Hokkien phonology

Hokkien is a Southern Min language spoken in southern Fujian and Taiwan. It has one of the most diverse phoneme inventories among Sinitic languages.

Along with other Min languages, which are not directly descended from Middle Chinese, Hokkien is of considerable interest to historical linguists for reconstructing Old Chinese.

This article uses Pe̍h-ōe-jī and IPA for transcription.

Syllables

A syllable in Hokkien consists of an initial, a final, and a tone.

In total, Hokkien uses around 800 toneless combinations of initials and finals, and around 2250~2450 total syllables with tones (counting only attested meaningful syllables, not all theoretically possible combinations).

The number of syllables in Hokkien is far greater than in any other Sinitic language. For comparison, Cantonese and Hokchew use around 1800 toned syllables, Beijing Mandarin has 1350 syllables, and Suzhou Wu has only 1100 syllables.

Initials

Hokkien has aspirated, unaspirated as well as voiced consonant initials.

A total of 15 initials (or 14, in dialects with /dz/ merged with /l/) are used in Hokkien. This number does not include the three nasal consonants ([m], [n], [ŋ]), which are usually considered allophones of the non-nasal voiced initials (e.g. 命; miā; 'life' is analyzed as /bĩã꜅/, but pronounced as [mĩã³³]). This allophony also leads to a notable feature of the Hokkien accent in other languages, such as Japanese or Mandarin, when the nasal sounds like [m] are denasalized into [b].

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	plain	p	t		k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ
	voiced	b (m)	l~d~ɾ (n)		ɡ (ŋ)
	(nasalized)
Affricate	plain		ts
	aspirated		tsʰ
	voiced		dz~z
Fricative			s			h
Semi-vowels		w		j

Syllables starting with vowels or approximants (/w/, /j/) are considered to have the zero initial /∅/ (which can be articulated as a glottal stop [ʔ]).

Affricates and fricatives (ts, tsʰ, dz~z, s) are palatalized before i, becoming tɕ, tɕʰ, dʑ~ʑ, ɕ.

Allophones of the consonants in urban Zhangzhou Hokkien

Phoneme	Phonetic realisation
	_/[i; j]	_/[u; w]	_/[Ṽ; ŋ̍]	elsewhere
/p/	[p]	[pʷ]	[p]	[p]
/pʰ/	[pʰ]	[pʰʷ]	[pʰ]	[pʰ]
/b/	[ɓ]	[βʷ]	[m]	[ɓ]
/tʰ/	[t̪ʰ]	[t̻ʰʷ]	[tʰ]	[tʰ]
/l/	[ɗ̪]	[lʷ]	[n]	[ɗ]
/k/	[kʲ]	[kʷ]	[k]	[k]
/kʰ/	[kʰʲ]	[kʰʷ]	[kʰ]	[kʰ]
/g/	[ɠʲ]	[ɣʷ]	[ŋ]	[ɠ]
/∅/	[ʔʲ]/∅	[ʔʷ]/∅	[ʔ]/∅	[ʔ]/∅
/s/	[ɕ]	[ʃ]	[s]	[s]
/z/	[ʝ]	[ʒ]	[z]	[z]
/h/	[ħʲ]	[hʷ]	[ɦ]	[ħ]
/ts/	[tɕ]	[tʃ]	[ts]	[ts]
/tsʰ/	[tɕʰ]	[tʃʰ]	[tsʰ]	[tsʰ]

The phoneme /l/ in Hokkien has many possible articulations. It ranges between [d], [ɗ], [l] and [ɾ]. Its nasal allophone is uniformly described as [n]. In directly-borrowed loanwords (i.e. those not borrowed orthographically via Mandarin or Japanese), foreign /d/ may be represented with Hokkien /l/: 鐳; lui; 'coin' (from Dutch duit via Malay), 羅辛; lô-sin; 'dozen' (from English), 老君; ló-kun; 'doctor' (from Malay dukun), 棉蘭; Mî-lân; 'Medan'.

