Eastern Min

Eastern Min varieties are mainly spoken in the eastern region of Fujian, in and near the cities of Fuzhou and Ningde. This includes the traditional Ten Counties of Fuzhou ({{lang-zh|c=福州十邑|p=Fúzhōu Shí Yì}}; Foochow Romanized: {{tlit|cdo|Hók-ciŭ Sĕk Ék}}), a region that consists of present-day Pingnan, Gutian, Luoyuan, Minqing, Lianjiang, Changle, Minhou, Yongtai, Fuqing and Pingtan, as well as the urban area of Fuzhou proper.{{cite web |title=关于福州十邑 |url=https://www.minduonline.net.cn/?page_id=2139 |website=Mindu Online |access-date=11 October 2023 |language=zh}}{{cite thesis |last1=Sim |first1=Michelle Jia En |title=A sketch grammar of Singapore Fuzhou |year=2022 |doi=10.32657/10356/155961 |publisher=Nanyang Technological University |location=Singapore|s2cid=247931980 |doi-access=free |degree=Master's }}{{bsn|date=May 2024}}

It is also widely encountered as the first language of the Matsu Islands controlled by Taiwan. Historically, the Eastern Min varieties in the Matsu Islands were seen as a part of the Lianjiang variety. The establishment of the People'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 the Matsu dialect.{{cite web|last=Lin|first=Sheng-Chang|url=https://taiwaninsight.org/2021/09/13/at-the-edge-of-state-control-the-creation-of-the-matsu-islands/|title=At the Edge of State Control: The Creation of the "Matsu Islands"|work=Taiwan Insight|publisher=University of Nottingham Taiwan Studies Programme|date=2021-09-13|accessdate=2023-05-21}}

Additionally, the inhabitants of Taishun and Cangnan to the north of Fujian in Zhejiang also speak Eastern Min varieties.{{cite journal |last1=Zheng |first1=Wei |script-title=zh:論前齶音聲母j-的唇齒化音變 |journal=Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics |date=25 January 2015 |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=195–213 |doi=10.1163/2405478X-00802003 |url=https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/bcl/8/2/article-p195_3.pdf |access-date=11 October 2023 |language=zh |issn=2405-478X}} To the south of Fujian, in Zhongshan County, Guangdong, varieties classified as Eastern Min are also spoken in the towns of Dachong, Shaxi and Nanlang.

Eastern Min generally coexists with Standard 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.{{cite web |title=大眾運輸工具播音語言平等保障法§6-全國法規資料庫 |url=https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?pcode=K0020040&flno=6 |website=law.moj.gov.tw |publisher=全國法規資料庫 |access-date=12 October 2023 |language=zh-Hant-TW}} In Fuzhou, there is radio available in the local dialect, and the Fuzhou Metro officially uses alongside Standard Mandarin and English in its announcements.{{cite web |last1=Zheng |first1=Jing |author-mask=Zheng Jing (郑靓) |title=乡音报站"女神"郭铃：唱响福州地铁好声音 -东南网-福建官方新闻门户 |url=http://fz.fjsen.com/wap/2016-12/15/content_18843632_all.htm |website=Min Dong Wang |access-date=12 October 2023}}

As the coastal area of Fujian has been the historical homeland of a large worldwide diaspora of overseas Chinese, varieties of Eastern Min can also be found across the world, especially in their respective Chinatowns. Cities with high concentrations of such immigrants include New York City,{{cite book|last1=Guest|first1=Kenneth J.|title=God in Chinatown: Religion and Survival in New York's Evolving Immigrant Community|url=https://archive.org/details/godchinatownreli00gues|url-access=limited|date=2003|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=0814731546|page=[https://archive.org/details/godchinatownreli00gues/page/n60 48]}} especially Little Fuzhou, Manhattan, Sunset Park, Brooklyn and Flushing, Queens.

