Southern Min

Not to be confused withSouthern Ming.

Southern Min
Hoklo-Taiwanese Mân Nam ngữ;Mân Nam ngữ Bàn-lâm-gú
Ethnicity	Hoklo people Teo-Swa people
Geographic distribution	Fu gian ChaoshanandLeizhou PeninsulainGuangdong extreme south ofZhe gian g much ofHainan(Hainanese) most ofTaiwan Hong Kong parts ofMalaysia Singapore Philippines Thailand Indonesia Brunei Cambodia Myanmar Vietnam
Linguistic classification	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Min Coastal Min Southern Min
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese Proto-Min
Subdivisions	Hokkien(QuanzhangorTsuan-Tsiang;e.g.Amoy,Taiwanese,Singaporean) Chaoshan(Teo-Swa;e.g.Kekyeo,TeochewandSwatow) Zhenan Datian(transitional) Sanxiang(Sahiu) Hailufeng(Haklau)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nan
Linguasphere	79-AAA-j
Glottolog	minn1241
Southern Min in mainlandChinaandTaiwan
Subgroups of Southern Min in mainland China and Taiwan
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	Mân Nam ngữ
Traditional Chinese	Mân Nam ngữ
Literal meaning	"Language of Southern Min [Fu gian ]"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Mǐnnányǔ Wade–Giles Min3-nan2yü3 IPA [mìnnǎn ỳ] Gan Romanization Mîn-lōm-ngî Hakka Romanization Mîn-nàm-ngî Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Máhn-nàahm yúh Jyutping Man5-naam4jyu5 Southern Min HokkienPOJ Bân-lâm-gí/Bân-lâm-gú Eastern Min FuzhouBUC Mìng-nàng-ngṳ̄ Northern Min Jian'ouRomanized Mâing-nâng-ngṳ̌
Notes

Southern Min(simplified Chinese:Mân Nam ngữ;traditional Chinese:Mân Nam ngữ;pinyin:Mǐnnányǔ;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Bân-lâm-gí/gú;lit.'Southern Min language'),Minnan(Mandarinpronunciation:[mìn.nǎn]) orBanlam(Min Nan Chinese pronunciation:[bàn.lǎm]), is a group of linguistically similar and historically relatedChinese languagesthat form a branch ofMin Chinesespoken inFu gian(especially theMinnan region), most ofTaiwan(many citizens are descendants of settlers from Fu gian ), EasternGuangdong,Hainan,and SouthernZhe gian g.Southern Min dialects are also spoken by descendants ofemigrants from these areasindiaspora,most notably inSoutheast Asia,such asSingapore,Malaysia,thePhilippines,Indonesia,Brunei,Southern Thailand,Myanmar,Cambodia,Southern and Central Vietnam,San Francisco,Los AngelesandNew York City.Minnan is the most widely-spoken branch of Min, with approximately 48 million speakers as of 2017–2018.

The most widely spoken Southern Min language isHokkien,which includesTaiwanese. Other varieties of Southern Min have significant differences from Hokkien, some having limitedmutual intelligibilitywith it, others almost none.Teochew,Longyan,andZhenanare said to have general mutual intelligibility with Hokkien, sharing similar phonology and vocabulary to a large extent.On the other hand, variants such asDatian,Zhongshan,andQiong-Leihave historical linguistic roots with Hokkien, but are significantly divergent from it in terms of phonology and vocabulary, and thus have almost no mutual intelligibility with Hokkien. Linguists tend to classify them as separate languages.

Geographic distribution

Mainland China

Southern Min dialects are spoken in southernFu gian,specifically in thecitiesofXiamen,Quanzhou,Zhangzhou,and much ofLongyan,hence the name. In addition, varieties of Southern Min are spoken in several southeastern counties ofWenzhouinZhe gian g,theZhoushan archipelagooffNingboinZhe gian g,the town ofSanxiangat the southern periphery ofZhongshaninGuangdong,and in theChaoshan(Teo-swa) region in Guangdong.

The variant spoken inLeizhou,Guangdong as well as inHainanis classified asHainaneseand is not mutually intelligible with mainstream Southern Min or Teochew.Hainanese is classified in some schemes as part of Southern Min and in other schemes as separate.

Puxian Minwas originally based on theQuanzhou dialect,but over time became heavily influenced byEastern Min,eventually losing intelligibility with Southern Min.