As a phoneme, /dz/ (also realized as [z]) is found predominantly in southern dialects of Hokkien. In many northern dialects, such as urban Quanzhou and Amoy, it has merged with /l/. This merger is still incomplete in some peripheral northern dialects, such as those of Tong'an or Yongchun, where /dz/ is reported to be present in some localities, in the speech of older speakers, or in a limited set of words (usually the more common ones, such as 日; ji̍t; 'day' or 二; jī; 'two'). Some Southern and Western Hokkien dialects merge /dz/ with /g/ (among the Southern Hokkien dialects, such merger is found in the north of Zhangpu, in Taichung, or, under Western Hokkien influence, in Hua'an).

Finals

A final in Hokkien consists of a nucleus (a vowel, a diphtong, or a syllabic nasal /m̩/ or /ŋ̍/), with an optional medial (/i/ or /u/, some dialects also allow /ɯ/) and coda (/m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /p/, /t/, /k/, /ʔ/).

There are around 80 to 90 finals in Hokkien. The exact number can vary depending on the specific dialect, as well as the inclusion of marginal finals from onomatopoeia and contractions. Western branch of Hokkien (the Lengna dialect) has around 60 finals, due to the loss of the /-ʔ/ coda.

In the tables below, rare rimes used in a small number of words are shaded. Finals used only in the northern or southern dialects of Hokkien are marked with _N and _S respectively.

Open-vowel finals

Finals with the coda /-ʔ/ are considered to be the checked tone counterparts for the open-vowel finals.

Non-nasalized finals

non-entering tones	zero medial	-a /a/ 亞巴	-er /ə/N 果皮	-o͘ /ɔ/ 土兔	-o /o/ 刀無	-e /e/ 系西	-ee /ɛ/S 茶馬	-ir /ɯ/N 去事		-ai /ai/ 才台	-au /au/ 包草
	/-i-/	-ia /ia/ 者野	-i /i/ 伊比		-io /io/ 叫小				-iu /iu/ 友首		-iau /iau/ 條肖
	/-u-/	-oa /ua/ 我歌	-u /u/ 主富			-oe /ue/ 悔貝			-ui /ui/ 水季	-oai /uai/ 快怪
entering tones	zero medial	-ah /aʔ/ 甲拍	-erh /əʔ/N 雪月	-o͘h /ɔʔ/ 膜噁	-oh /oʔ/ 學索	-eh /eʔ/ 客N雪S	-eeh /ɛʔ/S 白客	-irh /ɯʔ/N 䟙漬			-auh /auʔ/ 雹暴
	/-i-/	-iah /iaʔ/ 食壁	-ih /iʔ/ 鐵篾	-io͘h /iɔʔ/S	-ioh /ioʔ/ 箬藥				-iuh /iuʔ/		-iauh /iauʔ/
	/-u-/	-oah /uaʔ/ 煞末	-uh /uʔ/ 厾托			-oeh /ueʔ/ 八N卜S			-uih /uiʔ/N 血

The vowel -a /a/ is usually [ɐ].

The vowel ee /ɛ/ is only found in Southern dialects of Hokkien.

The final -o͘ /ɔ/ is realized as a diphtong -ou [ou] in many rural Zhangzhou dialects (in Pinghe, Zhangpu, Yunxiao, Chawan, etc), similarly to Teochew. Likewise, many of those dialects diphtongize -e /e/ into -ei [ei]. Some dialects, such as Zhangpu, realize them as triphtongs [uou] and [iei]. Changtai dialect uniquely pronounces general Hokkien -o͘ /ɔ/ as [eu]. However, it still uses the vowel /ɔ/, mainly in place of general Hokkien /o/.

-er /ə/ and -ir /ɯ/ are found in many Northern Hokkien dialects, including Quanzhou and Tong'an. In Amoy, Jinjiang and among some younger urban Quanzhou speakers, -er /ə/ is merged with /e/. Similarly, the final -ir /ɯ/ may be merged with /i/ or /u/ in those dialects. These two finals are not found in Southern dialects of Hokkien.

