バア	パ̣ア	マア	タア	タ̣ア	ナア	ヌン	ラア	カア	ガア	カ̣ア	ハア	チイ	ジイ	チ̣イ	シイ	サア	ザア	サ̣ア	サア
Extended bopomofo	ㄅ	ㆠ	ㄆ	ㄇ	ㄉ	ㄊ	ㄋ	ㄋㆭ	ㄌ	ㄍ	ㆣ	ㄎ	ㄏ	ㄐ	ㆢ	ㄑ	ㄒ	ㄗ	ㆡ	ㄘ	ㄙ
Tâi-lô	p	b	ph	m	t	th	n	nng	l	k	g	kh	h	tsi	ji	tshi	si	ts	j	tsh	s
Example (traditional Chinese)	報紙	閩南	普通	請問	豬肉	普通	過年	雞卵	樂觀	價值	牛奶	客廳	煩惱	支持	漢字	支持	是否	報紙	熱天	參加	司法
Example (simplified Chinese)	报纸	闽南	普通	请问	猪肉	普通	过年	鸡卵	乐观	价值	牛奶	客厅	烦恼	支持	汉字	支持	是否	报纸	热天	参加	司法

More information Tone name, Yin level 陰平(1) ...

Tones
Tone name	Yin level 陰平(1)	Yin rising 陰上(2)	Yin departing 陰去(3)	Yin entering 陰入(4)	Yang level 陽平(5)	Yang rising 陽上(6)	Yang departing 陽去(7)	Yang entering 陽入(8)	High rising (9)	Neutral tone (0)
IPA	a˥	a˥˧	a˨˩	ap˩ at˩ ak˩ aʔ˩	a˧˥		a˧	ap˥ at˥ ak˥ aʔ˥	a˥˥	a˨
Pe̍h-ōe-jī	a	á	à	ap at ak ah	â	ǎ	ā	a̍p a̍t a̍k a̍h	ă	--a
TLPA (and Revised TLPA)	a1	a2	a3	ap4 at4 ak4 ah4	a5	a6	a7	ap8 at8 ak8 ah8	a9	a0
BP	ā	ǎ	à	āp āt āk āh	á		â	áp át ák áh
MLT	af	ar	ax	ab ad ag aq	aa	aar	a	ap at ak ah		~a
DT	a	à	â	āp āt āk āh	ǎ		ā	ap at ak ah	á	å
Taiwanese kana (normal vowels)	アア	アア	アア	アㇷ゚アッアㇰアァ	アア		アア	アㇷ゚アッアㇰアァ
Taiwanese kana (nasal vowels)	アア	アア	アア	アㇷ゚アッアㇰアァ	アア		アア	アㇷ゚アッアㇰアァ
Extended bopomofo	ㄚ	ㄚˋ	ㄚ˪	ㄚㆴ ㄚㆵ ㄚㆻ ㄚㆷ	ㄚˊ		ㄚ˫	ㄚㆴ˙ ㄚㆵ˙ ㄚㆻ˙ ㄚㆷ˙
Tâi-lô	a	á	à	ah	â	ǎ	ā	a̍h	a̋	--ah
Example (traditional Chinese)	公司	報紙	興趣	血壓警察中國牛肉	人員	老爸	草地	配合法律文學歇熱	昨昏	入去
Example (simplified Chinese)	公司	报纸	兴趣	血压警察中国牛肉	人员	老爸	草地	配合法律文学歇热	昨昏	入去

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Note: The bopomofo extended characters in the zhuyin row require a UTF-8 font capable of displaying Unicode values 31A0–31B7 (ex. Code2000 true type font).

Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.^[2]^[3]^[4]

