View source for Southern Min

{{Short description|Branch of the Min Chinese languages}}
{{Distinguish|Southern Ming}}
{{more citations needed|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox language family
| name          = Southern Min
| altname       = {{ubl|Minnan|{{nobold|{{zhi|t=閩南語|s=闽南语|first=t}}}}|{{zhi|poj=Bàn-lâm-gú}}}}
| region        = [[China]], [[Taiwan]], and [[Southeast Asia]]
| ethnicity     = {{ubl|[[Hoklo people|Hoklo]]|[[Teochew people|Teochew]]}}
| speakers      = [[first language|L1]]: {{sigfig|33.995290|2}} million
| ref           = <ref name="eth">{{Ethnologue28|nan}}</ref>
| date          = 2020–2022
| speakers2     = [[second language|L2]]: {{sigfig|11.816000|2}} million (2020)<ref name="eth"/><br/>Total: {{sigfig|45.811290|2}} million (2020–2022)<ref name="eth"/>
| speakers_label = Speakers
| familycolor   = Sino-Tibetan
| fam2          = [[Sinitic languages|Sinitic]]
| fam3          = [[Chinese language|Chinese]]
| fam4          = [[Min Chinese|Min]]
| fam5          = [[Min Chinese#Coastal Min|Coastal Min]]
| child1        = [[Hokkien]]
| child2        = [[Teochew Min|Teochew]]
| child3        = [[Zhenan Min|Zhenan]]
| child4        = [[Datian Min|Datian]]
| child5        = [[Sanxiang dialect|Sanxiang]]
| child6        = [[Haklau Min|Haklau]]
| ancestor      = [[Proto-Sino-Tibetan language|Proto-Sino-Tibetan]]
| ancestor2     = [[Old Chinese]]{{efn|name=minClassification|Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.<ref>{{citation |last=Mei |first=Tsu-lin |author1-link=Mei Tsu-lin |title=Tones and prosody in Middle Chinese and the origin of the rising tone |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |volume=30 |year=1970 |pages=86–110 |doi=10.2307/2718766 |jstor=2718766}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Pulleyblank |first=Edwin G. |author-link=Edwin G. Pulleyblank |title=Middle Chinese: A study in Historical Phonology |year=1984 |page=3 |location=Vancouver |publisher=University of British Columbia Press |isbn=978-0-7748-0192-8}}</ref><ref name="glottoMin">{{Cite journal |url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/minn1248 |title=Glottolog 4.8 - Min |date=2023-07-10 |access-date=2023-10-13 |website=[[Glottolog]] |last1=Hammarström |first1=Harald |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013171747/https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/minn1248 |archive-date=2023-10-13 |url-status=live |publisher=[[Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology]] |author-link=Harald Hammarström |last2=Forkel |first2=Robert |publication-place=[[Leipzig]] |doi=10.5281/zenodo.7398962 |last3=Haspelmath |first3=Martin |author-link3=Martin Haspelmath |last4=Bank |first4=Sebastian |doi-access=free}}</ref>}}
| ancestor3     = [[Proto-Min]]
| iso3          = nan
| glotto        = minn1241
| glottorefname = Min Nan Chinese
| lingua        = 79-AAA-j
| map           = Min dialect map.svg
| mapcaption    = {{legend|#7fbfff|Southern Min in mainland [[China]] and [[Taiwan]]}}
| map2          = Map of Southern Min en.svg
| mapcaption2   = Subgroups of Southern Min in mainland China and Taiwan
}}

{{Infobox Chinese|
|t=閩南語
|s=闽南语
|l="Language of Southern Min [Fujian]"
|p=Mǐnnányǔ
|w=Min<sup>3</sup>-nan<sup>2</sup> yü<sup>3</sup>
|mi={{IPAc-cmn|m|in|3|n|an|2|-|yu|3}}
|poj=Bân-lâm-gí/Bân-lâm-gú
|buc=Mìng-nàng-ngṳ̄
|h=Mîn-nàm-ngî
|gan=Mîn-lōm-ngî
|j=Man5 naam4 jyu5
|y=Máhnnàahm yúh
|mblmc=Mâing-nâng-ngṳ̌
|order=ts
}}

'''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), Eastern [[Guangdong]], [[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]], as well as major cities in the United States, including [[Chinese in San Francisco|in San Francisco]], [[Chinese in Los Angeles|in Los Angeles]] and [[Chinese in New York City|in New York City]]. Minnan is the most widely-spoken branch of Min, with approximately 34 million native speakers as of 2025.<ref>{{Ethnologue28|nan}}</ref>

The most widely spoken Southern Min language is [[Hokkien]], which includes [[Taiwanese Hokkien|Taiwanese]].
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]], and [[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 almost no mutual intelligibility with Hokkien. Linguists tend to classify them as separate languages.