Chawan dialect in Zhangzhou also has -er /ə/ and -ir /ɯ/. Thus, Chawan distinguishes the following finals: -ee /ɛ/, -er /ə/, and -ei [ei] (latter corresponding to urban Zhangzhou -e /e/). The dialects of Yunxiao and rural Dongshan are notable for having -ee /ɛ/, -e /e/ (in place of Chawan -er /ə/) and -ei /ei/ (in place of urban Zhangzhou -e /e/) as distinct finals.

In Northern Hokkien dialects where the final -er /ə/ is present, it is generally realized as [ɤ̟], and -o /o/ is realized as [o̜]. In dialects where -er /ə/ is absent, [ɤ̹] is a possible realization of -o /o/.

Nasalized finals

non-entering tones	zero medial	-aⁿ /ã/ 三衫		-o͘ⁿ /ɔ̃/ 毛誤	-eⁿ /ẽ/N 泥嬰	-eeⁿ /ɛ̃/S 生病		-aiⁿ /ãi/ 乃耐	-auⁿ /ãu/ 貌鬧	-m /m̩/ 毋莓	-ng /ŋ̍/ 方堂
	/-i-/	-iaⁿ /iã/ 兄名	-iⁿ /ĩ/ 年天	-io͘ⁿ /iɔ̃/S 想羊			-iuⁿ /iũ/ 想N牛S		-iauⁿ /iãu/ 貓鳥
	/-u-/	-oaⁿ /uã/ 看線			-oeⁿ /uẽ/S 妹糜		-uiⁿ /uĩ/ 每N光S	-oaiⁿ /uãi/ 檨彎
entering tones	zero medial	-ahⁿ /ãʔ/		-ohⁿ /ɔ̃ʔ/ 膜瘼	-ehⁿ /ẽʔ/N 脈	-eehⁿ /ɛ̃ʔ/S 脈雀		-aihⁿ /ãiʔ/N	-auhⁿ /ãuʔ/	-mh /m̩ʔ/	-ngh /ŋ̍ʔ/
	/-i-/	-iahⁿ /iãʔ/ 嚇愕	-ihⁿ /ĩʔ/ 物𥍉		-oehⁿ /uẽʔ/S		-iuhⁿ /iũʔ/N		-iauhⁿ /iãuʔ/
	/-u-/						-uihⁿ /uĩʔ/N 蜢	-oaihⁿ /uãiʔ/

Finals with codas

Finals with codas

		-m/-p			-ng/-k			-n/-t
non-entering tones	zero medial	-am /am/ 南甘	-erm /əm/N 森針	-om /ɔm/S 森掩	-ang /aŋ/ 江儂	-erng /əŋ/N 生等	-ong /ɔŋ/ 王東	-an /an/ 安難	-ern /ən/N 銀恩
	/-i-/	-iam /iam/ 忝劍	-im /im/ 心金		-iang /iaŋ/ 涼亮	-eng /iŋ/ 令頂	-iong /iɔŋ/ 中弓	-ian /ian/ 建電	-in /in/ 人引
	/-u-/	-oam /uam/ 犯凡			-oang /uaŋ/N 風			-oan /uan/ 川全	-un /un/ 春本
entering tones	zero medial	-ap /ap/ 答雜		-op /ɔp/S	-ak /ak/ 角北	-erk /ək/N 德特	-ok /ɔk/ 服國	-at /at/ 殺達	-ert /ət/N 迄核
	/-i-/	-iap /iap/ 接粒	-ip /ip/ 立及		-iak /iak/ 逼	-ek /ik/ 昔逆	-iok /iɔk/ 足俗	-iat /iat/ 穴烈	-it /it/ 日失
	/-u-/	-oap /uap/ 法						-oat /uat/ 越決	-ut /ut/ 骨術

The exact realization of /iŋ/ and /ik/ varies greatly throughout the dialects. For most of them, they are described as [iɪŋ]/[iɪk] or [iəŋ]/[iək]. Many Hokkien dialects in rural Zhangzhou and SEA have them as [eŋ] and [ek]. In urban Quanzhou and Jinjiang, /ik/ is merged with /iak/, but /iŋ/ is preserved.

