Editing Min Chinese (section)

==Geographic location and subgrouping==
[[File:Min dialect map.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.75|Min dialect groups according to the ''[[Language Atlas of China]]'':{{col-begin}}
{{col-3}}
{{legend|#af8f4f|[[Shao-Jiang Min|Shao-Jiang]]}}
{{legend|#df5f5f|[[Northern Min|Northern]]}}
{{legend|#ffb200|[[Central Min|Central]]}}
{{col-3}}
{{legend|#96c83c|[[Eastern Min|Eastern]]}}
{{legend|#3fdebf|[[Pu-Xian Min|Pu-Xian]]}}
{{legend|#7fbfff|[[Southern Min|Southern]]}}
{{col-3}}
{{legend|#6060e0|[[Leizhou Min|Leizhou]]}}
{{legend|#9f60e0|[[Hainanese|Hainan]]}}
{{col-end}}]]
{{Pie chart
|caption=Min languages by number of native speakers (as of 2004)<ref name="langatlas2">{{citation
  | title = Language atlas of China (2nd edition)
  | publisher = [[City University of Hong Kong]] | year = 2012
  | isbn = 978-7-10-007054-6
  | postscript = .
  }}</ref>{{page needed|date=May 2024}}
|thumb = right
|value1 = 41.6
|label1 = [[Hokkien]]
|color1 = #7fbfff
|value2 = 19.5
|label2 = [[Chaoshan Min|Teochew]] (incl. [[Haklau Min|Haklau]])
|color2 = RoyalBlue
|value3 = 13.9
|label3 = [[Eastern Min]]
|color3 = #96c83c
|value4 = 9.4
|label4 = [[Hainanese]]
|color4 = #9f60e0
|value5 = 6.2
|label5 = [[Leizhou Min]]
|color5 = #6060e0
|value6 = 3.5
|label6 = [[Pu-Xian Min]]
|color6 = #3fdebf
|value7 = 3.5
|label7 = [[Northern Min]]
|color7 = #df5f5f
|value8 = 1.2
|label8 = [[Shao-Jiang Min]]
|color8 = #af8f4f
|value9 = 0.9
|label9 = [[Central Min]]
|color9 = #ffb200
|value10 = 0.3
|label10 = [[Datian Min]]
|color10 = DeepSkyBlue
}}
Min is usually described as one of seven or ten groups of [[varieties of Chinese]] but has greater dialectal diversity than any of the other groups. The varieties used in neighbouring counties, and in the mountains of western Fujian even in adjacent villages, are often mutually unintelligible.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=188}}

Early classifications, such as those of [[Li Fang-Kuei]] in 1937 and [[Yuan Jiahua]] in 1960, divided Min into Northern and Southern subgroups.{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|p=49}}{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=233}}
However, in a 1963 report on a survey of Fujian, Pan Maoding and colleagues argued that the primary split was between inland and coastal groups. A key discriminator between the two groups is a group of words that have a [[lateral consonant|lateral]] initial {{IPA|/l/}} in coastal varieties, and a voiceless fricative {{IPA|/s/}} or {{IPA|/ʃ/}} in inland varieties, contrasting with another group having {{IPA|/l/}} in both areas. Norman reconstructs these initials in [[Proto-Min]] as voiceless and voiced laterals that merged in coastal varieties.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=233}}{{sfnp|Branner|2000|pp=98–100}}

