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Min Nan
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{{language
|name=Min Nan
|nativename=é–©å?—語/闽南语 ''Bân-lâm-gú''
|familycolor=Sino-Tibetan
|states=
People's Republic of China,
Republic of China (
Taiwan),
Malaysia,
Indonesia,
Singapore,
Philippines, and other areas of Min Nan and
Hoklo (ethnic group) Hoklo settlement
|region=Southern
Fujian province; the
Chaozhou-
Shantou (
Chaoshan) area and
Leizhou Peninsula in
Guangdong province; extreme south of
Zhejiang province; most of
Taiwan; much of
Hainan ''(if Hainanese or
Qiong Wen is included)''
|speakers=49 million
|rank=21 ''(if
Qiong Wen is included)''
|fam2=
Chinese dialect Chinese
|fam3=
Min (linguistics) Min
|nation=none (
bill (proposed law) legislative bills have been proposed to have
Taiwanese (linguistics) Taiwanese be a 'national language' in the
Republic of China but these are unlikely to pass); one of the four announcement languages on the Taipei metro
|agency=none (
Republic of China ROC Ministry of Education and some
non-governmental organization NGOs are influential in
Taiwan)
|iso1=zh|iso2b=chi|iso2t=zho|iso3=nan}}
'''Min Nan''', '''Minnan''', or '''Min-nan''' ({{zh-stp|s=
wiktionary:é—½ é—½wiktionary:å?— å?—wiktionary:è¯ è¯|t=é–©å?—語|p=MÇ?nnányÇ”}};
Taiwanese language#Scripts and orthographies POJ: Bân-lâm-gú; "Southern
Min (linguistics) Min" or "Southern
Fujian" language) is the
Chinese language Chinese language/
dialect spoken in southern
Fujian Province of China province,
China and neighboring areas, and by descendants of
overseas Chinese emigrants from these areas in
diaspora. '''Hokkien''', '''
Taiwanese (linguistics) Taiwanese''', and '''
Teochew_(dialect) Teochew''' are all common names for several prominent variants of Min Nan.
Min Nan (Southern Min) forms part of the
Min (linguistics) Min language group, alongside several other divisions. The Min languages/dialects are part of the
Chinese language group, itself a member of the
Sino-Tibetan language family. Min Nan is mutually intelligible with neither
Min Dong Eastern Min,
Cantonese language Cantonese, nor
Standard Mandarin Mandarin, the
official language official Chinese language, spoken (at least as a
second language) by the majority of those in
mainland China and
Taiwan, as well as large numbers of
overseas Chinese.
Min Nan is spoken in the southern part of
Fujian province, two southern counties of
Zhejiang province, the
Zhoushan archipelago off
Ningbo in Zhejiang, and the eastern part of
Guangdong province (
Chaoshan region). The
Qiong Wen variant spoken in the
Leizhou peninsula of
Guangdong province, as well as
Hainan province, is classified in some schemes as part of Min Nan and in other schemes as separate. A form of Min Nan akin to that spoken in southern Fujian is also spoken in Taiwan, where it has the native name of '''Tâi-oân-oē''' or '''
Taiwanese language HÅ?-ló-oÄ“'''. The (sub)ethnic group for which Min Nan is considered a
native language is known as the
Hoklo Holo (HÅ?-ló) or
Hoklo, one of the main ethnicities of Taiwan. The correspondence between language and ethnicity is not absolute, however, as some Hoklo have very limited proficiency in Min Nan while some
ethnic Chinese of non-Hoklo origin speak Min Nan fluently.
There are many Min Nan speakers also among
overseas Chinese in
Southeast Asia. Many
ethnic Chinese emigrants to the region were Hoklo from southern Fujian, and brought the language to what is now
Indonesia (the former
Dutch East Indies) and present day
Malaysia and
Singapore (the former
British Straits Settlements and
Malaya). In general, Min Nan from southern Fujian is known as '''Hokkien''', '''Hokkienese''', or '''Fukien''' in Southeast Asia, and is extremely similar to Taiwanese. Many Southeast Asian ethnic Chinese also originated in
Chaoshan region of
Guangdong province and speak '''
Teochew dialect Teochew''', the variant of Min Nan from that region. Min Nan is reportedly the native language of up to 98.5% of the
Chinese Filipino community of ethnic Chinese in the
Philippines, among whom it is also known as '''
Lan-nang''' or '''Lán-lâng-oē''' ("Our people’s language").
