Some rimes come in pairs in the above table, and they are closely related with the tones: the one to the left only exist in dark level (陰平), light level (陽平), light rising (陽上) and departing (去聲); while the other only exist in dark rising (陰上) and entering (入聲). It can be compared with close and open rimes of Fuzhou dialect, Eastern Min.
Tones
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Tone name
dark level 陰平
light level 陽平
dark rising 陰上
light rising 陽上
departing 去聲
entering 入聲
Tone contour
˧ 33
˧˩ 31
˨˩˨ 21
˥˧ 53
˨˦ 24
˨˩˨ 212
Example Hanzi
詩
南
始
是
四
失
The entering tones in Sanming dialect don't have any entering tone coda (入聲韻尾) such as /-ʔ/, /-p̚/, /-t̚/ and /-k̚/. It's quite different from many other Chinese dialects.
Tone sandhi
Shaxian 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 33
light level 31
dark rising 21
light rising 53
departing 24
entering 212
dark level 33
44
light level 31
33
dark rising 21
55
light rising 53
dark rising (21)
departing 24
dark rising (21)
44
dark rising (21)
entering 212
4
Some rimes may change their pronunciation because they are closely related with the tones (see above).
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