[1]
"Reclassifying ISO 639-3 [nan]: An Empirical Approach to Mutual Intelligibility and Ethnolinguistic Distinctions" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-09-19.
[2]
Mei, Tsu-lin (1970), "Tones and prosody in Middle Chinese and the origin of the rising tone", Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 30: 86–110, doi:10.2307/2718766, JSTOR 2718766
[3]
Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1984), Middle Chinese: A study in Historical Phonology, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, p. 3, ISBN 978-0-7748-0192-8
[4]
Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2023-07-10). "Glottolog 4.8 - Min". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7398962. Archived from the original on 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
[5]
"Amoyese". Merriam Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
[6]
Lee, Alan (2005). Tone Patterns of Kelantan Hokkien and Related Issues in Southern Min Tonology (PhD thesis). University of Pennsylvania.
[7]
Heylen, Ann (2001). "Missionary Linguistics on Taiwan. Romanizing Taiwanese: Codification and Standardization of Dictionaries in Southern Min (1837–1923)". In Ku, Wei-ying; De Ridder, Koen (eds.). Authentic Chinese Christianity: Preludes to Its Development (Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries). Leuven: Leuven University Press. p. 151. ISBN 9789058671028.
[8]
Niu, Gengsen 牛耕叟 (2005-12-26). "Táiwān Héluòhuà fāzhǎn lìchéng" 台湾河洛话发展历程 [The Historical Development of Taiwanese Hoklo]. Zhōngguó Táiwān wǎng 中国台湾网 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2014-05-17.
[9]
Kirjassof, Alice Ballantine (March 1920). "Formosa the Beautiful". The National Geographic Magazine. Vol. 37, no. 3. p. 290 – via Internet Archive.
[10]
"Gǔ Mǐnyuèzú yǔ Hànzú Mǐnnányǔ de yóulái" 古闽越族与汉族闽南语的由来 [The Ancient Minyue People and the Origins of the Min Nan Language]. Lónghú zhèn zhèngfǔ wǎng 龙湖镇政府网 (in Chinese). 2006-04-20. Archived from the original on 2009-05-17. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
[11]
Ratte, Alexander Takenobu (2011). Contact-Induced Phonological Change in Taiwanese (MA thesis). The Ohio State University.
[12]
Baxter, William Hubbard (1992). A handbook of old Chinese phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 47. ISBN 3-11-012324-X.
[13]
Sung, Margaret M. Y. (1973). "A Study of Literary and Colloquial Amoy Chinese". Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 1 (3): 414–436. ISSN 0091-3723. JSTOR 23752861. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
[14]
Van der Loon, Piet (1967). "The Manila Incunabula and Early Hokkien Studies, Part 2" (PDF). Asia Major. New Series. 13: 113.

Huanan, Wang 王華南 (2007). Ài shuō Táiyǔ wǔqiān nián: Táiyǔ shēngyùn zhīměi 愛說台語五千年 : 台語聲韻之美 [To Understand the Beauty of Taiwanese] (in Chinese). Taibei Shi: Gao tan wenhua chuban. ISBN 978-986-7101-47-1.
Li, Shunliang 李順涼 (2004). Hong, Hongyuan 洪宏元 (ed.). Huá-Tái-Yīng cíhuì jùshì duìzhào jí / Chinese-Taiwanese-English Lexicon 華台英詞彙句式對照集 / Chinese-Taiwanese-English Lexicon (in Chinese and English). Taibei Shi: Wunan tushu chuban gufen youxian gongsi. ISBN 957-11-3822-3.
Tang, Tingchi 湯廷池 (1999). Mǐnnányǔ yǔfǎ yánjiū shìlùn 閩南語語法研究試論 [Papers on Southern Min Syntax] (in Chinese and English). Taibei Shi: Taiwan xuesheng shuju. ISBN 957-15-0948-5.
Sung, Margaret M. Y. (1973). "A Study of Literary and Colloquial Amoy Chinese". Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 1 (3): 414–436. JSTOR 2375286.
Maclay, Howard S. (1953). The Phonology of Amoy Chinese. University of New Mexico.
Douglas, Carstairs (1899) [1873]. Chinese-English Dictionary of theVernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy (2nd ed.). London: Presbyterian Church of England. OL 25126855M.
Barclay, Thomas (1923). Supplement to Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy. Shanghai: The Commercial Press. hdl:2027/mdp.39015051950106.
MacGowan, John (1898). A Manual of the Amoy Colloquial (PDF) (4th ed.). Amoy: Chui Keng Ton. hdl:2027/nyp.33433081879649.

{Why it is Called Amoy}, Why Minnan is called "Amoy"
listen to the news in Amoy Min Nan Archived 2016-07-11 at the Wayback Machine (site is in Chinese script)
Database of Pronunciations of Chinese Dialects (in English, Chinese and Japanese)
Glossika - Chinese Languages and Dialects
Voyager - Spacecraft - Golden Record - Greetings From Earth - Amoy, includes translation and sound clip
(The voyager clip says: Thài-khong pêng-iú, lín-hó. Lín chia̍h-pá--bē? Ū-êng, to̍h lâi gún chia chē--ô·! 太空朋友，恁好。恁食飽未？有閒著來阮遮坐哦!)