Taiwan

The Southern Min dialects spoken in Taiwan, collectively known asTaiwanese,is afirst languagefor most of theHoklo 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 amongoverseas ChineseinSoutheast Asia.Many ethnicChineseimmigrants to the region wereHoklofrom southern Fu gian and brought the language to what is now present-dayMalaysiaandSingapore(formerlyBritish Malaya,theStraits Settlements,andBritish Borneo),Indonesia(the formerDutch East Indies), thePhilippines(formerSpanish East Indiesand later,US Philippine Islands (P.I.)),Brunei(former part ofBritish Borneo),Southern Thailand,Myanmar(British Burma),Cambodia(formerFrench CambodiaofFrench Indochina),SouthernVietnam(formerFrench CochinchinaofFrench Indochina) andCentralVietnam(formerFrench AnnamofFrench Indochina). In general, Southern Min from southern Fu gian is known asHokkien,Hokkienese, Fukien, or Fookien inSoutheast Asiaand is mostly mutually intelligible with Hokkien spoken elsewhere. ManySoutheast Asianethnic Chinese also originated in theChaoshanregion ofGuangdongand speakTeochew language,the variant of Southern Min from that region, particularlyThailand,Cambodia,Southern Vietnam,Malaysia,Singapore,Indonesia,etc. In thePhilippines,Philippine Hokkienis reportedly thenativeorheritage languageof up to 98.7% of theChinese Filipinocommunity in the Philippines, among whom it is known inHokkienChinese:Ta tiếng người / ta nông lời nói;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Lán-nâng-ōe / Lán-lâng-ōe / Nán-nâng-ōe;lit.'our people's language'.

Southern Min speakers form the majority of Chinese in Singapore, with Hokkien being the largest group and the second largest beingTeochew.Despite the similarities, the two groups are rarely viewed together as "Southern Min".

Classification

The variants of Southern Min spoken inZhe gian gprovince are most akin to that spoken in Quanzhou. The variants spoken inTaiwanare similar to the threeFu gianvariants and are collectively known asTaiwanese.

Those Southern Min variants that are collectively known as "Hokkien" inSoutheast Asiaalso originate from these variants. The variants of Southern Min in theChaoshanregion of eastern Guangdong province are collectively known asTeo-Swaor Chaoshan. Chaoshan Min is of great importance in theSoutheast AsianChinese diaspora,particularly inMalaysia,Thailand,Cambodia,Vietnam,Sumatra,andWest Kalimantan.ThePhilippinesvariant is mostly from the Quanzhou area as most of their forefathers are from the aforementioned area.

The Southern Min language variant spoken aroundShanweiandHaifengdiffers markedly fromTeochewand may represent a later migration from Zhangzhou. Linguistically, it lies betweenTeochewand Amoy. In southwesternFu gian,the local variants inLongyanandZhangpingform a separate division of Southern Min on their own. Among ethnic Chinese inhabitants ofPenang,MalaysiaandMedan,Indonesia,a distinct form based on theZhangzhou dialecthas developed. InPenang,it is calledPenang Hokkienwhile across theMalacca Straitin Medan, an almost identical variantis known asMedan Hokkien.

Varieties

There are two or three divisions of Southern Min, depending on the criteria for Leizhou and Hainanese inclusion:

• Southern Min
  • Hokkienunder the Quanzhang division (Tuyền Chương phiến)
  • Teochew,Swatow,Jieyang,Haklau Minunder the Chaoshan division (Triều Sán phiến)
  • LeizhouandHainanesedialects under the Qiong-Lei division (Quỳnh lôi phiến).

More recently, Kwok (2018: 157)has proposed an alternative classification, with a divergent Northern branch that includesQuanzhou dialectbut notZhangzhou dialect,as shown below:

• Southern Min
  • Northern
    • Cangnan
    • Quanzhou,Zihu
  • Central-Southern
    • Central
      • Zhangzhou
      • Longyan,Datian
    • Southern
      • Guangdong
        • ?Haifeng
        • Jieyang,Chaoyang
      • Hainan
        • Leizhou
        • Haikou

Hokkien

Main article:Hokkien

Hokkien is the most widely spoken form of Southern Min, includingAmoy dialectandTaiwanese.Both of these developed as a combination ofQuanzhouandZhangzhouspeech. Varieties in South-East Asia includeSingaporean Hokkien,Penang Hokkien,Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien,Medan Hokkien,andPhilippine Hokkien.