Speakers of Eastern Min varieties are also found in various Chinatown communities in Europe, including London, Paris, and the city of Prato in Italy.{{cite web|last1=Pieke|first1=Frank|title=Research Briefing 4: Transnational Communities|url=http://www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk/briefings/brief4.pdf|publisher=Transnational Communities Programme, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Oxford|access-date=2 March 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000853/http://www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk/briefings/brief4.pdf|url-status=dead}} In the United Kingdom, a large proportion of the British Chinese community is made up of migrants coming from areas of Fujian that speak Eastern Min,{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Danlu |title=Profession or passion?: Teaching Chinese in London Chinese complementary schools |journal=London Review of Education |date=31 March 2014 |volume=12 |pages=34–49 |doi=10.18546/LRE.12.1.05 |s2cid=151552619 |issn=1474-8460|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Luo |first1=Siyu |last2=Gadd |first2=David |last3=Broad |first3=Rose |title=The criminalisation and exploitation of irregular Chinese migrant workers in the United Kingdom |journal=European Journal of Criminology |date=May 2023 |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=1016–1036 |doi=10.1177/14773708221132889 |s2cid=255079151}}{{cite web |last1=Pieke |first1=Frank N. |title=Recent Trends in Chinese Migration to Europe: Fujianese Migration in Perspective |url=https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/mrs_6_2002.pdf |access-date=11 October 2023}} principally from rural parts of Fuqing and Changle.{{cite web |last1=Luo |first1=Siyu |title=Statusless Chinese Migrant Workers in the UK: Irregular Migration and Labour Exploitation |url=https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/196051838/FULL_TEXT.PDF |access-date=10 October 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Wu |first1=Yan |last2=Wang |first2=Xinyue |title=Gendered Active Civic Participation: The Experience of Chinese Immigrants in Europe |url=https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/sites/default/files/2009-01/docl_6941_422878151.pdf |publisher=University of Oldenburg |access-date=10 October 2023}}{{cite journal |last1=Lin |first1=Sheng |last2=Bax |first2=Trent |title=Irregular Emigration from Fuzhou: A Rural Perspective |journal=Asian and Pacific Migration Journal |date=December 2009 |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=539–551 |doi=10.1177/011719680901800405 |s2cid=153457798 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/011719680901800405 |access-date=10 October 2023}} In Spain, speakers of Eastern Min from Fuqing and Changle are also common, second to the more dominant Zhejiang community, who speak varieties of Southern Wu such as Wenzhounese.{{cite web |last1=Liu |first1=Ting |title=El traductor automático en los comercios chinos de Cataluña: una herramienta para eliminar la barrera lingüística |url=https://repositori.upf.edu/bitstream/handle/10230/53868/Liu_2022.pdf |access-date=11 October 2023 |year=2022}}{{cite web |last1=Ma |first1=Jie |title=From China to Spain Chinese Immigrants in Anthropological View |url=https://digitum.um.es/digitum/bitstream/10201/60820/1/Jie%20Ma%20Tesis%20Doctoral.pdf |access-date=11 October 2023}}

Chinese communities within Ikebukuro, Tokyo{{cite book|editor-last1=Wong|editor-first1=Bernard P.|editor-last2=Chee-Beng|editor-first2=Tan|title=Chinatowns around the world gilded ghetto, ethnopolis, and cultural diaspora|date=2013|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-9004255906|page=251}} as well as Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia have significant populations of Eastern Min speakers. Fuzhou communities can also be found in Sitiawan, Perak and Yong Peng, Johor in West Malaysia and in Rajang river towns of Sibu, Sarikei and Bintangor in East Malaysia.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

Eastern Min is descended from Proto-Min, which split from the transition from Old Chinese into Middle Chinese during the Han dynasty.{{cite journal |last1=Norman |first1=Jerry |title=The Mǐn Dialects in Historical Perspective |journal=Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series |date=1991 |issue=3 |pages=323–358 |jstor=23827042 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23827042 |issn=2409-2878}} It has been classified by Pan Maoding and Jerry Norman as belonging to the Coastal Min branch, and is thus closely related to Northern Min.{{cite journal |last1=Pan |first1=Maoding |author1-mask=Pan Maoding (潘茂鼎); |last2=Li |first2=Rulong |author2-mask=Li Rulong (李如龍); |last3=Liang |first3=Yuzhang |author3-mask= Liang Yuzhang (梁玉璋); |last4=Zhang |first4=Shengyu |author4-mask=Zhang Shengyu (張盛裕); |last5=Chen |first5=Zhangtai |author5-mask=Chen Zhangtai (陳章太) |script-title=zh:福建漢語方言分區略說 |journal=Zhongguo yuwen |year=1963 |issue=6 |pages=475–495}}