==Geographic distribution==
===China===
Southern Min dialects are spoken in southern [[Fujian]], specifically in the [[List of administrative divisions of Fujian|cities]] of [[Xiamen]], [[Quanzhou]], [[Zhangzhou]], and much of [[Longyan]], hence the name. In addition, varieties of Southern Min are spoken in several southeastern counties of [[Wenzhou]] in [[Zhejiang]], the [[Zhoushan archipelago]] off [[Ningbo]] in [[Zhejiang]], the town of [[Sanxiang]] at the southern periphery of [[Zhongshan]] in [[Guangdong]],<ref name="Bodman_1985">{{cite book
  | given = Nicholas C. | surname = Bodman
  | title = The Reflexes of Initial Nasals in Proto-Southern Min-Hingua | pages = 2–20 | jstor = 20006706
  | editor-given1 = Veneeta | editor-surname1 = Acson
  | editor-given2 = Richard L. | editor-surname2 = Leed
  | series = Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications | volume = 20
  | publisher = University of Hawaii Press | year = 1985 | isbn = 978-0-8248-0992-8
}}</ref> parts of [[Huizhou]] and [[Shanwei]] in Guangdong and in the [[Chaoshan]] (Teo-swa) region in Guangdong. 

The variant spoken in [[Leizhou]], Guangdong as well as that in [[Hainan]] is classified as [[Hainanese]] and is not mutually intelligible with mainstream Southern Min or Teochew.<ref name="Chappell2019">{{cite journal |last1=Chappell |first1=Hilary |title=Southern Min |journal=The Mainland Southeast Asia Linguistic Area |date=3 June 2019 |pages=176–233 |doi=10.1515/9783110401981-005 |access-date=25 September 2025 |url=https://hal.science/hal-03584118/document}}</ref> Hainanese is classified in some schemes as part of Southern Min and in other schemes as separate;<ref name="Chappell2019" /> among the latter, Hou combined Hainanese with Leizhou Min in a Qiong–Lei subgroup within Min, distinct from Southern Min.<ref name="hou238">{{cite book | surname = Hou | given = Jingyi 侯精一 | title = Xiàndài Hànyǔ fāngyán gàilùn | script-title = zh:现代汉语方言概论 | trans-title = An Introduction to Modern Chinese Dialects | publisher = Shanghai Educational Press 上海教育出版社 | year = 2002 | page = 238 }}</ref> Some have even considered this distinction to be at the same level as the [[Min Chinese#Coastal Min|Coastal Min]] – [[Min Chinese#Inland Min|Inland Min]] distinction.<ref name="Chappell2019" /> 

[[Puxian Min]] was originally based on the [[Quanzhou dialect]], but over time became heavily influenced by [[Eastern Min]], eventually losing intelligibility with Southern Min. It is thus categorised into its own branch alongside Southern Min and Eastern Min.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lien |first1=Chinfa |chapter=Denasalization, Vocalic Nasalization and Related Issues in Southern Min: A Dialectal and Comparative Perspective |editor1-last=Ting |editor1-first=Pang-Hsin |editor2-last=Yue |editor2-first=Anne O. |title=In Memory of Professor Li Fang-Kuei: Essays of Linguistic Change and the Chinese Dialects |date=2000-09-01 |publisher=Academic Sinica |location=Taipei |isbn=957-671-725-6 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237408896 |access-date=1 September 2024}}</ref>

===Taiwan===
The Southern Min dialects spoken in Taiwan, collectively known as [[Taiwanese Hokkien|Taiwanese]], is a [[first language]] for most of the [[Hoklo people]], the main ethnic group of Taiwan. The correspondence between language and ethnicity is not absolute, as some [[Hoklo Taiwanese]] people have very limited proficiency in Taiwanese while some non-Hoklo [[Taiwanese people]] (including [[Hakka people|Hakkas]] and [[Taiwanese indigenous peoples|Indigenous]]) speak Taiwanese Southern Min fluently.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The politics of language names in Taiwan|url=http://www.ksc.kwansei.ac.jp/~jed/MultilingMulticult/Taiwan/TaiwanLgNames.html|access-date=2020-06-15|website=www.ksc.kwansei.ac.jp}}</ref>