Chaoshan (Teo-Swa)

Main article:Chaoshan Min

Teo-Swa or Chaoshan speech (Triều Sán phiến) is a closely related variant of Southern Min that includes theKekyeo dialect,TeochewandSwatowdialects, and some considerHaklau Minto also be part of. It has limited mutual intelligibility with Hokkien, though they share somecognateswith each other. Chaoshan Min is significantly different from Hokkien in both pronunciation and vocabulary, and mutual intelligibility is difficult.

Phonology

Main articles:Hokkien § Phonology,andTeochew dialect § Phonetics and 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 sixtones,andtone sandhiis extensive. There are minor variations within Hokkien, and the Teochew system differs somewhat more.

Southern Min'snasalfinalsconsist of/m/,/n/,/ŋ/,and/~/.

Sino-Xenic comparisons

Southern Min can trace its origins through theTang dynasty,and it also has roots from earlier periods.Hokkien peoplecall themselves "Tangpeople ", (Tn̂g-lângĐường người/Đường nông) which is synonymous to "Chinese people". Because of the widespread influence of the Tang culture during theGreat Tangdynasty, there are today still many Southern Min pronunciations of words shared by theSino-xenic pronunciationsofVietnamese,KoreanandJapaneselanguages.

English	Han characters	Mandarin Chinese	Hokkien	Teochew	Cantonese	Korean	Vietnamese	Japanese
book	Sách	cè	chhek/chheh	cêh4	caak3	chaek(책)	sách	saku/satsu/shaku(さく/さつ/しゃく)
bridge	Kiều	qiáo	kiâu/kiô	giê5/gio5	kiu4	gyo(교)	kiều	kyō(きょう)
dangerous	Nguy hiểm	wēixiǎn / wéixiǎn	guî-hiám	guîn5/nguín5 hiem2	ngai4 him2	wiheom(위험)	nguy hiểm	kiken(きけん)
embassy	Đại sứ quán	dàshǐguǎn	tāi-sài-koán	dai6 sái2 guêng2	daai6 si3 gun2	daesagwan(대사관)	đại sứ quán	taishikan(たいしかん)
flag	Kỳ	qí	kî	kî5	kei4	gi(기)	kì	ki(き)
insurance	Bảo hiểm	bǎoxiǎn	pó-hiám	bó2-hiém	bou2 him2	boheom(보험)	bảo hiểm	hoken(ほけん)
news	Tin tức	xīnwén	sin-bûn	sing1 bhung6	san1 man4	shinmun(신문)	tân văn	shinbun(しんぶん)
student	Học sinh	xuéshēng	ha̍k-seng	hak8 sêng1	hok6 saang1	haksaeng(학생)	học sinh	gakusei(がくせい)
university	Đại học	dàxué	tāi-ha̍k/tōa-o̍h	dai6 hag8/dua7 oh8	daai6 hok6	daehak(대학)	đại học	daigaku(だいがく)

Writing systems

See also:Written Hokkien,Pe̍h-ōe-jī,andPeng'im

Both Hokkien and Chaoshan (TeochewandShantou dialects) have romanized writing systems and also respective Chinese characters. Inmainland China,it is known as Mân Nam văn (Bân-lâm-bûn), while inTaiwan,it is known as đài văn (Tâi-bûn). TheHan Chinese charactersare known in mainland China and Taiwan as chữ Hán (Hàn-jī / Hàn-lī). In Malaysia and Singapore, the Chinese characters are sometimes known as đường nông tự / đường người tự (Tn̂g-lâng-jī / Tn̂g-lâng-lī). In the Philippines, the Chinese characters are known as ta nông tự / ta người tự (Lán-nâng-dī) or hán văn tự (Hàm-bûn-dī).

History

The Min homeland of Fu gian was opened to Han Chinese settlement by the defeat of theMinyuestate by the armies ofEmperor Wu of Hanin 110 BC.The area features rugged mountainous terrain, with short rivers that flow into theSouth China Sea.Most subsequent migration from north to south China passed through the valleys of theXiangandGanrivers to the west, so that Min varieties have experienced less northern influence than other southern groups.As a result, whereas mostvarieties of Chinesecan be treated as derived fromMiddle Chinese,the language described byrhyme dictionariessuch as theQieyun(601 AD), Min varieties contain traces of older distinctions.Linguists estimate that the oldest layers of Min dialects diverged from the rest of Chinese around the time of theHan dynasty.However, significant waves of migration from theNorth China Plainoccurred.These include:

