Jian'ou dialect
Jian'ou dialect, also known as Kienow dialect, is a local dialect of Northern Min Chinese spoken in Jian'ou in northern Fujian province. It is regarded as the standard common language in Jian'ou.Phonetics and phonology
According to The Eight Tones of Kien-chou, a rime dictionary which published in 1795, Jian'ou dialect has 15 initials, 34 rimes and 7 tones in the 18th century, however there are only 6 tones in the modern dialect as the "light level" tone disappeared.Initials
Rimes
Tones
Jian'ou has four tones, which are reduced to two in checked syllables.
| Tone number | Tone name | Tone contour |
| 1 | level | or |
| 2 | rising | or |
| 3 | dark departing | |
| 4 | light departing | |
| 5 | dark entering | |
| 6 | light entering | |
The entering tones in Jian'ou dialect do not have any entering tone coda such as,, and which makes it distinct from many other Chinese varieties.Footnotes
