Southern Min

Southern Min, or Min Nan (simplified Chinese: 闽南语; traditional Chinese: 閩南語; pinyin: Mǐnnányǔ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bân-lâm-gí/Bân-lâm-gú), is a branch of Min Chinese spoken in certain parts of China including southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, and southern Zhejiang, and in Taiwan. The Min Nan dialects are also spoken by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora.

In common parlance, Southern Min usually refers to Hokkien. Amoy and Taiwanese Hokkien are both combinations of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou speech. The Southern Min dialect group also includes Teochew, though Teochew has limited mutual intelligibility with Hokkien. Southern Min is not mutually intelligible with Eastern Min, Cantonese, or Standard Chinese.

Geographic distribution

China and Taiwan

Southern Min dialects are spoken in the southern part of Fujian, three southeastern counties of Zhejiang, the Zhoushan archipelago off Ningbo in Zhejiang, and the Chaoshan region in Guangdong. The variant spoken in Leizhou, Guangdong as well as Hainan is Hainanese and is not mutually intelligible with standard Southern Min or Teochew. Hainanese is classified in some schemes as part of Southern Min and in other schemes as separate.

A form of Southern Min akin to that spoken in southern Fujian is Taiwanese Hokkien, where it has the native name of Tâi-oân-oē or Hō-ló-oē. Southern Min is a first language for the Hoklo people, the main ethnicity of Taiwan. The correspondence between language and ethnicity is not absolute, as some Hoklo have very limited proficiency in Southern Min while some non-Hoklo speak Southern Min fluently.

Southeast Asia

There are many Southern Min speakers also among Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. Many ethnic Chinese immigrants to the region were Hoklo from southern Fujian and brought the language to what is now Burma, Indonesia (the former Dutch East Indies) and present-day Malaysia and Singapore (formerly British Malaya and the Straits Settlements). In general, Southern Min from southern Fujian is known as Hokkien, Hokkienese, Fukien or Fookien in Southeast Asia and is very much like Taiwanese Hokkien. Many Southeast Asian ethnic Chinese also originated in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong and speak Teochew dialect, the variant of Southern Min from that region. Philippine Hokkien is reportedly the native language of up to 98.5% of the Chinese Filipino community in the Philippines, among whom it is also known as Lan-nang or Lán-lâng-oē ("our people’s language").

Southern Min speakers form the majority of Chinese in Singapore, with the largest group being Hoklos and the second largest Teochew people.

Classification

The variants of Southern Min spoken in Zhejiang province are most akin to that spoken in Quanzhou. The variants spoken in Taiwan are similar to the three Fujian variants and are collectively known as Taiwanese. Taiwanese is used by a majority of the population and is quite important from a socio-political and cultural perspective, forming the second most important, if not the most influential pole of the language due to the popularity of Taiwanese Hokkien media. Those Southern Min variants that are collectively known as "Hokkien" in Southeast Asia also originate from these variants. The variants of Southern Min in the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong province are collectively known as Teochew or Chaozhou. Teochew is of great importance in the Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora, particularly in Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sumatra and West Kalimantan. The Philippines variant is mostly from the Quanzhou area as most of their forefathers are from the aforementioned area.

The Southern Min language variant spoken around Shanwei and Haifeng differs markedly from Teochew and may represent a later migration from Zhangzhou. Linguistically, it lies between Teochew and Amoy. In southwestern Fujian, the local variants in Longyan and Zhangping form a separate division of Min Nan on their own. Among ethnic Chinese inhabitants of Penang, Malaysia and Medan, Indonesia, a distinct form of Zhangzhou Hokkien has developed. In Penang, it is called Penang Hokkien while across the Malacca Strait in Medan, an almost identical variant is known as Medan Hokkien.

Varieties

There are three principal branches of Southern Min: Hokkien (a.k.a. Quanzhang 泉漳), Datian (大田) and Teochew a.k.a Chaoshan (潮汕)

Hokkien

Xiamen (Amoy) dialect is a blend of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects. Taiwanese Hokkien is also a blend of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialect. Taiwanese in northern Taiwan tends to be based on Quanzhou dialect, whereas the Taiwanese spoken in southern Taiwan tends to be based on Zhangzhou dialect. There are minor variations in pronunciation and vocabulary between Quanzhou and Zhangzhou speech. The grammar is basically the same. Additionally, extensive contact with the Japanese language has left a legacy of Japanese loanwords. In contrast, Teochew speech is significantly different from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou speech in both pronunciation and vocabulary.

Teochew

Teochew, or Chaoshan, includes Swatow dialect. It has very low intelligibility with Amoy dialect.^[3] Many Amoy and Teochew speakers speak Mandarin as a second or third language.

Datian

Phonology

Southern Min has one of the most diverse phonologies of Chinese varieties, with more consonants than Mandarin or Cantonese. Vowels, on the other hand, are more-or-less similar to those of Mandarin. In general, Southern Min dialects have five to six tones, and tone sandhi is extensive. There are minor variations within Hokkien, but the Teochew system differs significantly.

Southern Min's nasal finals consist m, n, ŋ, ~.

Writing systems

Southern Min dialects lack a standardized written language. Southern Min speakers are taught how to read Mandarin in school. As a result, there has not been an urgent need to develop a writing system. In recent years, an increasing number of Southern Min speakers have become interested in developing a standard writing system (either by using Chinese Characters, or using Romanized script).