As with other varieties of
Chinese language Chinese, there is significant dispute as to whether Min Nan is a
language or a
dialect. (''See
Identification of the varieties of Chinese for greater detail.'')
Classification
Southern
Fujian is home to three main dialect systems of Min Nan. They are known by the geographic locations to which they correspond:
* '''Amoy''' (
Xiamen)
* '''Changchew''' (
Zhangzhou)
* '''Chinchew''' (
Quanzhou)
As
Xiamen (Amoy) is the principal city of southern Fujian, the Amoy dialect is considered the most important, or even
prestige variant prestige variant. Xiamen and the Amoy dialect have played an influential role in history, especially in the relations of Western nations with China, and was one of the most frequently learned of all Chinese languages/dialects by Westerners during the second half of the
19th century and the early
20th century.
The variants of Min Nan 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 (linguistics) Taiwanese. Taiwanese is actively used by a large population and bears much importance from a socio-political perspective, forming the second (and perhaps today most significant) major pole of the language.
Those Min Nan variants that are collectively known as "Hokkien" in Southeast Asia also originate from these variants.
The variants of Min Nan in the
Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong province are collectively known as '''
Teochew dialect Teochew''' or '''Chaozhou'''. Teochew is of great importance in the
Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora, particularly in
Malaysia (where Teochew people form a substantial part of the
ethnic Chinese population),
Vietnam,
Thailand and other locations.
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 (Changchew) Hokkien has developed. In
Penang, it is called '''
Penang Hokkien''' while across the
Malacca Strait in
Medan, an almost identical variant is known as '''[http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahasa_Hokkien Medan Hokkien]''' (in Indonesian).
Tones
In general, Min Nan variants have seven to eight
tone (linguistics) tones, and
tone sandhi is extensive.
See
Taiwanese (linguistics) Taiwanese and
Teochew dialect for examples of Min Nan tone systems.
Scripts and orthographies
{{sect-stub}}
Like most ethnic Chinese, whether from mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, or other parts of Southeast Asia, when writing Chinese, Min Nan speakers use
Chinese characters as in Standard Mandarin, although there are a number of special characters which are unique to Min Nan and sometimes used in informal writing (as is the case with
Cantonese (linguistics) Cantonese). Where standard Chinese characters are used, they are not always etymological or genetic; the borrowing of similar-sounding or similar-meaning characters is a common practice.
Romanization
Min Nan, in particular, Taiwanese, can be written with the
Latin alphabet using an
Romanization Romanized orthography called
PeÌ?h-oÄ“-jÄ« (POJ; meaning "vernacular writing"). POJ was developed first by
Presbyterian missionaries and later by the indigenous
Presbyterian Church in Taiwan; use of the orthography as been actively promoted since the late
19th century. The use of a mixed orthography of Han characters and romanization is also seen, though remains uncommon. Other Latin-based orthographies also exist.
Earlier scripts in Min Nan can be dated back to the 16th century. One example is the "Doctrina Christiana en letra y lengua china," presumably written after 1587 by the Spanish Dominicans in the Philipines. Another is a Ming script of a play called Romance of the Lychee Mirror (1566 AD), supposedly the earliest Southern Min colloquial text.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
'''Vowels'''
|-
! Revised
TLPA
| a
| i
| u
| e
| o
| oo
| ua
| ue
| uai
| uan
| ing
| ik
| aN
|-
!