===Southeast Asia===
There are many Southern Min speakers among [[overseas Chinese]] in [[Southeast Asia]]. Many ethnic [[Chinese people|Chinese]] immigrants to the region were [[Hoklo people|Hoklo]] from southern Fujian and brought the language to what is now present-day [[Malaysia]] and [[Singapore]] (formerly [[British Malaya]], the [[Straits Settlements]], and [[British Borneo]]), [[Indonesia]] (the former [[Dutch East Indies]]), the [[Philippines]] (former [[Spanish East Indies]] and later, [[Insular Government of the Philippine Islands|US -Philippine Islands]]), [[Brunei]] (former part of [[British Borneo]]), [[Southern Thailand]], [[Myanmar]] ([[British rule in Burma|British Burma]]), [[Cambodia]] (former [[French protectorate of Cambodia|French Cambodia]] of [[French Indochina]]), [[Southern Vietnam|Southern]] [[Vietnam]] (former [[French Cochinchina]] of [[French Indochina]]) and [[Central Vietnam|Central]] [[Vietnam]] (former [[Annam (French protectorate)|French Annam]] of [[French Indochina]]). In general, Southern Min from southern Fujian is known as [[Hokkien]], Hokkienese, Fukien, or Fookien in [[Southeast Asia]] and is mostly mutually intelligible with Hokkien spoken elsewhere. Many [[Southeast Asia]]n ethnic Chinese also originated in the [[Chaoshan]] region of [[Guangdong]] and speak [[Teochew language|Teochew]], the variant of Southern Min from that region, particularly [[Thailand]], [[Cambodia]], [[Southern Vietnam]], [[Malaysia]], [[Singapore]], [[Indonesia]], etc. 

In the [[Philippines]], [[Philippine Hokkien]] is reportedly the [[First language|native]] or [[heritage language]] of up to 98.7% of the [[Chinese Filipino]] community, who refer to it as "Lannang" ({{lang|nan-Latn|Lán-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 being [[Teochew people|Teochew]]. Despite the similarities, the two groups are rarely viewed together as "Southern Min".

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

{{tree list}}
*'''Southern Min'''
** [[Hokkien]] under the Quanzhang division ({{lang|zh-hans|泉漳片}})
** [[Teochew dialect|Teochew]], [[Swatow dialect|Swatow]], [[Jieyang]], [[Haklau Min]] under the Chaoshan division ({{lang|zh-hans|潮汕片}})
** [[Leizhou Min|Leizhou]] and [[Hainanese]] dialects under the Qiong-Lei division ({{lang|zh-hans|瓊雷片}}).
{{tree list/end}}

More recently, Kwok (2018: 157)<ref>{{cite book|title=Southern Min: comparative phonology and subgrouping|first=Bit-Chee|last=Kwok|series=Routledge studies in East Asian linguistics|volume=2|place=New York|publisher=Routledge|date=2018|isbn=978-1-138-94365-0}}</ref> has proposed an alternative classification, with a divergent Northern branch that includes [[Quanzhou dialect]] but not [[Zhangzhou dialect]], as shown below:

{{tree list}}
*'''Southern Min'''
**'''Northern'''
***[[Cangnan]]
***[[Quanzhou]], [[Yushan County|Zihu]], [[Lukang]]
**'''Central-Southern'''
***'''Central'''
****[[Zhangzhou]]
****[[Longyan]], [[Datian County|Datian]]
***'''Southern'''
****Guangdong
*****? [[Haifeng]]
*****[[Jieyang]], [[Chaoyang District, Shantou|Chaoyang]]
****Hainan
*****[[Leizhou]]
*****[[Haikou]]
{{tree list/end}}

===Hokkien===
{{main|Hokkien}}
Hokkien is the most widely spoken form of Southern Min, including [[Amoy dialect]] and [[Taiwanese Hokkien|Taiwanese]]. Both of these developed as a combination of [[Quanzhou dialect|Quanzhou]] and [[Zhangzhou dialect|Zhangzhou]] speech.
Varieties in South-East Asia include: [[Singaporean Hokkien]], [[Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien]], and [[Philippine Hokkien]] (which are closer to Quanzhou Hokkien), and [[Penang Hokkien]] and [[Medan Hokkien]] (which are closer to Zhangzhou Hokkien).

