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 Taiwan ...

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 County ...

, Sanming City, Fujian Province, China. It has been influenced by other

Min languages 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 (Amtrak ...

, including Central Min,

Eastern Min Eastern Min or Min Dong (, Foochow Romanized: Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄), is a branch of the Min group of Sinitic languages of China. The prestige form and most-cited representative form is the Fuzhou dialect, the speech of the capital of Fujian. ...

, Northern Min 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 o ...

. 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 province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Sanming Sanming (, Foochow Romanized: Săng-mìng), also known as Minzhong (), is a prefecture-level city in western Fujian province, ...

, Dehua,

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 (Fujian), Min River. accessed August 14, 2005 Yong'an is located in the west-cen ...

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 Longyan (; Hakka: ''Liùng-ngàm''; Longyan dialect: ''Lengngi ...

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

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 t ...

) which spoke Northern Min in 1535. Language contact 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. Some Chinese scholars call it Min dialects transition area ().

References

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