Min Languages

Min languages, group of Sinitic languages spoken in Fujian province and in parts of Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hainan, and Taiwan. The Min languages are generally divided into Northern Min, with its centre at Fuzhou, and Southern Min, with its centre at Amoy (Xiamen). Some scholars also identify an Eastern Min, a Central Min, and a variant known as Puxian (Xinghua). Still others claim that there are at least nine varieties of Min, all of which are inherently unintelligible to one another. Southern Min is spoken by more than 45 million people, some 40 million in China and Taiwan, and the remainder in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia (Java and Bali), and Brunei.

Min speakers use a pronunciation (called Tang Min) for the literary language that differs from that used in other Sinitic languages. The Tang Min pronunciation of the standard language preserves the final consonants of Ancient Chinese, but nonliterary spoken Min languages do not. Other differences between Min and other Sinitic languages include differences in vocabulary and the preservation of archaic dental consonants (formed by contact of the tongue and teeth). Northern Min preserves the nasal sounds of an earlier stage of Chinese at the ends of words, but Southern Min has lost them.