| Eastern Min | |
|---|---|
| |
| 平話Bàng-uâ | |
| Region | Southeast China,Japan,United States,Taiwan |
Native speakers | 11 million (2022)[1] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
Early forms | |
| Varieties | |
| Chinese characters andFoochow Romanized | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Matsu Islands, Taiwan[5][6] |
Recognised minority language in | statutory language for public transport in the Matsu Islands[7] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cdo |
| Glottolog | mind1253 |
 Eastern Min | |
Eastern Min orMin Dong (traditional Chinese:閩東語;simplified Chinese:闽东语;pinyin:Mǐndōngyǔ,Foochow Romanized:Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄) is a branch of theMin group of theChinese languages of China. The prestige form and most commonly cited representative form is theFuzhou dialect, the speech of the capital ofFujian.[8]
Eastern Min varieties are mainly spoken in the eastern region ofFujian, in and near the cities ofFuzhou andNingde. This includes the traditionalTen Counties of Fuzhou (Chinese:福州十邑;pinyin:Fúzhōu Shí Yì;Foochow Romanized:Hók-ciŭ Sĕk Ék), a region that consists of present-dayPingnan,Gutian,Luoyuan,Minqing,Lianjiang,Changle,Minhou,Yongtai,Fuqing andPingtan, as well as the urban area of Fuzhou proper.[9][10]
It is also widely encountered as thefirst language of theMatsu Islands controlled byTaiwan. Historically, the Eastern Min varieties in the Matsu Islands were seen as a part of the Lianjiang variety. The establishment of thePeople's Republic of China in 1949 separated the Matsu Islands from the rest of Fujian, and as communications were cut off between the ROC and the PRC, the specific identity of the Matsu Islands was established. Thus, the varieties of Eastern Min on the Matsu Islands became seen as theMatsu dialect.[11]
Additionally, the inhabitants ofTaishun andCangnan to the north of Fujian inZhejiang also speak Eastern Min varieties.[12] To the south of Fujian, inZhongshan County, Guangdong, varieties classified as Eastern Min are also spoken in the towns ofDachong,Shaxi andNanlang.[13][14]
Eastern Min generally coexists withStandard Chinese, in all these areas. On the ROC, the Matsu dialect is officially recognized as a statutory language for transport announcements on the Matsu Islands.[15] In Fuzhou, there is radio available in the local dialect, and theFuzhou Metro officially uses alongside Standard Mandarin and English in its announcements.[16]
As the coastal area of Fujian has been the historical homeland of a large worldwide diaspora ofoverseas Chinese, varieties of Eastern Min can also be found across the world, especially in their respectiveChinatowns. Cities with high concentrations of such immigrants include New York City,[17] especiallyLittle Fuzhou, Manhattan,Sunset Park, Brooklyn andFlushing, Queens.
Speakers of Eastern Min varieties are also found in various Chinatown communities in Europe, including London,Paris, and the city ofPrato in Italy.[18] In the United Kingdom, a large proportion of theBritish Chinese community is made up of migrants coming from areas of Fujian that speak Eastern Min,[19][20][21] principally from rural parts ofFuqing andChangle.[22][23][24] In Spain, speakers of Eastern Min from Fuqing and Changle are also common, second to the more dominant Zhejiang community, who speak varieties ofSouthern Wu such asWenzhounese.[25][26]
Chinese communities withinIkebukuro, Tokyo[27] as well asSibu,Sarawak,Malaysia have significant populations of Eastern Min speakers. Fuzhou communities can also be found inSitiawan,Perak andYong Peng,Johor inWest Malaysia and in Rajang river towns of Sibu, Sarikei and Bintangor in East Malaysia.[citation needed]
Eastern Min is descended fromProto-Min, which split from the transition fromOld Chinese intoMiddle Chinese during theHan dynasty.[28] It has been classified by Pan Maoding andJerry Norman as belonging to theCoastal Min branch, and is thus closely related toNorthern Min.[29][28]
Norman lists four distinctive features in the development of Eastern Min:[28]
Eastern Min is conventionally divided into three branches:[30]
Besides these three branches, some dialect islands in the province ofGuangdong have been classified as Eastern Min.[31][14]Zhongshan Min is a group of Min varieties spoken in theZhongshan county of Guangdong, divided into three branches: theLongdu dialect andNanlang dialect belong to the Eastern Min group, while theSanxiang dialect belongs to Southern Min.[13][14]
 | This articleshould specify the language of its non-English content using{{lang}} or{{langx}},{{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and{{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriateISO 639 code. Wikipedia'smultilingual support templates may also be used.See why.(October 2023) |
The Eastern Min group has a phonology that is particularly divergent from other varieties of Chinese. Aside from theManjiang dialect, bothHouguan andFuning groups are similar in the number of initials, with theFu'an dialect having 17 initials, two more than the Fuzhou dialect, the additions being/w/ and/j/ or/ɰ/ as separate phonemes (the glottal stop is common to both but excluded from this count). The Manjiang dialect on the other hand has been influenced by theWu dialects of Zhejiang, and hence has significantly more initials than the varieties of Fujian.
