/m/, /n/, /l/, /ŋ/ and null initial remain unchanged.
Nasal coda
The initial of the latter syllable may change:
/p/ and /pʰ/ change to /m/;
/t/, /tʰ/ and /s/ change to /n/;
/ts/ and /tsʰ/ change to /ʒ/ or /m/;
/k/, /kʰ/, /x/ and null initial change to /ŋ/ or /m/;
/m/, /n/, /l/ and /ŋ/ remain unchanged.
checked coda
The former syllable lost its checked coda at first; then, the initial assimilation of latter syllable follow the law above.
checked coda /-p̚/
The Initial of latter syllable change to /p/ while the former syllable lost its checked coda /-p̚/
Tone sandhi
The Ningde 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 (the columns give the first syllable's original citation tone, while the rows give the citation tone of the second syllable):
dark level 44
light level 22
rising 42
dark departing 35
light departing 332
dark entering 2
light entering 5
dark level 44
44
21
44
21
44
21
light level 22
remain unchanged
rising 42
55
dark departing 35
55
light departing 332
44
21
44
21
44
21
dark entering 2
55
light entering 5
44
21
44
21
44
21
Notes
^Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.[1][2][3]
References
^Mei, Tsu-lin (1970), "Tones and prosody in Middle Chinese and the origin of the rising tone", Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 30: 86–110, doi:10.2307/2718766, JSTOR2718766
