Minnan language
| Southern Min | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Minnan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 閩南語 / 闽南语 河洛話 / 福老話 Hō-ló-oē / Hô-ló-uē |
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Koa-a books, Minnan written in Chinese characters
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| Native to | China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and other areas of Southern Min and Hoklo settlement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Region | Southern Fujian province; the Chaozhou-Shantou (Chaoshan) area and Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong province; extreme south of Zhejiang province; much of Hainan province (if Hainanese or Qiongwen is included); and most of Taiwan. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ethnicity |
Hoklo people Teochew people Hainanese people |
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Native speakers
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47 million (2007) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dialects | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese characters; Latin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Official status | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Official language in
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None; one of the statutory languages for public transport announcements in Taiwan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Regulated by | None (The Republic of China Ministry of Education and some NGOs are influential in Taiwan) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language codes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ISO 639-3 | |
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| Glottolog | minn1241 |
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| Linguasphere | 79-AAA-j |
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Southern Min
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Subgroups of Southern Min
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 闽南语 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 閩南語 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Language of Southern Min [Fujian]" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Mǐnnán yǔ |
| Wade–Giles | Min3-nan2 yü3 |
| IPA | [mìnnǎn ỳ] |
| Gan | |
| Romanization | Mîn-lōm-ngî |
| Hakka | |
| Romanization | Mîn-nàm-ngî |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | Máhn-nàahm yúh |
| Jyutping | Man5-naam4 jyu5 |
| Southern Min | |
| Hokkien POJ | Bân-lâm-gí/Bân-lâm-gú |
| Eastern Min | |
| Fuzhou BUC | Mìng-nàng-ngṳ̄ |
| Northern Min | |
| Jian'ou Romanized | Mâing-nâng-ngṳ̌ |
Southern Min, or Minnan (simplified Chinese: 闽南语; traditional Chinese: 閩南語), is a branch of Min Chinese spoken in certain parts of China including southern Fujian (the Minnan region), eastern Guangdong, Hainan, and southern Zhejiang, and in Taiwan. The Minnan dialects are also spoken by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora, most notably the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Southern Min is the most widely distributed and the most influential of all Min varieties.
In common parlance and in the narrower sense, Southern Min refers to the Quanzhang variety of Southern Min spoken mainly in Southern Fujian in Mainland China, Taiwan as well as certain parts of Southeast Asia. The Quanzhang variety is often called simply Minnan Proper (simplified Chinese: 闽南语; traditional Chinese: 閩南語).
In the wider scope, Southern Min also includes other Min Chinese varieties that are related to Minnan proper (Quanzhang). Southern Min variants include Teochew, Longyan Min, Zhenan Min, Zhongshan Min, Qiong-Lei (Leizhou dialect and Hainanese).
Southern Min variants such as Teochew, Longyan and Zhenan have limited mutual intelligibility with Minnan Proper.
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Wikipedia