Southern Min

Southern Min (simplified Chinese: 闽南语; traditional Chinese: 閩南語; pinyin: Mǐnnányǔ; lit. 'Southern Fujian language'), Minnan (Mandarin pronunciation: [mìn.nǎn]) or Banlam (Southern Min pronunciation: [bàn.ɾám]), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Sinitic 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.[1] The Minnan dialects are also spoken by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora, most notably in Southeast Asia, such as Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Southern Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Southern and Central Vietnam, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. It is the most populous branch of Min Chinese, spoken by an estimated 48 million people in c. 2017–2018.[2]

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Southern Min
閩南語 / 闽南语 Bàn-lâm-gú
Ethnicity	Hoklo people Teochew people
Geographic distribution	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 as well as Malaysia, Singapore and Sumatra
Linguistic classification	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Min Coastal Min Southern Min
Subdivisions	Hokkien (Quanzhang / Tsuan-Tsiang) (e.g. Amoy, Taiwanese, Singaporean, etc.) Chaoshan (Teo-Swa) (e.g. Teochew, Swatow) Longyan (Liongna) Zhenan Datian (transitional) Sanxiang (Sahiu) Hailufeng (Haklau) LongDu Dialect (ZhongShan Min; LongDu region = ShaXi town + DaChong town)
ISO 639-3	nan
Linguasphere	79-AAA-j
Glottolog	minn1241
Southern Min in Mainland China and Taiwan
Subgroups of Southern Min in Mainland China and Taiwan
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	闽南语
Traditional Chinese	閩南語
Literal meaning	"Language of Southern Min [Fujian]"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Mǐnnányǔ 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

In common parlance and in the narrower sense, Southern Min refers to the Quanzhang or Hokkien-Taiwanese variety of Southern Min originating from Southern Fujian in Mainland China. This is spoken mainly in Fujian, Taiwan, as well as certain parts of Southeast Asia. The Quanzhang variety is often called simply "Minnan Proper". It is considered the mainstream Southern Min Chinese language.^{[citation needed]}

In the wider scope, Southern Min also includes other Min Chinese varieties that are linguistically related to Minnan proper (Quanzhang). Most variants of Southern Min have significant differences from the Quanzhang variety, some having limited mutual intelligibility with it, others almost none. Teochew, Longyan, and Zhenan are said to have general mutual intelligibility with Minnan Proper, sharing similar phonology and vocabulary to a large extent.[3] On the other hand, variants such as Datian, Zhongshan, and Qiong-Lei have historical linguistic roots with Minnan Proper, but are significantly divergent from it in terms of phonology and vocabulary, and thus have almost no mutual intelligibility with the Quanzhang variety. Linguists tend to classify them as separate Min languages.

Southern Min is not mutually intelligible with other branches of Min Chinese nor with non-Min varieties of Chinese, such as Mandarin, and the principal varieties of Southern Min are not intelligible with each other.