Eastern Min or Min Dong (,

Foochow Romanized Foochow Romanized, also known as Bàng-uâ-cê (BUC for short; ) or Hók-ciŭ-uâ Lò̤-mā-cê (), is a Latin alphabet for the Fuzhou dialect of Eastern Min adopted in the middle of the 19th century by Western missionaries. It had varied at di ...

: Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄), is a branch of the Min group of

Sinitic languages The Sinitic languages (漢語族/汉语族), often synonymous with "Chinese languages", are a group of East Asian analytic languages that constitute the major branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is frequently proposed that there ...

of China. The prestige form and most-cited representative form is the

Fuzhou dialect Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitut ...

, the speech of the capital of

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, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its c ...

Geographic distribution

Fujian and vicinity

Eastern Min varieties are mainly spoken in the eastern part of

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 cap ...

(闽东) of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...

, in and near the cities of Fuzhou and

Ningde Ningde (; Foochow Romanized: Nìng-dáik), also known as Mindong (; Foochow Romanized: Mìng-dĕ̤ng; lit. East of Fujian), is a prefecture-level city located along the northeastern coast of Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It borders ...

. They are also widely encountered as the

mother tongue A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tong ...

on the

Matsu Islands The Matsu Islands ( or , ; Foochow Romanized: Mā-cū liĕk-dō̤), officially Lienchiang County (, ; Foochow Romanized: Lièng-gŏng-gâing), are an archipelago of 36 islands and islets in the East China Sea governed by the Republic of Chi ...

controlled by

the Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...

. Additionally, the inhabitants of

Taishun Taishun County () is a county in the prefecture-level city of Wenzhou, in the southern part of Zhejiang province, China, bordering Fujian province to the southeast, south, and west. Taishun County has more than 900 covered bridges, many of the ...

and

Cangnan Cangnan County ( ) is a county in the prefecture-level city of Wenzhou in southern Zhejiang. The county government is in Lingxi. Cangnan has 20 towns, 14 townships, and two nationality townships. The predominant Chinese dialect spoken in Cangn ...

to the north of Fujian in

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by ...

also speak Eastern Min varieties. Eastern Min generally coexists with the official

standard Chinese Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern standa ...

in all these areas.

United States

As the coastal area of Fujian has been the historical homeland of a large worldwide

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews afte ...

of overseas Chinese, varieties of Eastern Min can also be found across the world, especially in their respective Chinatowns. Cities with high concentrations of such immigrants include

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, especially Little Fuzhou, Manhattan,

Sunset Park, Brooklyn Sunset Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, bounded by Park Slope and Green-Wood Cemetery to the north, Borough Park to the east, Bay Ridge to the south, and Upper New York Bay to the ...

and

Flushing, Queens Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and th ...

Europe

They are also found in various Chinatown communities in Europe, including

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

and

Prato Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 ...

in Italy.

Japan and Malaysia

Chinese communities within

Ikebukuro is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro station, and several shops, restaurants, and enormous department stores are located within city limits. It is considered the second larges ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

as well as

Sibu Sibu (; Hokchew Romanized: ''Sĭ-bŭ'') is a landlocked city in the central region of Sarawak. It is the capital of Sibu District in Sibu Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. The city is located on the island of Borneo and covers an area of . It i ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

have significant populations of Eastern Min speakers. Fuzhou communities can also be found in Sitiawan,

Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...

and Yong Peng,

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the northwest. Johor shares maritime b ...

West Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

Classification

Eastern Min is descended from Proto-Min, which split from the transition from

Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 12 ...

into

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...

during the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

. It has been classified by Pan Maoding and Jerry Norman as belonging to the

Coastal Min Proto-Min is a comparative reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Min group of varieties of Chinese. Min varieties developed in the relative isolation of the Chinese province of Fujian and eastern Guangdong, and have since spread to Ta ...

branch, and is thus closely related to

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 ...

. Norman lists four distinctive features in the development of Eastern Min: * The Proto-Min initial *''dz''- becomes ''s''- in Eastern Min, as opposed to ''ts''- as in

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 ...

. For example, "to sit" is pronounced ''sô̤i'' (IPA: ) in colloquial

, but ''tsō'' (IPA: ) in

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong' ...

and

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/ Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about 7 ...