Norman lists four distinctive features in the development of Eastern Min:

• The Proto-Min initial *dz- becomes s- in Eastern Min, as opposed to ts- as in Southern Min. For example, {{linktext|坐}} 'to sit' is pronounced sô̤i (IPA: {{IPA|/sɔy²⁴²/}}) in colloquial Fuzhou dialect, but tsō (IPA: {{IPA|/t͡so²²/}}) in the Amoy dialect and Taiwanese Hokkien.
• Eastern Min varieties have an upper register tone for words which correspond to voiceless nasal initials in Proto-Min, e.g. {{linktext|妹}} 'younger sister' in Fuzhou is pronounced with an upper departing tone muói (IPA: {{IPA|/mui²¹³/}}) rather than a lower departing tone.
• Some lexemes descend from Old Chinese which have been conserved in Eastern Min but replaced in other Min varieties. For example, {{linktext|犬}} instead of {{linktext|狗}} for 'dog'.
• A lack of nasal vowels, in contrast to Southern Min.

File:Fuzhou language map.jpg

Eastern Min is conventionally divided into three branches:{{cite book|last1=Kurpaska|first1=Maria|title=Chinese language(s): a look through the prism of the great dictionary of modern Chinese dialects|url=https://archive.org/details/chineselanguages00kurp|url-access=limited|year=2010|publisher=De Gruyter Mouton|location=Berlin|isbn=9783110219142|page=[https://archive.org/details/chineselanguages00kurp/page/n91 71]}}

1. Houguan language group ({{lang|zh|侯官片}}), also called the Southern subgroup, includes the varieties of Fuzhou, Fuqing, Changle, Lianjiang and that of the Matsu Islands.
2. Fu-Ning language group ({{lang|zh-Hant|福寧片}}), also called the Northern subgroup, includes the varieties of Ningde and Fu'an.
3. Manjiang ({{lang|zh-Hant|蠻講}}), spoken in parts of Taishun and Cangnan, Wenzhou, Zhejiang.

Besides these three branches, some dialect islands in the province of Guangdong have been classified as Eastern Min.{{cite journal

| title = The Namlong Dialect, a Northern Min Outlier in Zhongshan Xian and the Influence of Cantonese on its Lexicon and Phonology

| given = Nicholas C. | surname = Bodman | author-link = Nicholas Bodman

| journal = Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies | volume = 14 | issue = 1 | year = 1984 | pages = 1–19

| url = http://nthur.lib.nthu.edu.tw/dspace/handle/987654321/63869

}}

Zhongshan Min is a group of Min varieties spoken in the Zhongshan county of Guangdong, divided into three branches: the Longdu dialect and Nanlang dialect belong to the Eastern Min group, while the Sanxiang dialect belongs to Southern Min.{{cite journal

| title = The Namlong Dialect, a Northern Min Outlier in Zhongshan Xian and the Influence of Cantonese on its Lexicon and Phonology

| given = Nicholas C. | surname = Bodman

| journal = Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies | volume = 14 | issue = 1 | year = 1984 | pages = 1–19

| url = http://nthur.lib.nthu.edu.tw/dspace/handle/987654321/63869

}}{{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

}}

{{cleanup lang|date=October 2023}}

The Eastern Min group has a phonology that is particularly divergent from other varieties of Chinese. Aside from the Manjiang dialect, both Houguan and Funing groups are similar in the number of initials, with the Fu'an dialect having 17 initials, two more than the Fuzhou dialect, the additions being {{IPA|/w/}} and {{IPA|/j/}} or {{IPA|/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 the Wu 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 the Ningde dialect representing the high at 69 finals.

