Swatow dialect


The Swatow dialect, also known as the Shantou dialect, is a variety of Chinese mostly spoken in Shantou in Guangdong, China. It is typically classified in the Teochew group of dialects, and is regarded as the representative dialect of Teochew Min.

History

Although numerous Romanized materials labeled as "Swatow dialect" were produced from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century, their phonological systems actually reflected the dialect of the prefectural city of Chaochowfoo. The modern Swatow dialect did not take shape until the 1940s. As a modern emerging city, Swatow's residents were mainly immigrants from various parts of the Chaoshan region and their descendants. Between the establishment of Swatow as a city in 1921 and 1934, a large influx of immigrants increased the population from 60,000 to 193,000, with an average annual growth of 10,000. Thereafter, population growth slowed, and the various dialects began to merge, gradually developing into a stable phonological system. By around 1946, the present-day phonological system of the Swatow dialect had already taken shape and come to be regarded as the norm.

Phonology

Swatow dialect has 18 initials, 91 rimes, and 8 tones.

Initials

Rimes

Swatow dialect has at least the following rimes:

Tones

Tone sandhi

Swatow 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:
Original citation toneTone sandhi
dark level
33		33
light level
55		31
dark rising
53		24
light rising
35		31
dark departing
213		55
light departing
31		31
dark entering
2		5
light entering
5		2