Просмотр кода страницы Английская Википедия:Hokkien

{{Английская Википедия/Панель перехода}}
{{Short description|Sinitic language spoken in East Asia}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Hokkien
| altname = Min Nan
| nativename = {{lang|nan-Hant|閩南話}}／{{lang|nan-Hant|福建話}}／{{lang|nan-Hant|咱人話}}／{{lang|nan-Hant|福佬話}}<br />{{transliteration|nan|Bân-lâm-ōe}} / {{transliteration|nan|Hok-kiàn-ōe/ōa}} / {{transliteration|nan|Lán-lâng-ōe}} / {{transliteration|nan|Ho̍h-ló-ōe}}
| states = [[China]] ([[Xiamen]], [[Quanzhou]], [[Zhangzhou]], [[Longyan]], and surrounding counties) and [[Taiwan]] ([[Formosa]], [[Penghu]], [[Kinmen]]), [[Singapore]], [[Malaysia]] ([[Perlis]], [[Kedah]], [[Penang]], [[Klang (city)|Klang]], [[Malacca]], [[Johor]], [[Kelantan]], [[Terengganu]], [[Kuching]], [[Sarawak]]), [[Indonesia]] ([[Medan]], [[Riau]], [[Riau islands]], [[Java]]), [[Philippines]] ([[Binondo]], [[Metro Manila]], [[Metro Cebu]], [[Metro Davao]], [[Iloilo City]], [[Bacolod]], [[Zamboanga City]], [[Jolo]], [[Olongapo City]], [[Angeles City]], [[Baguio City]], [[Cagayan de Oro]], [[Naga, Camarines Sur|Naga]], [[Tacloban City]], [[Catarman, Northern Samar|Catarman]], [[Butuan City]], [[Sorsogon City]], [[Tuguegarao]]), [[Brunei]], [[Thailand]] ([[Surat Thani Province|Surat Thani]], [[Pattani province|Pattani]], [[Narathiwat province|Narathiwat]], [[Yala province|Yala]], [[Songkhla province|Songkhla]], [[Satun province|Satun]]), [[Cambodia]] ([[Battambang]], [[Phnom Penh]]), [[Myanmar]] ([[Yangon]], [[Myeik District]]), [[Vietnam]] ([[Chợ Lớn]], [[Hội An]], [[Huế]]), [[Hong Kong]] ([[North Point]], [[Causeway Bay]], [[Kowloon Bay]])
| image = 農場相褒歌.jpg
| imagecaption = [[Koa-á books|{{transliteration|nan|Koa-á}} books]], featuring Hokkien written in [[Chinese characters]]
| region = [[East Asia|East]] and [[Southeast Asia]]
| ethnicity = [[Hoklo people|Hokkien people]]
| speakers = Many of the 27.7 million Southern Min speakers in mainland China (2018), 13.5 million in Taiwan (2017), 2.02 million in Malaysia (2000),{{efn|name=english status|As per Ethnologue (2000),<ref name="Ethnologue23|nan">{{Ethnologue23|nan}}</ref> the population figures given here are for [[peninsular Malaysia]] only. The corresponding figures for [[Sabah]] and [[Sarawak]] are not currently available.}} 1.5 million in Singapore (2017),<ref name="Ethnologue_tree">{{cite web|url= https://www.ethnologue.com/country/SG/languages|title= Languages of Singapore – Ethnologue 2017 |access-date=2017-07-14|author= Ethnologue|author-link= Ethnologue|language= en}}</ref> 1 million in Philippines (2010), 766,000 in Indonesia (2015), 350,000 in Cambodia (2001), 70,500 in Hong Kong (2016), 45,000 in Vietnam (1989 ), 17,600 in Thailand (1984), 13,300 in Brunei (2004)
| ref = <ref name="Ethnologue23|nan">{{Ethnologue23|nan}}</ref>
| date = 
| familycolor = Sino-Tibetan
| fam2 = [[Sinitic languages|Sinitic]]
| fam3 = [[Chinese language|Chinese]]
| fam4 = [[Min Chinese|Min]]
| fam5 = [[Min Chinese#Coastal Min|Coastal Min]]
| fam6 = [[Southern Min]]
| dia1 = [[Amoy dialect|Amoy]] (Xiamen)
| dia2 = [[Quanzhou dialects|Quanzhou]]
| dia3 = [[Zhangzhou dialects|Zhangzhou]]
| dia4 = [[Longyan dialect|Longyan]]
| dia5 = [[Taiwanese Hokkien|Taiwanese]] (Hái-kháu accent, Lāi-po͘ accent, Phian-hái accent, Phian-lāi accent)
| dia6 = [[Singaporean Hokkien|Singaporean]]<ref name="Minnan" />
| dia7 = [[Penang Hokkien|Penang]] ([[Penang]], [[Kedah]], [[Perlis]])<ref name="Minnan" />