• TheUprising of the Five Barbariansduring theJin dynasty,particularly theDisaster of Yongjiain 311 AD, caused a tide of immigration to the south.
• In 669,Chen Zhengand his sonChen YuanguangfromGushi CountyinHenanset up a regional administration inFu gianto suppress an insurrection by theShe people.
• Wang Chao,also from Gushi, moved south to Fu gian and was appointed its governor in 893, near the end of theTang dynasty,and brought tens of thousands of troops fromHenan.In 909, following the fall of the Tang dynasty, his younger brotherWang Shenzhifounded theMin Kingdom,one of theTen Kingdomsin theFive Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

Jerry Normanidentifies four main layers in the vocabulary of modern Min varieties:

1. A non-Chinese substratum from theoriginal languages of Minyue,which Norman andMei Tsu-linbelieve wereAustroasiatic.
2. The earliest Chinese layer, brought to Fu gian by settlers fromZhe gian gto the north during the Han dynasty.
3. A layer from theNorthern and Southern Dynastiesperiod, which is largely consistent with the phonology of theQieyundictionary.
4. Aliterary layerbased on thekoinéofChang'an,the capital of theTang dynasty.

See also

• Chinese in Singapore
• Languages of China
• Languages of Taiwan
• Languages of Thailand
• Malaysian Chinese
• Protection of the Varieties of Chinese

Sources

• Baxter, William H.; Sagart, Laurent (2014),Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction,Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0-19-994537-5.
• Norman, Jerry;Mei, Tsu-lin (1976),"The Austroasiatics in Ancient South China: Some Lexical Evidence"(PDF),Monumenta Serica,32:274–301,doi:10.1080/02549948.1976.11731121,JSTOR40726203.
• Norman, Jerry(1988),Chinese,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-521-29653-3.
• Norman, Jerry (1991), "The Mǐn dialects in historical perspective", in Wang, William S.-Y. (ed.),Languages and Dialects of China,Journal of Chinese LinguisticsMonograph Series, vol. 3, Chinese University Press, pp. 325–360,JSTOR23827042,OCLC600555701.
• Ting, Pang-Hsin (1983), "Derivation time of colloquial Min from Archaic Chinese",Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology,54(4): 1–14.
• Yan, Margaret Mian (2006),Introduction to Chinese Dialectology,LINCOM Europa,ISBN978-3-89586-629-6.

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.ISBN3-11-015831-0.
• Chung, Raung-fu (1996).The segmental phonology of Southern Min in Taiwan.Taipei: Crane Pub. Co.ISBN957-9463-46-8.
• DeBernardi, Jean (1991)."Linguistic nationalism: the case of Southern Min".Sino-Platonic Papers.25.Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.OCLC24810816.
• Chappell, Hilary, ed. (2001).Sinitic Grammar.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-829977-X."Part V: Southern Min Grammar" (3 articles).

External links

• Đương đại Tuyền Châu âm bảng chú giải thuật ngữ,a dictionary of Quanzhou speech
• Iûⁿ, Ún-giân (2006)."Tai-gi Hôa-gí Sòaⁿ-téng Sû-tián"Đài văn / Hoa văn tuyến đỉnh từ điển[On-line Taiwanese/Mandarin Dictionary] (in Chinese and Minnan).
• Iûⁿ, Ún-giân.Đài ngữ tuyến đỉnh từ điển[Taiwanese Hokkien Online Character Dictionary] (in Minnan and Chinese (Taiwan)). Archived fromthe originalon 2018-12-25.Retrieved2015-02-06.
• Đài Loan Mân Nam ngữ thường dùng từ từ điển,Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnanby the Ministry of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan).
• Đài Loan bản thổ ngôn ngữ lẫn nhau dịch cập giọng nói hợp thành hệ thống,Taiwanese-Hakka-Mandarin online conversion
• Voyager - Spacecraft - Golden Record - Greetings from Earth - AmoyThe voyager clip says:Thài-khong pêng-iú, lín-hó. Lín chia̍h-pá--bē? Ū-êng, to̍h lâi gún chia chē--ô·!Vũ trụ bằng hữu, nhẫm hảo. Nhẫm thực no chưa? Có nhàn rỗi tới Nguyễn che ngồi nga!
• Đài từ ngữ điểnTaiwanese-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 Documentation: 2008-083,requesting to replace codenan(Minnan Chinese) with dzu (Chaozhou) and xim (Xiamen), rejected because it did not include codes to cover the rest of the group.
• ISO 639-3 Change Request Documentation: 2021-045,requesting to replace codenanwith 11 new codes.
  • "Reclassifying ISO 639-3 [nan]: An Empirical Approach to Mutual Intelligibility and Ethnolinguistic Distinctions".GitHub.18 December 2021.– supporting documentation