===Teochew===
{{Main|Teochew Min}}
Teochew is a closely related to Hokkien, with several variants spoken across the [[Chaoshan]] region. Some also consider [[Haklau Min]] to be part of Teochew. Despite the close relationship, Teochew and Hokkien are different enough in both pronunciation and vocabulary that mutual intelligibility is difficult.<ref>{{e18|nan Minnan}}</ref>

===Other varieties===
[[Zhenan Min]], a dialect island in [[Zhejiang]] province, is closely related to Quanzhou Hokkien.

[[Haklau Min]], spoken around [[Shanwei]] and [[Haifeng]], differs markedly from neighbouring [[Teochew dialect|Teochew]] and may represent a later migration from Zhangzhou. Linguistically, it lies between Teochew and Amoy.

[[Datian Min]], spoken in [[Datian County]] in [[Fujian]] province, has been influenced by other Min varieties.

[[Sanxiang Min]] is spoken in a dialect island in [[Guangdong]] province.

==Phonology==
{{main|Hokkien#Phonology|Teochew 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 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.

Southern Min's [[Nasal consonant|nasal]] [[Final (linguistics)|finals]] consist of {{Ipa|/m/}}, {{Ipa|/n/}}, {{Ipa|/ŋ/}}, and {{Ipa|/~/}}.

