Chawan dialect^[1] (simplified Chinese:诏安话;traditional Chinese:詔安話;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Chiàu-an-ōɛ) is a variety of Southern Min spoken in theChawan (Zhao'an) County inFujian province,China. It is usually considered a divergent dialect ofHokkien exhibiting someTeochew influence.

Chawan dialect is spoken in the southern half of theChawan (Zhao'an) county. The northern part of the county, with roughly one-third of its population, is mainlyHakka-speaking, and the border between the Chawan-speaking and the Hakka-speaking parts of county lies within the Hongxing township (红星乡) and Taiping town (太平镇).^[5]

The dialect spoken in Sidu (四都镇), Meizhou (梅洲乡) and Jinxing (金星乡), three localities in the eastern part of the Chawan county, is closer to theYunxiao Hokkien. The Yunxiao dialect bears some affinity to Chawan, however, it lacks some of its notable characteristicts, such as vowels /ɯ/ and /ə/.^[5]

A related dialect is spoken in some parts of theDongshan island, particularly the Qianlou town (前楼镇).^[6]

The speech of theNanzhao town is taken as representative for Chawan dialect. There are some internal differences, but the subdialects of Chawan are yet poorly described. E.g.:^[7]

• The dialect of the Tingyang village (汀洋村) in Baiyang Township (白洋乡), almost at the Fujian-Guangdong border, shows some Teochew specific traits, such as lack of denasalization and the merger of /in, an/ with /iŋ, aŋ/ (e.g. it distinguishes目ma̍k and木ba̍k, while general Chawan has both asba̍k; it distinguishes initials, but not finals in儂nâng and蘭lâng, while general Chawan has儂lâng and蘭lân).
• The dialect of the Wenshan village (文山村) in the Taiping Town (太平镇) has the rime /oi/ in words like尾bói, unlike general Chawanbóe. It also has the rime /-uou/ instead of /-ou/ (e.g. it reads土thó͘ as [tʰuou³⁵], unlike general Chawan [tʰou⁵³]), which is a trait found in some Hokkien dialects aroundZhangpu.

Chawan is usually classified as a dialect of Hokkien. However, it also shares some traits with Teochew, particularly in its vocabulary, e.g.:

• 睇théiⁿ "to see" (cf. Teochew睇thóiⁿ, Hokkien看khòaⁿ)
• 呾話tàⁿ-ōɛ "to talk" (cf. Teochew呾話tàⁿ-ōe, Hokkien講話kóng-ōa)
• 女nńg "woman" (cf. Teochew女nṳ́ng, Hokkien女lí)

In terms of consonants, Chawan does not differ much from other dialects of Hokkien. It has as total of 15 initials. Denasalization is extensive, which is typical for Hokkien, but not for Teochew.

The most notable feature of Chawan is the presence of the vowels /ɯ/ and /ə/, which are absent in the generalZhangzhou dialects.

Chawan is also notable for distinguishing /ue/ and /uɛ/. While the former rime is common across Hokkien dialects, the latter is usually merged with /ue/ (inQuanzhou Hokkien) or /ua/ (in Zhanghzou Hokkien). To a lesser extent,Yunxiao Hokkien also distinguishes /ue/ and /uɛ/.

Chawan dialect does not dissimilate the rimes /uam/ and /uap/ (in凡hoâm,犯hoām,法hoap), similarly to Teochew. Most other Hokkien dialects have /uan/ and /uat/ instead.

Chawan has 7 citation tones, which are mostly similar to general Zhangzhou Hokkien tones.^[7]

• Hokkien-language dialects
• Fujian
• Zhangzhou
• Zhao'an County

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