TLPA
| a
| i
| u
| e
| o
| oo
| ua
| ue
| uai
| uan
| ing
| ik
| ann
|-
! Missionary
PeÌ?h-Å?e-jÄ« POJ
| a
| i
| u
| e
| o
| o
.
| oa
| oe
| oai
| oan
| eng
| ek
| a
n
|-
! Pumindian (普閩典)
| a
| i
| u
| e
| o
| oo
| ua
| ue
| uai
| uan
| ing
| ik
| na
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+
'''Consonants'''
|-
! Revised
TLPA
| p
| ph
| b
| m
| t
| th
| l
| n
| k
| kh
| h
| g
| ng
| z
| c
| s
| j
|-
!
TLPA
| p
| ph
| b
| m
| t
| th
| l
| n
| k
| kh
| h
| g
| ng
| c
| ch
| s
| j
|-
! Missionary
PeÌ?h-Å?e-jÄ« POJ
| p
| ph
| b
| m
| t
| th
| l
| n
| k
| kh
| h
| g
| ng
| ch
| chh
| s
| j
|-
! Pumindian (普閩典)
| b
| p
| bb
| m
| d
| t
| l
| n
| g
| k
| h
| gg
| ggn
| z
| c
| s
|
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+
'''Tones'''
|-
! Revised
TLPATLPA
| 1
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 5
| 6=2
| 7
| 8
|-
! Missionary
PeÌ?h-Å?e-jÄ« POJ
|
| /
| \
|
| ^
| /
| -
| |
|-
! Pumindian (普閩典)
| -
| v
| \
| -
| /
| v
| ^
| /
|}
Computing
The language Min Nan is registered per RFC 3066 as [http://www.iana.org/assignments/lang-tags/zh-min-nan zh-min-nan] [http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso639/iana-lang-assignments.html]. Taiwanese can be represented as ''zh-min-nan-TW''.
When writing Min Nan in Chinese characters, some writers create 'new' characters when they consider it is impossible to use directly or borrow existing ones; this corresponds to similar practices in character usage in
Cantonese (linguistics) Cantonese,
chu nom Vietnamese chữ nôm,
Hanja Korean hanja and
Kanji Japanese kanji. These are usually not encoded in
Unicode (or the corresponding ISO/IEC 10646:
Universal Character Set), thus creating problems in computer processing.
All Latin characters required by
Pe̍h-oē-jī can be represented using
Unicode (or the corresponding ISO/IEC 10646:
Universal character set), using precomposed or combining (diacritics) characters. Prior to June
2004, the vowel akin to but more open than ''o'', written with a '''dot above right''', was not encoded. The usual workaround was to use the (stand-alone; spacing) character ''
middle dot'' (U+00B7, ''·'') or less commonly the combining character ''dot above'' (U+0307). As these are far from ideal, since 1997 proposals have been submitted to the ISO/IEC
working group in charge of ISO/IEC 10646 – namely, [http://anubis.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/ ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2] – to encode a new combining character ''dot above right''. This is now officially assigned to U+0358 (see documents [http://www.evertype.com/standards/la/taioan.html N1593], [http://anubis.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n2507 N2507], [http://anubis.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n2628 N2628],
[http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2699 N2699], and [http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2713 N2713]). Font support is expected to follow.
External links
{{InterWiki|code=zh-min-nan}}
-
å?°èªž-è?¯èªžç·šé ‚è¾å…¸, Taiwanese-Mandarin on-line dictionary
-
臺ç?£æœ¬åœŸèªžè¨€äº’è¯å?ŠèªžéŸ³å?ˆæˆ?系統, Taiwanese-Hakka-Mandarin on-line conversion
See also
*
Hakka language
*
Languages of China
**
Demographics of Taiwan#Languages Languages of Taiwan
*
Chinese in Singapore
{{Chinese_language}}
Category:Chinese language
Category:Min Nan
zh-min-nan:Bân-lâm-gú
da:Minnan
es:Min del sur
fr:Minnan
ko:민난어
id:Bahasa Hokkien
ms:Bahasa Hokkien
ja:ミン�語
vi:Tiếng Mân Nam
zh:é—½å?—è¯
zh-yue:閩�語
see
Min Nan
Category:Chinese language
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