===Sino-Xenic comparisons===
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2020}}
Southern Min can trace its origins through the [[Tang dynasty]], and it also has roots from earlier periods. [[Hokkien people]] call themselves "[[Names of China#Tang|Tang]] people", (''{{lang|nan-Latn|Tn̂g-lâng}}'' {{lang|zh-hant|[[:zh:唐人|唐人]]}}/{{lang|zh-hant|[[:zh:唐儂|唐儂]]}}) 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 Southern Min pronunciations of words shared by the [[Sino-Xenic vocabularies|Sino-xenic pronunciations]] of [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], [[Korean language|Korean]] and [[Japanese language|Japanese]] languages.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! English !! Han characters !! Mandarin Chinese !! Hokkien<ref>{{cite web |author=Iûⁿ, Ún-giân |url=http://210.240.194.97/iug/Ungian/SoannTeng/chil/Taihoa.asp |script-title=zh:台文/華文線頂辭典 |title=Tâi-bûn/Hôa-bûn Sòaⁿ-téng Sû-tián |trans-title=Taiwanese/Chinese Online Dictionary |access-date=1 October 2014 |archive-date=6 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006113321/http://210.240.194.97/iug/Ungian/SoannTeng/chil/Taihoa.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref>!! Teochew 
!Cantonese!! Korean !! Vietnamese !! Japanese (on'yomi)
|-
| book || {{lang|zh-hant|冊}} || {{transliteration|zh|cè}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|chhek/chhiak/chheh}} ||  {{lang|nan-Latn|cêh4 }} 
|{{Lang-zh|j=caak3|labels=no}}||{{lang|ko-Latn|chaek}} ({{lang|ko|책}}) || {{lang|vi|sách}} || {{lang|ja-Latn|saku/satsu/shaku}} ({{lang|ja|さく/さつ/しゃく}})
|-
| bridge || {{lang|zh-hant|橋}} || {{transliteration|zh|qiáo}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|kiâu/kiô}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|giê5/gio5}}
|{{Lang-zh|c=|s=|t=|j=kiu4|labels=no}}||{{lang|ko-Latn|gyo}} ({{lang|ko|교}}) || {{lang|vi|kiều}} || {{lang|ja-Latn|kyō}} ({{lang|ja|きょう}})
|-
| dangerous || {{lang|zh-hant|危險}} || {{transliteration|zh|wēixiǎn / wéixiǎn}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|guî-hiám}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|guîn5/nguín5 hiem2}} 
|{{Lang-zh|c=|s=|t=|j=ngai4 him2|labels=no}}||{{lang|ko-Latn|wiheom}} ({{lang|ko|위험}}) || {{lang|vi|nguy hiểm}} || {{lang|ja-Latn|kiken}} ({{lang|ja|きけん}})
|-
| embassy || {{lang|zh-hant|大使館}} || {{transliteration|zh|dàshǐguǎn}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|tāi-sài-koán}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|dai6 sái2 guêng2}} 
|{{Lang-zh|c=|s=|t=|p=|j=daai6 si3 gun2|labels=no}}||{{lang|ko-Latn|daesagwan}} ({{lang|ko|대사관}}) || {{lang|vi|đại sứ quán}} || {{lang|ja-Latn|taishikan}} ({{lang|ja|たいしかん}})
|-
| flag || {{lang|zh-hant|旗}} || {{transliteration|zh|qí}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|kî}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|kî5}} 
|{{Lang-zh|c=|s=|t=|j=kei4|labels=no}}||{{lang|ko-Latn|gi}} ({{lang|ko|기}}) ||{{lang|vi|kì}} || {{lang|ja-Latn|ki}} ({{lang|ja|き}})
|-
| insurance || {{lang|zh-hant|保險}} || {{transliteration|zh|bǎoxiǎn}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|pó-hiám}} ||  {{lang|nan-Latn|bó2-hiém}} 
|{{Lang-zh|c=|s=|t=|j=bou2 him2|labels=no}}||{{lang|ko-Latn|boheom}} ({{lang|ko|보험}}) || {{lang|vi|bảo hiểm}} || {{lang|ja-Latn|hoken}} ({{lang|ja|ほけん}})
|-
| news || {{lang|zh-hant|新聞}} || {{transliteration|zh|xīnwén}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|sin-bûn}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|sing1 bhung6}} 
|{{Lang-zh|c=|s=|t=|j=san1 man4|labels=no}}||{{lang|ko-Latn|shinmun}} ({{lang|ko|신문}}) || ''tân văn''|| {{lang|ja-Latn|shinbun}} ({{lang|ja|しんぶん}})
|-
| student || {{lang|zh-hant|學生}} || {{transliteration|zh|xuéshēng}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|ha̍k-seng/ha̍k-sng}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|hak8 sêng1}} 
|{{Lang-zh|c=|s=|t=|j=hok6 saang1|labels=no}}||{{lang|ko-Latn|haksaeng}} ({{lang|ko|학생}}) || {{lang|vi|học sinh}} || {{lang|ja-Latn|gakusei}} ({{lang|ja|がくせい}})
|-
| university ||  {{lang|zh-hant|大學}} || {{transliteration|zh|dàxué}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|tāi-ha̍k/tōa-o̍h}} || {{lang|nan-Latn|dai6 hag8/dua7 oh8}} 
|{{Lang-zh|c=|s=|t=|j=daai6 hok6|labels=no}}||{{lang|ko-Latn|daehak}} ({{lang|ko|대학}}) || {{lang|vi|đại học}} || {{lang|ja-Latn|daigaku}} ({{lang|ja|だいがく}})
|}

==Writing systems==
{{see also|Written Hokkien|Pe̍h-ōe-jī|Peng'im}}
{{unreferenced section|date=April 2024}}
Both Hokkien and Teochew have romanized writing systems and also respective [[Chinese characters]]. In [[mainland China]], it is known as {{zh|c=閩南文|poj=Bân-lâm-bûn|out=poj|labels=no}}, while in [[Taiwan]], written Hokkien is known as {{zh|c=台文|poj=Tâi-bûn|out=poj|labels=no}}. Chinese characters are known in China and Taiwan as {{zh|c=漢字|poj=Hàn-jī|out=poj|labels=no}}. In Malaysia and Singapore, they are known as {{zh|c=唐儂字 / 唐人字|poj=Tn̂g-lâng-jī|out=poj|labels=no}}. In the Philippines, they are known as {{zh|c=咱儂字 / 咱人字|poj=Lán-nâng-lī|out=poj|labels=no}} or {{zh|c=漢文字|poj=Hàn-bûn-lī|out=poj|labels=no}}.

