Southern Min: Difference between revisions

'''Southern Min''' ({{zh|s={{linktext|闽南语}}|t={{linktext|閩南語}}|l=Southern Min language|p=Mǐnnányǔ|poj=Bân-lâm-gí/gú}}), '''Minnan''' (<small>[[Standard Chinese|Mandarin]] pronunciation:</small> {{IPAc-cmn|m|in|3|.|n|an|2}}) or '''Banlam''' ({{IPA|nan|bàn.lǎm}}), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related [[Varieties of Chinese|Chinese languages]] that form a branch of [[Min Chinese]] spoken in [[Fujian]] (especially the [[Minnan region]]), most of [[Taiwan]] (many citizens are descendants of settlers from Fujian), ZhongShan’sEastern LongDu隆都[[Guangdong]], (隆都=沙溪+大涌 in GuangDong province[[Hainan]], HaiNan and Southern [[Zhejiang]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cai Zhu|first1=Huang Guo|title=Chinese language|date=1 October 2015|publisher=Fujian Education Publishing House|location=Xiamen|isbn=978-7533469511}}</ref> Southern Min dialects are also spoken by descendants of [[Overseas Chinese|emigrants from these areas]] in [[diaspora]], most notably in [[Southeast Asia]], such as [[Singaporean Hokkien|Singapore]], [[Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien|Malaysia]], the [[Philippine Hokkien|Philippines]], [[Medan Hokkien|Indonesia]], [[Ethnic Chinese in Brunei|Brunei]], [[Thai Chinese#Hokkien|Southern Thailand]], [[Chinese people in Myanmar#Hokkien|Myanmar]], [[Cambodian Hokkien|Cambodia]], [[Hoa people#Ancestral affiliations|Southern and Central Vietnam]], [[Chinese in San Francisco|San Francisco]], [[Chinese in Los Angeles|Los Angeles]] and [[Chinese in New York City|New York City]]. Minnan is the most widely-spoken branch of Min, with approximately 48 million speakers as of 2017–2018.<ref>{{Ethnologue23|nan}}</ref>

Other varieties of Southern Min have significant differences from Hokkien, some having limited [[mutual intelligibility]] with it, others almost none. [[Teochew dialect|Teochew]], [[Longyan Min|Longyan]], and [[Zhenan Min|Zhenan]] are said to have general mutual intelligibility with Hokkien, sharing similar phonology and vocabulary to a large extent.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lee|first=Tong Soon|title=Chinese Street Opera in Singapore|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yz9CW59OsuIC&dq=chaozhou+percent+intelligible+amoy&pg=PA4|date=2009|publisher=[[University of Illinois]] Press|isbn=9780252032462}}</ref> On the other hand, variants such as [[Datian Min|Datian]], [[Zhongshan Min|Zhongshan]]’s, LongDu dialect 隆都话 (LongDu 隆都 = ShaXi 沙溪 + DaiChong 大涌）andand [[Hainanese dialect|Qiong]]-[[Leizhou Min|Lei]] have historical linguistic roots with Hokkien, but are significantly divergent from it in terms of phonology and vocabulary, and thus have onlyalmost a little bitno mutual intelligibility with Hokkien. Linguists tend to classify them as separate languages.

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<!--they have 7 to 8 聲, but only 5 to 6 tones. A final consonant does not count as a "tone" in English-language linguistics; 'tone' and '聲' are not synonymous.--> [[tone (linguistics)|tone]]s, and [[tone sandhi]] is extensive. There are minor variations within Hokkien, and the Teochew system differs somewhat more.

The Min homeland of Fujian was opened to Han Chinese settlement by the defeat of the [[Minyue]] state by the armies of [[Emperor Wu of Han]] in 110 BC.{{sfnp|Norman|1991|pp=328}} The area features rugged mountainous terrain, with short rivers that flow into the [[South China Sea]]. Most subsequent migration from north to south China passed through the valleys of the [[Xiang River|Xiang]] and [[Gan River (Jiangxi)|Gan]] rivers to the west, so that Min varieties have experienced less northern influence than other southern groups.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=210, 228}} As a result, whereas most [[varieties of Chinese]] can be treated as derived from [[Middle Chinese]], the language described by [[rime dictionary|rhyme dictionaries]] such as the ''[[Qieyun]]'' (601 AD), Min varieties contain traces of older distinctions.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=228–229}} Linguists estimate that the oldest layers of Min dialects diverged from the rest of Chinese around the time of the [[Han dynasty]].{{sfnp|Ting|1983|pp=9–10}}{{sfnp|Baxter|Sagart|2014|pp=33, 79}} However, significant waves of migration from the [[North China Plain]] occurred.{{sfnp|Yan|2006|p=120}} These include:

| contribution = The Mǐn dialects from ain historical perspective