Datian Min ( or 'Datian speech') is a

Southern Min Southern Min (), Minnan ( Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (), 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 Taiwa ...

language spoken in

Datian County () is a county of central Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is placed under the jurisdiction of the Sanming City. History Before the year 1535, this area belonged to four counties: Youxi, Dehua, Yong'an and Zhangping. Datian Co ...

, Sanming City,

Fujian Province Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...

, China. It has been influenced by other Min languages, including

Central Min Central Min, or Min Zhong (), is a part of the Min group of varieties of Chinese. It is spoken in the valley of the Sha River in Sanming prefecture in the central mountain areas of Fujian, consisting of Yong'an, the urban area of Sanming ( Sany ...

, Eastern Min,

Northern Min Northern Min () is a group of mutually intelligible Min varieties spoken in Nanping prefecture of northwestern Fujian. Classification and distribution Early classifications of varieties of Chinese, such as those of Li Fang-Kuei in 1937 and ...

and

Puxian Min Puxian (Hinghwa Romanized: ''Pó-sing-gṳ̂''; ), also known as Pu-Xian Chinese, Puxian Min, Xinghua, Henghwa or Hinghwa (''Hing-hua̍-gṳ̂''; ), is a Sinitic language that forms a branch of Min Chinese. Puxian is a transitional variety of ...

. Datian Min developed from

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages ...

, a dialect of

. Before the year 1535, this area belonged to four counties:

Youxi Youxi () is a county of central Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south ...

Dehua () is a county located in central Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Quanzhou City and covers an area of with a total population of 300,000. History Dehua is rich in kaolin and famous for ceramic pr ...

Yong'an Yong'an () is a county-level city in west-central Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is located on the Sha River, which is a tributary of the Min River. accessed August 14, 2005 Yong'an is located in the west-central part of the p ...

and

Zhangping Zhangping (; POJ: Chiang-pêng) is a city in the southwest of Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Longyan. Transport Zhangping is a rail hub in southwestern Fujian, where th ...

. Hokkien was spoken in Dehua and Zhangping, while Yong'an and Youxi spoke

and Eastern Min respectively.

was set up and affiliated to Yanping Fu (延平府, modern

Nanping Nanping (), historically known as Yanping (), is a third-tier prefecture-level city in northwestern Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. It borders Ningde to the east, Sanming to the south, and the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi to ...

) which spoke

in 1535.

Language contact Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact and influence each other. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. When speakers of different languages interact closely, it is typical for th ...

occurred in the later days. The county changed affiliate to Yongchun Zhou (永春州, modern Yongchun County, spoke Hokkien dialect) in 1734, then to Yong'an Division (永安专区, modern Sanming Prefecture, spoke Central Min) in 1949. The administrative here changed so frequently that the differences between Datian Min and Hokkien dialect became more and more obvious. Datian Min has little intelligibility with other varieties of

, and is sometimes classified as a separate branch of

Min Min or MIN may refer to: Places * Fujian, also called Mǐn, a province of China ** Min Kingdom (909–945), a state in Fujian * Min County, a county of Dingxi, Gansu province, China * Min River (Fujian) * Min River (Sichuan) * Mineola (Amtr ...

. Some Chinese scholars call it Min dialects transition area ().

References

Southern Min Languages of China {{SinoTibetan-lang-stub