. * Eastern Min varieties have an ''upper register'' tone for words which correspond to voiceless nasal initials in Proto-Min, e.g. "younger sister" in Fuzhou is pronounced with an upper departing tone ''muói'' (IPA: ) rather than a lower departing tone. * There are some lexemes that descend from

which have been conserved in Eastern Min but replaced in other Min varieties. For example, instead of for "dog". * A lack of nasal vowels, in contrast to

Branches

Eastern Min is conventionally divided into three branches: # Houguan dialect group (), also called the Southern subgroup, including the

Fuqing dialect The Fuqing dialect (福清話, BUC: Hók-chiăng-uâ, IPA: ), or Hokchia, is an Eastern Min dialect. It is spoken in the county-level city of Fuqing, China, situated within the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou. It is not completely mutually int ...

Changle dialect (, Foochow Romanized: Diòng-lŏ̤h) is one of 6 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, China. It occupies a land area of and a sea area of . Changle was established in the sixth year of Emper ...

, Lianjiang dialect and the dialect of the

. #

Funing dialect group Funing may refer to the following locations in China: *Ningde, Fujian, formerly named Funing * Funing County, Hebei (抚宁县) *Funing County, Jiangsu (阜宁县) *Funing County, Yunnan Funing County (; Zhuang language: ) is located in Wenshan Z ...

(), also called the Northern subgroup, including the Ningde dialect and the

Fu'an dialect The Fu'an dialect () is a dialect of Eastern Min, which is a branch of Min Chinese spoken mainly in the eastern part of Fujian Province, China. The Fu'an dialect covers two city and three counties: Ningde, Fu'an, Shouning, Zhouning and Zh ...

. #

Manjiang dialect Manjiang (), also known as Manhua (), is an Eastern Min dialect spoken mainly in Taishun and Cangnan Counties in Wenzhou, as well as parts of Qingyuan County in Lishui, in southeastern Zhejiang province. As a dialect of Eastern Min, Manjiang i ...

(), spoken in parts of

and

Wenzhou Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou �y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), Chinese postal romanization, historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province of China, province in the China, People's Republic ...

. Besides these three branches, some dialect islands in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong were classified as Eastern Min.

Zhongshan Min Zhongshan Min (), known as ''Cunhua'' () by its speakers, are three Min Chinese dialect islands in the Zhongshan region of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. The Zhongshan Min people settled in the region from Fujian Province as early ...

is a group of Min varieties spoken in the

Zhongshan Zhongshan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is now part of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen conurbation with 65,565,622 ...

county of

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

, divided into three branches: the

Longdu dialect The Longdu dialect is a variety of Southern Min Chinese language originating from the towns of Dachong and Shaxi in Zhongshan in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong. The two regions Shaxi and Dachong are together informally known as the Longdu re ...

and Nanlang dialect belong to the Eastern Min group, while the

Sanxiang dialect Sanxiang (in Cantonese ''Samheung'', in the language itself ''Sahiu'') is a variety of Eastern Min Chinese mostly spoken in Sanxiang in Zhongshan in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong, China. Despite its close proximity, Sanxiang is not very c ...

belongs to

Phonology

The Eastern Min group has a phonology which is particularly divergent from other

varieties of Chinese Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of ...

. Aside from the

, both Houguan and Funing groups are similar in the number of initials, with the

having 17 initials, two more than the

, the additions being and or as separate phonemes (the glottal stop is common to both but excluded from this count). The

on the other hand has been influenced by the Wu dialects of Zhejiang, and hence has significantly more initials than the varieties of Fujian. The finals vary significantly between varieties, with the extremes being represented by Manjiang dialects at a low of 39 separate finals, and the Ningde dialect representing the high at 69 finals. Eastern Min varieties generally have seven tones, by the traditional count (based on the four tones of Middle Chinese, including the

entering tone A checked tone, commonly known by the Chinese calque entering tone, is one of the four syllable types in the phonology of Middle Chinese. Although usually translated as "tone", a checked tone is not a tone in the phonetic sense but rather a syl ...

as a separate entity). In the middle of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

, eight tones were attested, but the historical rising tones () re-merged.

Sandhi phenomena

The Eastern Min varieties have a wide of range of sandhi phenomena. As well as

tone sandhi Tone sandhi is a phonological change occurring in tonal languages, in which the tones assigned to individual words or morphemes change based on the pronunciation of adjacent words or morphemes. It usually simplifies a bidirectional tone into ...

, common to many varieties of Chinese, there is also the assimilation of consonants and vowel alternations (such as rime tensing). Tone sandhi across Eastern Min varieties can be regressive (where the last syllable affects the pronunciation of those before), progressive (where earlier syllables affect the later ones) or mutual (where both or all syllables change). The rules are generally quite complicated. Initial assimilation of consonants is usually progressive, and may create new phonemes that are not phonemically contrastive in initial position but do contrast in medial position. A few varieties exhibit regressive assimilation too.