In dialects with -erng /əŋ/ and -ng /ŋ̍/, the two finals are often confounded. Likewise, -m /m̩/ and -erm /əm/ may be used intechangeably. -m /m̩/ is assigned mainly to the syllables with zero initial, e.g. in 毋 m̄ "not", 媒 m̂, hm̂ "matchmaker", 梅 m̂ "plum", 莓 m̂ "berry", etc.

Hui'an dialect merges -im /im/ and -iam /iam/ into [em], or -ip /ip/ and -iap /iap/ into [ep], etc, and thus it has the following rhymes not found in other dialects: [em], [ep], [en], [et], [eŋ].

While -er /ə/ and -ir /ɯ/ are phonemically distinct as standalone finals, they are not distinct in compound finals, and /əm/, /əŋ/, /ən/, /ək/, /ət/ may be described as /ɯm/, /ɯŋ/, /ɯn/, /ɯk/, /ɯt/ as well (and they are usually described as such for Teochew). In Quanzhou operatic pronunciation, this sound is pronounced as [-ɯə-] in compound finals (except for the final /ək/, which is realized as [-ɯak], influenced by the urban Quanzhou -erk/-ek/-iak merger). These rimes also share some phonological constraints with /ɯ/ rather than /ə/, e.g. they do not cooccur with labial initials (so */pɯ/, */pʰək/~/pʰɯk/ or */mət/~/mɯt/ are not valid syllables in Hokkien, while /pə/ or /pʰə/ are possible).

Rimes used in minor dialects

Rimes with medial /-ɯ-/

Finals with the medial -ir- /-ɯ-/ are mentioned in Lūi-im Biāu-gō͘ (彙音妙悟), an early 19th century Northern Hokkien rimebook, but now they are obsolete in most dialects of Hokkien. They are found only in a few exceptionally conservative dialects, such as Quanzhou operatic, or, per Ang Ui-jin's survey, in the Taiwanese "Old Anxi accent", spoken among older generations in some areas of New Taipei (namely Sanxia, Linkou, Pinglin, Xizhi, Qidu, Pingxi, and Taishan), in Baozhong Township, and in a few villages in Xihu and Puyan. For these dialects, Ang Ui-jin describes this medial as -er- /-ə-/ rather than -ir- /-ɯ-/, except in the final -iriⁿ /ɯĩ/.

Finals with /-ɯ-/

-ira /ɯa/N 徛騎	-iro /ɯo/N 鉤偶	-ire /ɯe/N 街初
-irah /ɯaʔ/N 揭		-ireh /ɯeʔ/N 節狹
-iraⁿ /ɯã/N 囝			-iriⁿ /ɯĩ/N 先前

/uɛ/ and related rimes

Some southern dialects (Yunxiao, Chawan, Lengna) have /ue/ and /uɛ/ as distinct finals. The latter is used in a small number of vernacular readings: in 瓜, 花, 華, 化, 怪, 畫, 話 in all of these dialects, and 果, 過, 課, 火, 貨 additionally in the Chawan dialect, and 瓦, 蓋, 芥, 寡 in the Lengna dialect.

Similarly, those dialects differentiate between /ueʔ/ and /uɛʔ/, but the latter is used exclusively in 劃.

Furthermore, in Chawan dialect, /uẽ/ is used in 妹, 糜, and 昧, while /uɛ̃/ is used in 關, 橫, 寬, 寡, 杆, and 莖. Other rural Zhangzhou dialects (Nanjing, Pinghe, Changtai, Yunxiao, etc) have /uẽ/ in both groups of characters.

Zhangpu dialect uses /uɛ/, /uɛʔ/ and /uɛ̃/ consistently in place of /ue/, /ueʔ/ and /uẽ/.

Marginal finals

Some marginal finals (not mentioned in the above charts) may occur in specific contexts, such as contractions. For example, in Dongshan dialect there is a final -iohⁿ /iɔ̃ʔ/, used in 即樣 chiohⁿ "like this" and 迄樣 hiohⁿ "like that". In Tong'an dialect, there is a final -iai /iai/, used in contractions (遐兮 hiâ--ê > hiâi "those") or in words with the final -ia suffixed with 仔 á (e.g. 車仔 chhia-á > chhiai-á).