Cultural and political role

Min Nan (or Hokkien) can trace its roots through the Tang Dynasty. Min Nan (Hokkien) people call themselves "Tang people," (唐人, Tn̂g-lâng) which is synonymous to "Chinese people". Because of the widespread influence of the Tang culture during the great Tang dynasty, there are today still many Min Nan pronunciations of words shared by the Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese languages.

See also

• Languages of China
• Languages of Taiwan
• Malaysian Chinese
• Chinese in Singapore
• Amoy Min Nan Swadesh list

Related languages

• Penang Hokkien
• Medan Hokkien (North-Sumatra, Indonesia dialect of Min Nan)
• Southern Malaysia Hokkien
• Lan-nang (Philippine dialect of Min Nan)
• Taiwanese Hokkien
• Fuzhou dialect (Min Dong branch)
• Singaporean Hokkien

References

Further reading

• Branner, David Prager (2000). Problems in Comparative Chinese Dialectology — the Classification of Miin and Hakka. Trends in Linguistics series, no. 123. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-015831-0. 
• Chung, Raung-fu (1996). The segmental phonology of Southern Min in Taiwan. Taipei: Crane Pub. Co. ISBN 957-9463-46-8. 
• DeBernardi, Jean (1991). "Linguistic nationalism: the case of Southern Min". Sino-Platonic Papers (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania) 25. OCLC 24810816. 
• Chappell, Hilary, ed. (2001). Sinitic Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-829977-X.  "Part V: Southern Min Grammar" (3 articles).

External links

Min Nan Chinese edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Southern Min test of Wikibooks at Wikimedia Incubator

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Min Nan

Look up Min Nan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• 當代泉州音字彙, a dictionary of Quanzhou speech
• 台語-華語線頂辭典, Taiwanese-Mandarin on-line dictionary (Min-nan)(Chinese)
• Iûⁿ, Ún-giân. 台語線頂字典 [Taiwanese Hokkien Online Character Dictionary] (in Taiwanese and Chinese).  CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
• 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典, Taiwanese Hokkien Commonly-used Words Dictionary by Ministry of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan).
• 臺灣本土語言互譯及語音合成系統, Taiwanese-Hakka-Mandarin on-line conversion
• Voyager - Spacecraft - Golden Record - Greetings From Earth - Amoy The voyager clip says: Thài-khong pêng-iú, lín-hó. Lín chia̍h-pá--bē? Ū-êng, to̍h lâi gún chia chē--ô·! 太空朋友，恁好。恁食飽未？有閒著來阮遮坐哦!
• 台語詞典 Taiwanese-English-Mandarin Dictionary
• How to Forget Your Mother Tongue and Remember Your National Language by Victor H. Mair University of Pennsylvania
• ISO 639-3 change request 2008-083, requesting to replace code nan (Min Nan Chinese) with dzu (Chaozhou) and xim (Xiamen), rejected because it did not include codes to cover the rest of the group.
• wikt:Appendix:Sino-Tibetan Swadesh lists

Languages of Taiwan Austronesian Formosan Atayalic Atayal Seediq Truku Kankei Rukaic Rukai Northern Formosan Luilang Kulon Saisiyat Pazeh Kaxabu Thao Hoanya Papora Babuza Favorlang Taokas East Formosan Basay Ketagalan Kavalan Qauqaut Sakizaya Amis Siraya Taivuan Makatto Southern Formosan Bunun Puyuma Paiwan Tsouic Tsou Kanakanabu Saaroa Malayo-Polynesian Yami Sino-Tibetan Mandarin Taiwanese Mandarin Min Taiwanese Hokkien Teochew dialect Fuzhou dialect Pu-Xian Min Hakka Taiwan Hakka Auxiliary Taiwanese Sign Language Taiwanese Braille Immigrant languages Japanese Indonesian Malay Vietnamese Thai Filipino

Languages of China Official language Standard Mandarin Regional languages CantoneseHK/MC EnglishHK MongolianNM PortugueseMC TibetanXZ UyghurXJ ZhuangGX Indigenous languages Sino-Tibetan Lolo–Burmese Achang Akha Hani Jino Lahu Lisu Yi Qiangic Baima Ersu Naxi Pumi Northern Qiang Southern Qiang Zhaba Bodish Groma Tibetan Amdo Central Khams Other Ayi Bai Derung Jingpho Monpa Tujia Waxianghua Austroasiatic Blang De'ang Tsat Hmong-Mien Iu Mien Kim Mun Miao She Mongolic Bonan Daur Dongxiang Kangjia Monguor Eastern Yugur Tai-Kadai Ai-Cham Buyang Bouyei Dong Gelao Hlai Maonan Mulam Ong-Be Qabiao Sui Tai Dam Tai Lü Tai Nüa Tungusic Evenki Manchu Nanai Oroqen Xibe Turkic Äynu Fuyü Gïrgïs Ili Turki Lop Salar Western Yugur Other Sarikoli Minority languages Kazakh Korean Kyrgyz Russian Tatar Tuvan Uzbek Wakhi Vietnamese Varieties of Chinese Gan Hakka Huizhou Jin Min Min Bei Min Dong Min Nan Min Zhong Pinghua Wu Xiang Yue Other varieties Creole languages E Macanese Qoqmončaq Wutun Sign languages Chinese Sign Hong Kong SignHK/MC Tibetan SignXZ GX = Guangxi HK = Hong Kong MC = Macau NM = Inner Mongolia XJ = Xinjiang XZ = Tibet