The use of Chinese characters to write Hokkien remained largely unsystematic in the Ming and Qing dynasties, when characters were used to transcribe colloquial Southern Min speech in opera scripts, folk stories, and regional texts. Among the earliest extant vernacular Southern Min texts using Chinese characters is the ''[[Tale of the Lychee Mirror]]'' ({{zh|first=t|t=荔鏡記|s=荔镜记|p=Lì Jìng Jì|poj=Nāi-kèng-kì / Lē-kèng-kì}}), written in a mix of Hokkien and Teochew. Its earliest extant manuscript dates from 1566.<ref name="Chappell Peyraube">
{{cite book
  | chapter = The analytic causatives of early modern Southern Min in diachronic perspective
  | given1 = Hilary | surname1 = Chappell | given2 = Alain | surname2 = Peyraube
  | pages = 973–1011
  | chapter-url = https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00180707
  | title = Linguistic Studies in Chinese and Neighboring Languages
  | editor-given1 = D.-a. | editor-surname1 = Ho
  | editor-given2 = S. | editor-surname2 = Cheung
  | editor-given3 = W. | editor-surname3 = Pan
  | editor-given4 = F. | editor-surname4 = Wu
  | location = Taipei | publisher = Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica | year = 2006
}}</ref><ref name="Lien">
{{cite book
  | contribution = Min languages | pages = 160–172
  | given = Chinfa | surname = Lien
  | title = The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics
  | editor-given1 = William S.-Y. | editor-surname1 = Wang
  | editor-given2 = Chaofen | editor-surname2 = Sun
  | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2015
  | isbn = 978-0-19-985633-6
}}</ref>

Concurrently, Hokkien interaction with Dominican missionaries based in the [[History of the Philippines (1565–1898)|Philippines]] led to the translation of Spanish doctrinal literature into Hokkien in Roman script.<ref name="Hompot">{{cite journal
 | last = Hompot
 | first = Sebestyén
 | title = Xiamen at the Crossroads of Sino-Foreign Linguistic Interaction during the Late Qing and Republican Periods: The Issue of Hokkien Phoneticization
 | journal = Crossroads: Studies on the History of Exchange Relations in the East Asian World
 | volume = 17/18
 | year = 2020
 | pages = 147–170
 | url = https://crossroads-research.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/CR-17-18-2020-06-23.pdf
}}</ref> Early 19th century Protestant missionaries, mostly from Britain and originally based in [[Malacca]], developed a different set of romanization schemes independently. This started with the works of [[Walter Henry Medhurst]], later refined by [[Samuel Wells Williams]] and [[Elihu Doty]], and culminated with the script ''[[Pe̍h-ōe-jī]]'' (POJ) as promulgated by [[John Van Nest Talmage]], traditionally regarded as the founder of POJ.<ref name="Hompot" /> After the [[Treaty of Nanking]] was signed in 1842, the center of the writing and publishing of church literature in Southern Min shifted to [[Xiamen|Amoy]], cementing its status as the ''de facto'' standard for Southern Min.<ref name="Hompot" /><ref name="Kloter">
{{cite book
 | last = Klöter
 | first = Henning
 | title = Written Taiwanese
 | publisher = Harrassowitz Verlag
 | year = 2005
 | location = Wiesbaden
 | isbn = 3-447-05093-4
}}
</ref> When [[Thomas Barclay (missionary)|Thomas Barclay]] produced the first printed newspaper in Taiwan, the ''[[Taiwan Church News|Taiwan Prefectural City Church News]]'', it showed the establishment of a strong tradition of literacy in Hokkien POJ.<ref name="Kloter" /> The success of POJ resulted in its adaptation into ''[[Teochew Romanization|Pe̍h-ūe-jī]]'' for Teochew in 1875. 

Under [[Taiwan under Japanese rule|Japanese rule]], POJ was suppressed and then outlawed, with [[Taiwanese kana]] becoming the dominant script for Taiwanese Hokkien, although its role in daily life was much reduced.<ref name="Kloter" /> Although after World War II, the [[Kuomintang]] initially had a liberal attitude towards Southern Min, the use of POJ was put under ever increasing restrictions, leading to an outright prohibition in the 1970s.<ref name="Kloter" /> 

With the lifting of martial law and Taiwan’s democratization in the late 1980s and 1990s, the use of Taiwanese Hokkien increased, and various new romanizations were devised.<ref name="Kloter" /> In 2006, the [[Ministry of Education (Taiwan)|Ministry of Education]] of Taiwan officially selected one orthography, often known as [[Tâi-uân Lô-má-jī Phing-im Hong-àn|Tâi-Lô]], for pedagogical use in the school system. The following year, it released the first list of [[Taiwanese Southern Min Recommended Characters]], with subsequent lists providing further standardization of the Chinese characters used.<ref name="Kloter" />

