Sanming dialect

The Sanming dialect has 18 initials, 37 rimes and 6 tones.

• Initials /m, ŋ/ may also be heard as prenasal [mb, ŋɡ] in free variation. When the two initials are followed by non-nasalized rimes, they can be heard as voiced plosives [b, ɡ].
• Palato-alveolar sounds /tʃ, tʃʰ, ʃ/ can also be heard as alveolo-palatal sounds [tɕ, tɕʰ, ɕ] in free variation among speakers.

The entering tones in the Sanming dialect do not have any entering tone coda (入聲韻尾) such as /-ʔ/, /-p̚/, /-t̚/ and /-k̚/. This feature is quite different from many other Chinese dialects.

• Compilation Commission of Chorography of Sanming City 福建省三明市地方志编纂委员会 (2002). San ming shi zhi 三明市志 ["Chorography of Sanming City"]. Vol. 53. Beijing: Fangzhi chubanshe 方志出版社 ["Chorography Press"]. ISBN 978-7-80122-619-8.
• 吳, 瑞文 (Rui-Wen Wu) (2013). On the Grammatical Functions and Grammaticalization of tʰe5 in the Sanming Dialect [論三明方言tʰe5的語法功能及其語法化]. Language and Linguistics [語言暨語言學].