The Matsu dialect (Eastern Min: Mā-cū-uâ / 馬祖話) is the local dialect of Matsu Islands, Taiwan. Native speakers also call it Bàng-huâ (平話), meaning the language spoken in everyday life. It is recognised as one of the statutory languages for public transport announcements in Lienchiang County, Taiwan.[6]
Previously the Eastern Min varieties in the Matsu Islands were seen as a part of general Fujian varieties. The establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 severed the Matsu Islands from the rest of Fujian province, and as communications were cut off between the Republic of China (now including Taiwan and without Mainland China) and the PRC, the identity of the Matsu Islands specifically became established. Additionally, the varieties of Eastern Min on the Matsu Islands became seen as a Matsu dialect.[7]
Many rimes come in pairs: in the table above, the one to the left represents a close rime (緊韻), while the second represents an open rime (鬆韻). The close/open rimes are closely related with the tones (see below).
Tone
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Tone 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 rime
Tone contour
55 ˥
51 ˥˩
33 ˧
312 ˧˩˨
131 ˩˧˩
13˩˧
5 ˥
Example Hanzi
君 /kuŋ˥/
臺 /tai˥˩/
祖 /tsu˧/
去 /kʰɔ˧˩˨/
話 /uɑ˩˧˩/
福 /houk̚˩˧/
掘 /kuk̚˥/
The relationship between tone and rime
In the Matsu dialect, level tone (平聲), rising tone (上聲) and light entering (陽入) should be read in close rimes (緊韻); departing tone and dark entering should be read in open rimes (鬆韻).
For example, "a̤" have two pronunciations, /ɛ/ in close rime and /a/ in open rime; "a̤h" have two pronunciations, /eʔ/ in close rime and /ɛʔ/ in open rime. This is summarized in the table:
Close rime tone "ă̤" should be pronounced as /ɛ˥/ instead of /a˥/; and open rime tone "â̤" should be pronounced as /a˩˧˩/ instead of /ɛ˩˧˩/.
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 level 55
light level 51
light entering 5
rising 33
dark departing 312
light departing 131
dark entering 13
dark level 55
rising (33)
light level (51)
dark departing 312
rising (33)
light level (51)
light departing 131
rising (33)
light level (51)
dark entering B 13
rising (33)
light level (51)
rising 33
half dark departing (31)
13 (dark entering lost its entering coda)
dark level (55)
dark entering A 13
31 + /-ʔ/ (half dark departing added a entering coda "/-ʔ/")
dark entering (13)
light entering (5)
light level 51
rising (33)
half dark departing (31)
rising (33)
half dark departing (31)
light entering 5
rising (33) or rising + /-ʔ/
light level (51), or light entering (5)
In the table above, "dark entering A" means dark entering coda ended with /-k̚/, "dark entering B" means ended with /-ʔ/. In the modern spoken language, the final plosive is difficult to distinguish in isolation, having merged into /-ʔ/, but the two categories exhibit different behaviors from each other in tone sandhi environments. This feature is shared with most modern Eastern Min varieties.
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
/p/ and /pʰ/ change to /β/;
/t/, /tʰ/ and /s/, /l/ and /n/ change to /l/;
/ts/ and /tsʰ/ change to /ʒ/;
/k/, /kʰ/ and /h/ change to null initial;
/m/ and /ŋ/ remain unchanged.
Nasal coda /-ŋ/
/p/ and /pʰ/ change to /m/;
/t/, /tʰ/, /s/, /l/ and /n/ change to /n/;
/ts/ and /tsʰ/ change to /ʒ/;
/k/, /kʰ/, /h/ and null initial change to /ŋ/;
/m/ and /ŋ/ remain unchanged.
entering coda (/-ʔ/, /-k̚/)
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, "技" /kɛi˧˩˨/ is a syllable which has dark departing tone, it's an open rime; "師" /sy˥/ has a dark level tone. When combined as the phrase "技師" (technician), "技" changes its tonal value to rising tone. Rising tone is a close rime tone, therefore the pronunciation as a whole is /ki˧ly˥/.
Notes
^Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.[1][2][3]
References
^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, JSTOR2718766