[minClassification-5] Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.^[2]^[3]^[4]

[Minnan-1] [1]
"Reclassifying ISO 639-3 [nan]: An Empirical Approach to Mutual Intelligibility and Ethnolinguistic Distinctions" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-09-19.

[2] [2]
Mei, Tsu-lin (1970), "Tones and prosody in Middle Chinese and the origin of the rising tone", Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 30: 86–110, doi:10.2307/2718766, JSTOR 2718766

[3] [3]
Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1984), Middle Chinese: A study in Historical Phonology, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, p. 3, ISBN 978-0-7748-0192-8

[glottoMin-4] [4]
Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2023-07-10). "Glottolog 4.8 - Min". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7398962. Archived from the original on 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2023-10-13.

[6] [5]
"Amoyese". Merriam Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 2 March 2024.

[7] [6]
Lee, Alan (2005). Tone Patterns of Kelantan Hokkien and Related Issues in Southern Min Tonology (PhD thesis). University of Pennsylvania.

[8] [7]
Heylen, Ann (2001). "Missionary Linguistics on Taiwan. Romanizing Taiwanese: Codification and Standardization of Dictionaries in Southern Min (1837–1923)". In Ku, Wei-ying; De Ridder, Koen (eds.). Authentic Chinese Christianity: Preludes to Its Development (Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries). Leuven: Leuven University Press. p. 151. ISBN 9789058671028.

[9] [8]
Niu, Gengsen 牛耕叟 (2005-12-26). "Táiwān Héluòhuà fāzhǎn lìchéng" 台湾河洛话发展历程 [The Historical Development of Taiwanese Hoklo]. Zhōngguó Táiwān wǎng 中国台湾网 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2014-05-17.

[10] [9]
Kirjassof, Alice Ballantine (March 1920). "Formosa the Beautiful". The National Geographic Magazine. Vol. 37, no. 3. p. 290 – via Internet Archive.

[11] [10]
"Gǔ Mǐnyuèzú yǔ Hànzú Mǐnnányǔ de yóulái" 古闽越族与汉族闽南语的由来 [The Ancient Minyue People and the Origins of the Min Nan Language]. Lónghú zhèn zhèngfǔ wǎng 龙湖镇政府网 (in Chinese). 2006-04-20. Archived from the original on 2009-05-17. Retrieved 2008-04-12.

[12] [11]
Ratte, Alexander Takenobu (2011). Contact-Induced Phonological Change in Taiwanese (MA thesis). The Ohio State University.

[Baxter1992-13] [12]
Baxter, William Hubbard (1992). A handbook of old Chinese phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 47. ISBN 3-11-012324-X.

[Sung1973-14] [13]
Sung, Margaret M. Y. (1973). "A Study of Literary and Colloquial Amoy Chinese". Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 1 (3): 414–436. ISSN 0091-3723. JSTOR 23752861. Retrieved 1 June 2022.

[:Van_der_Loon-15] [14]
Van der Loon, Piet (1967). "The Manila Incunabula and Early Hokkien Studies, Part 2" (PDF). Asia Major. New Series. 13: 113.

[5]

[6]

[7]

[1]

[a]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Accents

Tones

Tone sandhi

Literary and colloquial readings

Initials

Finals

Complement constructions

Negative particles

Common particles

Wikiwand in your browser!

Amoy dialect

Accents

Tones

Tone sandhi

Literary and colloquial readings

Initials

Finals

Complement constructions

Negative particles

Common particles

Wikiwand in your browser!

History

Special characteristics

Vocabulary

Phonology

Grammar

Romanization

See also

Notes

References

Sources

External links

Amoy
Amoyese, Amoynese, Xiamenese
廈門話 Ē-mn̂g-ōe
Native to	China
Region	part of Xiamen (Amoy) (Siming and Huli districts), Haicang and Longhai districts to the west
Native speakers	2 million (2021)^[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Min Coastal Min Southern Min Hokkien Amoy
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese^[a] Proto-Min
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	`xiam1236`
Linguasphere	`> 79-AAA-jeb 79-AAA-je > 79-AAA-jeb`
Distribution of Hokkien dialects. Amoy dialect is in magenta.
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