Tones

Quanzhou Hokkien tone contours

Amoy Hokkien tone contours

Zhangzhou Hokkien tone contours

"Dark tones" 陰 im on the left, "light tones" 陽 iông on the right. "Entering tones" 入 ji̍p are in pale color.
  Tone ①陰平   Tone ⑤陽平
  Tone ②陰上   Tone ⑥陽上 (only Quanzhou)
  Tone ③陰去   Tone ⑦陽去 (only Amoy, Zhangzhou)

Traditionally, four Middle Chinese tones are called "level" 平 piâⁿ, "rising" 上 chiǔⁿ, "departing" 去 khìr and "entering" 入 ji̍p. These names are mnemonics illustrating the corresponding tone, e.g. the word "level" 平 piâⁿ has the level tone, the word "to enter" 入 ji̍p has the entering tone, etc. In modern languages, these four tones are further divided into two categories: the "dark" (陰 im) or "upper" (上 chiǔⁿ) tones and the "light" (陽 iông) or "lower" (下 ě) tones, giving a total of 8 tones in traditional system.

The tones can be counted in two patterns: the "dark—light" order (the checked tones are 7 and 8) is more common in works published in China, and the "level—rising—departing—entering" order (the checked tones are 4 and 8) is more popular in Taiwan. This article follows the latter numbering system.

陰 "dark tone"
tone name		陰平 "dark level"	陰上 "dark rising"	陰去 "dark departing"	陰入 "dark entering"
Pe̍h-ōe-jī diacritic		a	á	à	ah (-p, -t, -k)
tone number		①	②	③	④
examples		詩 si	死 sí	四 sì	薛 sih
		君 kun	滾 kún	棍 kùn	骨 kut
		東 tong	董 tóng	棟 tòng	督 tok
		耽 tam	膽 tám	擔 tàm	答 tap
陽 "light tones"
tone name		陽平 "light level"	陽上 "light rising"	陽去 "light departing"	陽入 "light entering"
Pe̍h-ōe-jī diacritic		â	ǎ	ā	a̍h (-p, -t, -k)
tone number		⑤	⑥	⑦	⑧
examples		時 sî	是 sǐ	示 sī	蝕 si̍h
		群 kûn	窘 kǔn	郡 kūn	滑 ku̍t
		同 tông	動 tǒng	洞 tōng	獨 to̍k
		談 tâm	湛 tǎm	淡 tām	踏 ta̍p

In most dialects of Hokkien, there are only 7 distinct citation tones, as some of the 8 traditional tones merge into a single tone. Certain dialects (the Lengna dialect or the Changkeng-Yidu dialect in Anxi and Yongchun) distinguish all eight tones, and some (Jinjiang) have only 6 citation tones due to additional mergers. Many Northern dialects merge certain tones in the citation form, but not in the sandhi form.

Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien citation tones

	平	上	去	入
陰	①君 kun [kun˦]	②滾 kún [kun˥˧]	③棍 kùn [kun˧˩]	④骨 kut [kut˧˨]
陽	⑤群 kûn [kun˨˩˦]	⑦郡 kūn [kun˧]		⑧滑 ku̍t [kut˦]

Tone contours across
the Hokkien dialects

	citation tones					post-sandhi tones
	平	上	去	入		平	上	去	入
									-h	-p, -t, -k
Dehua
陰	13	42	21	42		22	44	42
陽	44	35		35		21
urban Quanzhou, Nan'an, Hui'an, Lukang
陰	33	554	31	5		33	214	554		24
陽	214	22		24		22
Jinjiang, Shishi
陰	33	55	31	54		33	214	55		24
陽	214	33		24		22
Tong'an, Xiang'an
陰	44	31	11	32		33	214/22	53		54
陽	214	22		4		11
Taipei
陰	44	53	21	32		22	44	53		54
陽	214	22		4		21				32
Amoy, Yongchun, Changtai, Kaohsiung
陰	44	53	21	32		22	44	53		54
陽	214	22		4			21			32
urban Zhangzhou, Longhai, Pinghe, Nanjing
陰	34	53	31	32		22	34	53		54
陽	213	22		121			31			32
Zhangpu, Yunxiao, Dongshan, Hua'an
陰	44	53	21	32		22	44	53		54
陽	212	22		213			21			32
Chawan
陰	55	53	21	3		33	35	53		54
陽	213	33		213		21	31			3

Tone contours vary across the Hokkien dialects. Some individual dialects, especially those of the Western branch of Hokkien, have more complex tone sandhi systems, with the post-sandhi tone dependent on the following tone.

