Pu–Xian Min (Hinghwa Romanized: Pó-sing-gṳ̂; traditional Chinese: 莆仙話; simplified Chinese: 莆仙话; pinyin: Púxiānhuà), also known as Putian–Xianyou Min, Puxian Min, Pu–Xian Chinese, Xinghua, Henghua, HinghuaorHinghwa (Hing-hua̍-gṳ̂; traditional Chinese: 興化語; simplified Chinese: 兴化语; pinyin: Xīnghuàyǔ), is a Chinese language that forms a branch of Min Chinese. Pu-Xian is a transitional variety of Coastal Min which shares characteristics with both Eastern Min and Southern Min, although it is closer to the latter.
| Pu–Xian Min | |
|---|---|
| 莆仙語/莆仙話/興化話 Pó-sing-gṳ̂/Pó-sing-uā/Hing-hua̍-uā | |
| Native to | China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan (Wuqiu) |
| Region | Fujian (Putian, parts of Fuzhou and Quanzhou) |
| Ethnicity | Putianese (Han Chinese) |
Native speakers | 3.15 million (2022)[1] |
| |
Early forms | |
| Dialects | |
| Simplified Han characters Traditional Han characters Hinghwa Romanized (Hing-hua̍ Báⁿ-uā-ci̍) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cpx |
| Glottolog | puxi1243 |
| Linguasphere | 79-AAA-id |
Pu–Xian Min | |
| 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 native language of Putian people, Pu-Xian is spoken mostly in Fujian province, particularly in Putian city and Xianyou County (after which it is named), parts of Fuzhou, and parts of Quanzhou. It is also widely used as the mother tongue in Wuqiu Township, Kinmen County, Fujian Province, Republic of China (Taiwan). More than 2,000 people in Shacheng, Fuding in northern Fujian also speak Pu-Xian.[5] There are minor differences between the dialects of Putian and Xianyou.
Overseas populations of Pu-Xian speakers exist in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Speakers of Pu-Xian are also known as Henghua, Hinghua, or Xinghua.
Before the year 979 AD, the Pu-Xian region was part of Quanzhou county and people there spoke a form of Southern Min.[6][7] due to its origin in the past.
In 979 AD, during the Song Dynasty, the region was administratively separated from Quanzhou and the Chinese spoken there developed separately from the rest of Southern Min. Due to its proximity with Fuzhou, it absorbed some elements of Eastern Min, such as morphophonemic alternations in initial consonants, but its basic linguistic characteristics, i.e. grammar and most of its lexicon, are based on Southern Min. It also shares denasalization of historical nasal consonants and vocalic nasalization with Southern Min varieties.[8]
Pu-Xian Min has 62% cognates with Quanzhou dialect (Southern Min) and only 39% cognates with Fuzhou dialect (Eastern Min).[9]
Pu-Xian differs from most Southern Min varieties in several ways:
Pu-Xian has 15 consonants, including the zero onset, the same as most other Min varieties. Pu-Xian is distinctive for having a lateral fricative [ɬ] instead of the [s] in other Min varieties, similar to Taishanese.
Pu-Xian has 53 finals and 6 phonemic tones.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | unaspirated | p 巴 (b) | t 打 (d) | k 家 (g) | ʔ 烏 |
| aspirated | pʰ 彭 (p) | tʰ 他 (t) | kʰ 卡 (k) | ||
| Nasals | m 麻 (m) | n 拿 (n) | ŋ 雅 (ng) | ||
| Fricatives | β* | ɬ 沙 (s) | h 下 (h) | ||