==History==
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:

* The [[Uprising of the Five Barbarians]] during the [[Jin dynasty (265–420)|Jin dynasty]], particularly the [[Disaster of Yongjia]] in 311 AD, caused a tide of immigration to the south.
* In 669, [[Chen Zheng (Tang dynasty)|Chen Zheng]] and his son [[Chen Yuanguang]] from [[Gushi County]] in [[Henan]] set up a regional administration in [[Fujian]] to suppress an insurrection by the [[She people]].
* [[Wang Chao (Tang dynasty)|Wang Chao]], also from Gushi, moved south to Fujian and was appointed its governor in 893, near the end of the [[Tang dynasty]], and brought tens of thousands of troops from [[Henan]]. In 909, following the fall of the Tang dynasty, his younger brother [[Wang Shenzhi]] founded the [[Min (Ten Kingdoms)|Min Kingdom]], one of the [[Ten Kingdoms]] in the [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]].

[[Jerry Norman (sinologist)|Jerry Norman]] identifies four main layers in the vocabulary of modern Min varieties:

# A non-Chinese substratum from the [[Minyue language|original languages of Minyue]], which Norman and [[Mei Tsu-lin]] believe were [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]].{{sfnp|Norman|Mei|1976}}{{sfnp|Norman|1991|pp=331–332}}
# The earliest Chinese layer, brought to Fujian by settlers from [[Zhejiang]] to the north during the Han dynasty.{{sfnp|Norman|1991|pp=334–336}}
# A layer from the [[Northern and Southern Dynasties]] period, which is largely consistent with the phonology of the ''Qieyun'' dictionary.{{sfnp|Norman|1991|p=336}}
# A [[literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters|literary layer]] based on the [[koiné language|koiné]] of [[Chang'an]], the capital of the [[Tang dynasty]].{{sfnp|Norman|1991|p=337}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Language|China}}
* [[Chinese in Singapore]]
* [[Languages of China]]
* [[Languages of Taiwan]]
* [[Languages of Thailand]]
* [[Malaysian Chinese]]
* [[Protection of the Varieties of Chinese]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{citation
  | surname1 = Baxter | given1 = William H.
  | surname2 = Sagart | given2 = Laurent
  | title = Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction
  | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2014 | isbn = 978-0-19-994537-5
  | postscript = .
  }}
* {{citation
  | surname1 = Norman | given1 = Jerry | author-link1 = Jerry Norman (sinologist)
  | surname2 = Mei | given2 = Tsu-lin
  | title = The Austroasiatics in Ancient South China: Some Lexical Evidence
  | journal = Monumenta Serica | year = 1976 | volume = 32 | pages = 274–301
  | url = http://tlmei.com/tm17web/1976a_austroasiatics.pdf
  | doi = 10.1080/02549948.1976.11731121 | jstor = 40726203
  | postscript = .
  }}
* {{citation
  | surname = Norman | given = Jerry | author-link = Jerry Norman (sinologist)
  | title = Chinese
  | location = Cambridge | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1988
  | isbn = 978-0-521-29653-3
  | postscript = .
  }}
* {{citation
  | contribution = The Mǐn dialects in historical perspective
  | given = Jerry | surname = Norman
  | title = Languages and Dialects of China
  | editor-given = William S.-Y. | editor-surname = Wang
  | pages = 325–360
  | series = ''Journal of Chinese Linguistics'' Monograph Series | volume = 3
  | publisher = Chinese University Press | year = 1991
  | issue = 3 | jstor = 23827042 | oclc = 600555701
  | postscript = .
  }}
* {{citation
  | surname = Ting | given = Pang-Hsin
  | title = Derivation time of colloquial Min from Archaic Chinese
  | journal = Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology
  | year = 1983 | volume = 54 | issue = 4 | pages = 1–14
  | postscript = .
  }}
* {{citation
  | given = Margaret Mian | surname = Yan
  | title = Introduction to Chinese Dialectology
  | publisher = LINCOM Europa | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-3-89586-629-6
  | postscript = .
  }}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Branner |first=David Prager |title= Problems in Comparative Chinese Dialectology — the Classification of Miin and Hakka |series= Trends in Linguistics series, no. 123 |year=2000 |publisher= Mouton de Gruyter |location= Berlin |isbn= 3-11-015831-0 }}
* {{cite book |last=Chung |first=Raung-fu |title= The segmental phonology of Southern Min in Taiwan |year=1996 |publisher= Crane Pub. Co |location= Taipei |isbn= 957-9463-46-8 }}
* {{cite journal|last=DeBernardi |first=Jean |title=Linguistic nationalism: the case of Southern Min |journal=[[Sino-Platonic Papers]] |volume=25 |year=1991 |url=http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp025_taiwanese.html |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |location=Philadelphia |oclc=24810816}}
* {{cite book |title=Sinitic Grammar |editor-first=Hilary |editor-last=Chappell |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2001 |isbn=0-19-829977-X }} "Part V: Southern Min Grammar" (3 articles).