The finals vary significantly between varieties, with the extremes being represented by Manjiang dialects at a low of 39 separate finals, and theNingde dialect representing the high at 69 finals.
| Types | Houguan subgroup (侯官片) | Funing subgroup (福寧片) | Manjiang (蠻講) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | Fuzhou (福州) | Fuqing (福清) | Gutian (古田) | Ningde (宁德) | Fuding (福鼎) | Fu'an (福安) | Qianku,Cangnan, Zhejiang (蒼南錢庫) |
| Number of Initials | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 29 |
| Number of Finals | 46 | 42 | 51 | 69 | 41 | 56 | 39 |
| Number of Tones | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Eastern Min varieties generally have seven tones, by the traditional count (based on thefour tones of Middle Chinese, including theentering tone as a separate entity). In the middle of theQing dynasty, eight tones were attested, but the historical rising tones (上聲) re-merged.[32]
| Level平 | Rising 上聲 | Departing去 | Entering入 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dark陰 | Light陽 | Dark陰 | Light陽 | Dark陰 | Light陽 | ||
| Fuzhou 福州話 | ˦ 44 | ˥˧ 53 | ˧˩ 31 | ˨˩˧ 213 | ˨˦˨ 242 | ˨˧ 23 | ˥ 5 |
| Fu'an 福安話 | ˧˧˨ 332 | ˨ 22 | ˦˨ 42 | ˨˩ 21 | ˧˨˦ 324 | ˨ 2 | ˥ 5 |
| Ningde 寧德話 | ˦ 44 | ˩ 11 | ˦˨ 42 | ˧˥ 35 | ˥˨ 52 | ˦ 4 | ˥ 5 |
| Fuding 福鼎話 | ˦˦˥ 445 | ˨˩˨ 212 | ˥ 55 | ˥˧ 53 | ˨ 22 | ˥ 5 | ˨˧ 23 |
| Taishun, Zhejiang 泰順 | ˨˩˧ 213 | ˧ 33 | ˦˥˥ 455 | ˥˧ 53 | ˦˨ 42 | ˥ 5 | ˦˧ 43 |
| Qianku, Cangnan, Zhejiang 蒼南錢庫蠻講 | ˦ 44 | ˨˩˦ 214 | ˦˥ 45 | ˦˩ 41 | ˨˩ 21 | ˥ 5 | ˨˩ 21 |
| Miaojiaqiao, Cangnan, Zhejiang 蒼南繆家橋蠻講 | ˧ 33 | ˨˩˧ 213 | ˦˥ 45 | ˦˩ 41 | ˩ 11 | ˥ 5 | ˩ 1 |
The Eastern Min varieties have a wide range of sandhi phenomena. As well astone sandhi, common to many varieties of Chinese, there is also the assimilation of consonants[33] and vowel alternations (such as rime tensing).
Tone sandhi across Eastern Min varieties can be regressive (where the last syllable affects the pronunciation of those before), progressive (where earlier syllables affect the later ones) or mutual (where both or all syllables change). The rules are generally quite complicated.
Initial assimilation of consonants is usually progressive and may create new phonemes that are not phonemically contrastive in initial position but do contrast in medial position. For example, in the Fuzhou dialect, the/β/ phoneme can arise from/pʰ/ or/p/ in an intervocalic environment.[34][35]
Many varieties also exhibit regressive assimilation of consonants, such as in the way a final nasal consonant, usually given the citation value/ŋ/, assimilates to the place of articulation of the following consonant. For example, the negative adverb of the Fuzhou dialect, often written伓, is generally transcribed inBàng-uâ-cê asn̂g/ŋ/, but it can also surface as/m/ before labial consonants and as/n/ before dental consonants. In this case, since both regressive and progressive assimilation processes occur, it can be described as mutual assimilation, resulting in one nasal consonant.[35]
Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
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| WesternHimalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand,Nepal,Sikkim) |
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| EasternHimalayas (Tibet,Bhutan,Arunachal) | |||||
| Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border |
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| East andSoutheast Asia |
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| Dubious (possible isolates,Arunachal) |
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| Proposed groupings | |||||
| Proto-languages | |||||
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches. | |||||
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