Eastern Min varieties generally have seven tones, by the traditional count (based on the four tones of Middle Chinese, including the entering tone as a separate entity). In the middle of the Qing dynasty, eight tones were attested, but the historical rising tones ({{lang|zh|上聲}}) re-merged.{{cite journal |last1=李 |first1=含茹 |title=苍南蛮话语音研究--《复旦大学》2009年硕士论文 |journal=CDMD.cnki.com.cn |url=http://cdmd.cnki.com.cn/Article/CDMD-10246-2009184044.htm |access-date=2019-03-12 |archive-date=2021-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414031453/http://cdmd.cnki.com.cn/Article/CDMD-10246-2009184044.htm |url-status=dead }}

The Eastern Min varieties have a wide range of sandhi phenomena. As well as tone sandhi, common to many varieties of Chinese, there is also the assimilation of consonants{{cite journal |last1=Yuan |first1=Bixia |last2=Wang |first2=Yizhi |title=On the Initial Assimilations of Eastern Min Dialects in Fujian Province--《Dialect》2013年01期 |journal=Dialect |year=2013 |url=http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-FYZA201301011.htm |access-date=9 September 2019 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326024517/http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-FYZA201301011.htm |url-status=dead }} 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 {{IPA|/β/}} phoneme can arise from {{IPA|/pʰ/}} or {{IPA|/p/}} in an intervocalic environment.{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Ching-Yu Helen |title=A synchronic view of the consonant mutations in Fuzhou dialect |journal=University System of Taiwan Working Papers in Linguistics |year=2015 |volume=8 |url=http://homepage.ling.nthu.edu.tw/USTWPL/doc/Volume%208/8-4_Yang.pdf |access-date=2019-09-09 |archive-date=2020-06-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608084151/http://homepage.ling.nthu.edu.tw/USTWPL/doc/Volume%208/8-4_Yang.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |last1=Li |first1=Zhuqing |title=Fuzhou Phonology and Grammar |date=2002 |publisher=Dunwoody Press |location=Springfield, VA |isbn=9781881265931}}

Many varieties also exhibit regressive assimilation of consonants, such as in the way a final nasal consonant, usually given the citation value {{IPA|/ŋ/}}, assimilates to the place of articulation of the following consonant. For example, the negative adverb of the Fuzhou dialect, often written {{wikt-lang|zh|伓}}, is generally transcribed in Bàng-uâ-cê as n̂g {{IPA|/ŋ/}}, but it can also surface as {{IPA|/m/}} before labial consonants and as {{IPA|/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.

• Protection of the varieties of Chinese

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{interWiki|code=cdo}}

{{wikivoyage|Mindong phrasebook|Mindong|a phrasebook}}

• {{cite journal

| surname = Norman | given = Jerry | author-link = Jerry Norman (sinologist)

| title = A preliminary report on the dialects of Mintung

| journal = Monumenta Serica | volume = 33 | year = 1977–1978 | pages = 326–348

| doi = 10.1080/02549948.1977.11745053 | jstor = 40726246

}}

• {{cite book

| surname = Yan | given = Margaret Mian

| title = Introduction to Chinese Dialectology

| publisher = LINCOM Europa | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-3-89586-629-6

}}

• Akitani, Hiroyuki; Chen, Zeping [{{lang|ja|秋谷裕幸}}; {{lang|zh-CN|陈泽平}}]. 2012. The Gutian dialect of Min Dong District [{{lang|zh-CN|闽东区古田方言研究}}]. Fuzhou: Fujian People's Press. {{ISBN|9787211064830}}

{{Sino-Tibetan languages}}

{{Min Chinese}}

{{Languages of China}}

{{Languages of Taiwan}}

{{Chinese language}}

{{Portal bar|Language|China}}

Category:Languages of China

Category:Languages of Taiwan

Category:Languages of Hong Kong

Category:Languages of Malaysia

Category:Chinese languages in Singapore

Category:Languages of Brunei

Category:Languages of the United States