ABSTRACT
In this chapter, eight lexical tonal categories will be reconstructed for Proto-Southern Mǐn. They are derived from the four-tone system of the Proto-Mǐn, according to the nature of the initial consonants. The general developmental tendency is that the Proto-Mǐn words with voiceless obstruent initials move to the upper register tones (*1, *3, *5 and *7; also known as the ‘yǐn register’) in Proto-Southern Mǐn, while those with voiced obstruent initials relocate to the lower register tones (*2, *4, *6 and *8; also known as the ‘yáng register’). The Cháo-Shàn dialects also maintain the Proto-Southern Mǐn tonal pattern effectively, except for tone *6, where various etyma have moved to tone 4 without a clear condition, probably due to the stratal mixture. Dàtián has a number of tone *6 etyma with sonorant or aspirated obstruent initials which have relocated to tone 5, a phenomenon which is shared by Eastern Mǐn, Pú-Xiān Mǐn and various of the Hakka dialects. Taking the geographical distribution of this phenomenon into account, it seems that its rise could be attributed to substrate influence, and is of no significance to the tonal reconstruction.