===Coastal Min===
The coastal varieties have the vast majority of speakers, and have spread from their homeland in Fujian and eastern Guangdong to the islands of [[Taiwan]] and [[Hainan]], to other coastal areas of southern China, and to Southeast Asia.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=232–233}}
Pan and colleagues divided them into three groups:{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|p=52}}
* [[Eastern Min]] (Min Dong), centered around the city of [[Fuzhou]], the capital of Fujian province, with [[Fuzhou dialect]] as the prestige form, also including the [[Fuqing dialect]], etc.
** The [[Longdu dialect|Longdu]] and [[Nanlang dialect]] of [[Zhongshan Min]] in Guangdong province<ref name="Minnan" />
* [[Pu-Xian Min]] is spoken in the city of [[Putian]] and the county of [[Xianyou County]]. Li Rulong and Chen Zhangtai examined 214 words, finding 62% shared with [[Quanzhou dialect]] (Southern Min) and 39% shared with Fuzhou dialect (Eastern Min), and concluded that Pu-Xian was more closely related to Southern Min.{{sfnp|Li|Chen|1991}}
* [[Southern Min]] (Min Nan) originates from the south of Fujian and the eastern corner of Guangdong. 
** In popular usage, Southern Min usually refers to dialects of the [[Hokkien|Quanzhang]] type, which originated in southern Fujian (around [[Quanzhou]], [[Zhangzhou]] and [[Xiamen]]) and spread to [[Southeast Asia]], particularly [[Singapore]], [[Malaysia]], the [[Philippines]], [[Indonesia]], [[Brunei]], [[Myanmar]], [[Cambodia]], [[Thailand]], and [[Southern Vietnam]], where they are known as Hokkien, and [[Taiwan]], where they are known as [[Taiwanese Hokkien|Taiwanese]].{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=232–233}} 
** The dialects of the [[Chaoshan|Teoswa / Chaoshan]] region of eastern Guangdong, including [[Teochew dialect|Teochew]] and [[Swatow dialect]]s, have difficult mutual intelligibility with the [[Amoy dialect]] of [[Hokkien]].{{sfnp|Simons|Fennig|2017|loc=Chinese, Min Nan}} Teochew varieties are the most commonly spoken by [[Thai Chinese]]{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=233}} and [[Chinese Cambodians]], and second-most common among [[Hoa people|Hoa]] [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]].
** [[Zhenan Min]] of [[Cangnan County]] in southern [[Zhejiang]] is also of this type.{{sfnp|Zhang|1987}} 
** [[Haklau Min|Haklau Min (Hai Lok Hong / Hailufeng)]] spoken in eastern Guangdong to the west of Teoswa ([[Chaoshan Min]]). 
** [[Datian Min]] of [[Datian County]] in [[Sanming]], [[Fujian]] 
** Potentially, also the [[Sanxiang dialect]] of [[Zhongshan Min]] in Guangdong province<ref name="Minnan">{{Cite web |title=Reclassifying ISO 639-3 [nan]: An Empirical Approach to Mutual Intelligibility and Ethnolinguistic Distinctions |url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KIRINPUTRA/reclassifying-ISO-639-3-nan/main/Reclassifying_ISO_639-3_%5Bnan%5D__An_Empirical_Approach_to_Mutual_Intelligibility_and_Ethnolinguistic_Distinctions.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210919021444/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KIRINPUTRA/reclassifying-ISO-639-3-nan/main/Reclassifying_ISO_639-3_%5Bnan%5D__An_Empirical_Approach_to_Mutual_Intelligibility_and_Ethnolinguistic_Distinctions.pdf |archive-date=2021-09-19}}</ref>{{Clarify|date=December 2023}} 
The ''[[Language Atlas of China]]'' (1987) distinguished two further groups, which had previously been included in Southern Min:{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|p=71}}
* [[Leizhou Min]], spoken on the [[Leizhou Peninsula]] in southwestern Guangdong.
* [[Hainanese]], spoken on the island of Hainan. These dialects feature drastic changes to initial consonants, including a series of [[implosive consonant]]s, that have been attributed to contact with the [[Tai–Kadai languages]] spoken on the island.{{sfnp|Lien|2015|p=169}}
Coastal varieties feature some uniquely Min vocabulary, including pronouns and negatives.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=233–234}}
All but the Hainan dialects have complex [[tone sandhi]] systems.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=239}}

===Inland Min===
Although they have far fewer speakers, the inland varieties show much greater variation than the coastal ones.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=234–235}}
Pan and colleagues divided the inland varieties into two groups:{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|p=52}}
* [[Northern Min]] (Min Bei) is spoken in [[Nanping]] prefecture in Fujian, with [[Jian'ou dialect]] taken as typical.
* [[Central Min]] (Min Zhong), spoken in [[Sanming]] prefecture.
The ''[[Language Atlas of China]]'' (1987) included a further group:{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|p=71}}
* [[Shao-Jiang Min]], spoken in the northwestern Fujian counties of [[Shaowu]] and [[Jiangle County|Jiangle]], were classified as [[Hakka Chinese|Hakka]] by Pan and his associates.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=233}} However, [[Jerry Norman (sinologist)|Jerry Norman]] suggested that they were inland varieties of Min that had been subject to heavy [[Gan Chinese|Gan]] or Hakka influence.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=235, 241}}

Although coastal varieties can be derived from a [[proto-language]] with four series of stops or affricates at each point of articulation (e.g. {{IPA|/t/}}, {{IPA|/tʰ/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, and {{IPA|/dʱ/}}), inland varieties contain traces of two further series, which Norman termed "softened stops" due to their reflexes in some varieties.{{sfnp|Norman|1973}}{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=228–230}}{{sfnp|Branner|2000|pp=100–104}} Inland varieties use pronouns and negatives cognate with those in Hakka and [[Yue Chinese|Yue]].{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=233–234}} Inland varieties have little or no tone sandhi.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=239}}