==External links==
{{InterWiki|code=nan}}
{{incubator|nan|wikibooks}}
{{Wikibooks|Minnan}}
{{Wiktionary|Minnan|Appendix:Amoy Minnan Swadesh list|Appendix:Sino-Tibetan Swadesh lists}}
{{wikivoyage|Minnan phrasebook|Minnan|a phrasebook}}
* [http://alt.reasoning.cs.ucla.edu/jinbo/dzl/ 當代泉州音字彙], a dictionary of Quanzhou speech
* {{R:nan:taihoa}}
* {{cite web |author=Iûⁿ, Ún-giân |script-title=zh:台語線頂字典 |language=nan, zh-TW |trans-title=Taiwanese Hokkien Online Character Dictionary |url=http://210.240.194.97/TG/jitian/tgjt.asp |access-date=2015-02-06 |archive-date=2018-12-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225061147/http://210.240.194.97/TG/jitian/tgjt.asp%20 |url-status=dead }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111118031511/http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/tw/index.htm 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典], [[Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan]] by the Ministry of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061008180132/http://nlg.csie.ntu.edu.tw/systems/TWLLMT/index.html 臺灣本土語言互譯及語音合成系統], Taiwanese-Hakka-Mandarin online conversion
* [http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/languages/amoy.html Voyager - Spacecraft - Golden Record - Greetings from Earth - Amoy] The voyager clip says: {{lang|nan|Thài-khong pêng-iú, lín-hó.  Lín chia̍h-pá--bē?  Ū-êng, to̍h lâi gún chia chē--ô·!}} <!-- The double hyphen is correctly a part of the POJ orthography. -->{{zh|labels=no|t=太空朋友，恁好。恁食飽未？有閒著來阮遮坐哦!}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20010525232644/http://daiwanway.dynip.com/cgi/tdict.acgi?w=&p=&e=&m= 台語詞典] Taiwanese-English-Mandarin Dictionary
* [http://www.pinyin.info/readings/mair/taiwanese.html "How to Forget Your Mother Tongue and Remember Your National Language"] by Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania
* [https://iso639-3.sil.org/request/2008-083 ISO 639-3 Change Request Documentation: 2008-083], requesting to replace code [http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/documentation.asp?id=nan nan] (Minnan Chinese) with dzu (Chaozhou) and xim (Xiamen), rejected because it did not include codes to cover the rest of the group.
* [https://iso639-3.sil.org/request/2021-045 ISO 639-3 Change Request Documentation: 2021-045], requesting to replace code <code>nan</code> with 11 new codes. Codes were added for Leizhou and Hainan Min, but the others were rejected for lack of evidence in published research.
** {{cite web |url=https://github.com/KIRINPUTRA/reclassifying-ISO-639-3-nan |title=Reclassifying ISO 639-3 [nan]: An Empirical Approach to Mutual Intelligibility and Ethnolinguistic Distinctions|website=[[GitHub]]|date=18 December 2021}} – supporting documentation

{{Sino-Tibetan languages}}
{{Min Chinese}}
{{Languages of Taiwan}}
{{Languages of China}}
{{Chinese language}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Min}}
[[Category:Southern Min| ]]
[[Category:Languages of China]]
[[Category:Languages of Malaysia]]
[[Category:Languages of Singapore]]
[[Category:Languages of Taiwan]]
[[Category:Languages of the Philippines]]