| Affricates | unaspirated | ts 渣 (c) | |||
| aspirated | tsʰ 査 (ch) | ||||
| Approximant | l 拉 (l) | ||||
Pu-Xian Min has 53 finals (including nasalised finals)
| Vowel | Diphthong | Nasal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| no glide | a 鴉 (a) | au 拗 (au) | aŋ 王 (ang) | aʔ 壓 (ah) |
| ɒ 奥 (o̤) | ɒŋ 用 (o̤ng) | ɒʔ 屋 (o̤h) | ||
| ɔ 科 (eo) | ɔu 烏 (o) | ɔŋ 温 (eong) | oʔ 熨 (eoh) | |
| e 裔 (a̤) | ai 愛 (ai) | ɛŋ 煙 (eng) | ɛʔ 黑 (eh) | |
| œ 改 (e̤) | œŋ 換 (e̤ng) | œʔ 郁 (e̤h) | ||
| ŋ 伓 (ng) | ||||
| /-i-/ | i 衣 (i) | iu 油 (iu) | iŋ 引 (ing) | iʔ 益 (ih) |
| ia 夜 (ia) | iau 要 (a̤u) | iaŋ 鹽 (iang) | iaʔ 葉 (iah) | |
| /-u-/ | u 夫 (u) | ui 位 (ui) | uŋ 黄 (ng) | |
| ua 画 (ua) | ɔi/ue 歪 (oi) | uaŋ 碗 (uang) | uaʔ 活 (uah) | |
| /-y-/ | y 余 (ṳ) | yŋ 恩 (ṳng) | yʔ 役 (ṳh) | |
| yɒ 安 (io̤ⁿ) | yɒŋ 羊 (io̤ng) | yɒʔ 藥 (io̤h) |
| Chinese character | 黃 (ńg) | 方 (hng) | 漲 (dn̂g) | 幫 (bng) | 光 (gng) | 兩 (nn̄g) | 毛 (mńg) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Putian | uŋ | huŋ | tuŋ | puŋ | kuŋ | nuŋ | muŋ |
| Xianyou | ŋ̍ | hŋ̍ | tŋ̍ | pŋ̍ | kŋ̍ | nŋ̍ | mŋ̍ |
| IPA | ã | ẽ | ɛ̃ | ĩ | ỹ | ɒ̃ | iã | yã | uã | aĩ | aũ | uĩ | iũ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romanization | aⁿ | a̤ⁿ | a̤ⁿ | e̤ⁿ | o̤ⁿ | iaⁿ | io̤ⁿ | uaⁿ | oiⁿ | a̤uⁿ | |||
| Romanized IPA | ã | ẽ | ø̃ | ɒ̃ | iã | yɒ̃ | uã | oĩ | ɛũ |
| Chinese character | 爭 (caⁿ) | 還 (há̤ⁿ) | 段 (dē̤ⁿ) | 三 (so̤ⁿ) | 鼎 (diáⁿ) | 張 (da̤uⁿ) | 看 (kua̍ⁿ) | 飯 (bōiⁿ) | 贏 (ió̤ⁿ) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xianyou | tsã | hĩ | tỹ | sɒ̃ | tiã | tiũ | kʰuã | puĩ | yɒ̃ |
| Putian | tsa | hi | tø | sɒ | tia | tiau | kʰua | puai | yɒ |
| Tone | Ing-báⁿ 陰平 | Ing-siō̤ng 陰上 | Ing-kṳ̍ 陰去 | Ing-ci̍h 陰入 | Ió̤ng-báⁿ 陽平 | Ió̤ng-kṳ̍ 陽去 | Ió̤ng-ci̍h 陽入 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Putian | ˥˧˧ (533) | ˦˥˧ (453) | ˦˨ (42) | ʔ˨˩ (ʔ21) | ˩˧ (13) | ˩ (11) | ʔ˦ (ʔ4) |
| Xianyou | ˥˦˦ (544) | ˧˧˨ (332) | ˥˨ (52) | ʔ˨ (ʔ2) | ˨˦ (24) | ˨˩ (21) | ʔ˦ (ʔ4) |
| Chinese character | 買 | 黃 | 生 | 領 | 師 | 兩 | 火 | 壁 | 著 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colloquial | pe | ŋ̍ | ɬã, tsʰã | nia | ɬai | nŋ̍ | hoe | pia | tieu |
| Literary | mai | hɒŋ | ɬɛŋ | liŋ | ɬo | løŋ | hɒ | piʔ | tøʔ |
新婦房 ɬiŋ pupaŋ → ɬiŋ muβaŋ
青草 tsʰɔŋ tsʰau → tsʰɔŋ nau
| Chinese character | 埋 (lit.) | 萬 (lit.) | 人 (lit.) | 入 | 危 (lit.) | 逆 | 內 | 諾 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Putian | mai | man | tsin | tsiʔ | kui | kiʔ | tue | tɔʔ |
| Quanzhou | bai | ban | lin | dzip | ɡui | ɡiak | lue | lɔk |
Hing-hua̍ báⁿ-uā-ci̍ (興化平話字) is the Romanization system for Pu-Xian Min. It has 23 letters: a a̤ b c ch d e e̤ g h i k l m n ng o o̤ p s t u ṳ.
The Romanization only needs five tone marks for seven tones:
| IPA | Pu-Xian Min (Xinghua) | Fuzhou |
|---|---|---|
| pʰ | p | p |
| tʰ | t | t |
| kʰ | k | k |
| p | b | b |
| t | d | d |
| k | g | g |
| tsʰ | ch | ch |
| ts | c | c |
| Tone | 陰平 Ing-báⁿ | 陰上 Ing-siō̤ng | 陰去 Ing-kṳ̍ | 陰入 Ing-ci̍h | 陽平 Ió̤ng-báⁿ | 陽去 Ió̤ng-kṳ̍ | 陽入 Ió̤ng-ci̍h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Báⁿ-uā-ci̍ | a | â | a̍ | ah | á | ā | a̍h |
| Pe̍h-ōe-jī | a | á | à | ah | â | ā | a̍h |