"Dark level" tone ①陰平

High level 44 ˦ ~ 55 ˥ in most dialects.

May be slightly lower in Quanzhou dialects (33 ˧ ~ 44 ˦).

In urban Zhangzhou dialect it shifts towards high rising 34 ˧˦.

"Dark rising" tone ②陰上

High falling 53 ˥˧ ~ 51 ˥˩ in most dialects.

Coastal Quanzhou dialects (urban Quanzhou, Nan'an, Jinjiang, etc) have it as high level with a small drop at the end (55 ˥ ~ 554 ˥˥˦).

"Dark departing" tone ③陰去

Low falling 31 ˧˩ in most dialects.

May have higher onset (41 ˦˩) in Northern Hokkien and lower onset (21 ˨˩ or even 11 ˩) in Southern dialects.

"Dark entering" tone ④陰入

Mid-falling 32 ˧˨ in Southern dialects, as well as in Amoy, Yongchun, Tong'an, etc.

High falling 54 ˥˦ in Quanzhou dialects.

"Light level" tone ⑤陽平

Mid or high dipping tone 214 ˨˩˦ in Northern Hokkien, including Amoy.

Lower dipping 212 ˨˩˨ ~ 213 ˨˩˧ in Southern Hokkien, although sometimes it may become more level 22 ˨ or lose its rising part (in this case, however, it does not merge with the low-falling tone, but has a longer low segment with an overall contour 211 ˨˩˩).

Since the initial falling part is natural for rising tones in tonal languages, many works ignore it and describe this tone as 13 ˩˧ for Southern dialects of Hokkien or 24 ˨˦ for Northern dialects.

"Light rising" tone ⑥陽上

Mid-level with a slight drop 22 ˨ ~ 221 ˨˨˩ in some Northern dialects (urban Quanzhou, Nan'an, Hui'an, etc).

Merged with tone ⑦陽去 in Southern dialects and some peripheral Northern dialects (Amoy, Tong'an, Yongchun, etc).

"Light departing" tone ⑦陽去

Mid-level 22 ˨ ~ 33 ˧ in Southern dialects, as well as Amoy Hokkien.

Merged with tone ③陰去 in many Quanzhou dialects (but still distinguished in sandhi).

"Light entering" tone ⑧陽入

In greater Quanzhou and Zhangzhou Hokkien, its contour is similar to that of tone ⑤陽平 (mid- or low-rising).

In Amoy and Taiwanese Hokkien, it is a high level tone 4 ˦.

Tone sandhi

A phrase in Hokkien is divided into "tone groups", where each syllable except the last one undergoes the tone sandhi.

The suffix 仔 -á

The suffix 仔 -á is related to some special phonetic changes.

Syllables before 仔 -á may induce its change due to assimilation.

word	nominal form	assimilated form		meaning
賊仔	chha̍t-á	> chha̍t-lá	> chha̍l-lá	«thief»
盒仔	a̍p-á	> a̍p-bá	> a̍b-bá	«small box»
竹仔	tek-á	> tek-gá	> teg-gá	«bamboo»
柑仔	kam-á	> kam-má		«tangerine»
囡仔	gín-á	> gín-ná		«child»
翁仔	ang-á	> ang-ngá		«doll»
圓仔	îⁿ-á	> îⁿ-áⁿ		«meatball»
美仔	bí-á	> bí-ah		«Bi-a (a girl's name)»
箬仔	hio̍h-á	> hio̍h-ah		«leaf»

Some assimilations are dialect-specific. E.g. in Tong'an dialect, a syllable ending in -a changes it to -ai before 仔 -á: 車仔 chhia-á > chhiai-á.

The tone sandhi before 仔 -á is different from general Hokkien tone sandhi.