This paper deals with some of the relationships of initials and finals with nasal endings in the Chinese dialects where these endings have either partially or entirely disappeared: (1) the alternations between *h and *f initials before *u; (2) the disappearance of *u after dental initials in *uen and *ua/an; (3) the fronting of *an to *an and of *on to *øn after dental initials; (4) the differentiation in some Wu dialects of *ia/aŋ to *aŋ and *aŋ according to whether the initials were stops (知系) or affricates/ fricatives (照系); (5) the appearance of *u after the retroflex initials (照二系) and before *ia/aŋ; and (6) the lowering in some Wu dialects of the main vowel of *ien/ŋ after the palatalized velar and laryngeal initials. |