| dia8 = [[Medan Hokkien|Medan]] ([[North Sumatra]])<ref name="Minnan" />
| dia9 = [[Philippine Hokkien|Philippine]]<ref name="Minnan" /> (Chuanchiu-based, Amoy-based)
| dia10 = [[Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien|Southern Peninsular Malaysian]] ([[Johor]], [[Klang Valley|Klang]], [[Muar District|Muar]], [[Malacca]])<ref name="Minnan" />
| ancestor = [[Proto-Sino-Tibetan language|Proto-Sino-Tibetan]]
| ancestor2 = [[Old Chinese]]{{efn|name=minClassification|Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.<ref>{{citation |last=Mei |first=Tsu-lin |author1-link=Mei Tsu-lin |title=Tones and prosody in Middle Chinese and the origin of the rising tone |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |volume=30 |year=1970 |pages=86–110 |doi=10.2307/2718766 |jstor=2718766}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Pulleyblank |first=Edwin G. |author-link=Edwin G. Pulleyblank |title=Middle Chinese: A study in Historical Phonology |year=1984 |page=3 |location=Vancouver |publisher=University of British Columbia Press |isbn=978-0-7748-0192-8}}</ref><ref name="glottoMin">{{Cite journal |url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/minn1248 |title=Glottolog 4.8 - Min |date=2023-07-10 |access-date=2023-10-13 |website=[[Glottolog]] |last1=Hammarström |first1=Harald |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013171747/https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/minn1248 |archive-date=2023-10-13 |url-status=live |publisher=[[Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology]] |author-link=Harald Hammarström |last2=Forkel |first2=Robert |publication-place=[[Leipzig]] |doi=10.5281/zenodo.7398962 |last3=Haspelmath |first3=Martin |author-link3=Martin Haspelmath |last4=Bank |first4=Sebastian |doi-access=free}}</ref>}}
| ancestor3 = [[Proto-Min]]
| nation = {{flag|Taiwan}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 December 2018 |title=Draft National Language Development Act Clears Legislative Floor |work=Focus Taiwan |agency=CNA |url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aedu/201812250018.aspx}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=25 December 2018 |title=Lì yuàn sān dú "guójiā yǔyán fāzhǎn fǎ" gōng guǎng jítuán kě shè Táiyǔ diànshìtái |script-title=zh:立院三讀《國家語言發展法》 公廣集團可設台語電視台 |language=zh |work=Píngguo Rìbao |url=https://tw.news.appledaily.com/politics/realtime/20181225/1489328/ |access-date=2021-09-20 |archive-date=14 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200414151950/https://tw.news.appledaily.com/politics/realtime/20181225/1489328/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Zhou |first=Siyu 周思宇 |date=25 December 2018 |title="Guójiā yǔyán fāzhǎn fǎ" lì yuàn sān dú! zhèngfǔ dé shè Táiyǔ zhuānshǔ píndào |script-title=zh:《國家語言發展法》立院三讀！政府得設台語專屬頻道 |language=zh |trans-title=Third Reading of the National Language Development Law! The Government Must Set Up a Taiwanese-Only Channel |work=ltn.com.tw |publisher=Yahoo! |url=https://tw.news.yahoo.com/amphtml/%E5%9C%8B%E5%AE%B6%E8%AA%9E%E8%A8%80%E7%99%BC%E5%B1%95%E6%B3%95-%E7%AB%8B%E9%99%A2%E4%B8%89%E8%AE%80-%E6%94%BF%E5%BA%9C%E5%BE%97%E8%A8%AD%E5%8F%B0%E8%AA%9E%E5%B0%88%E5%B1%AC%E9%A0%BB%E9%81%93-062038323.html}}</ref> (also a statutory language for public transport announcements in [[Taiwan]])<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dàzhòng yùnshū gōngjù bòyīn yǔyán píngděng bǎozhàng fǎ |script-title=zh:大眾運輸工具播音語言平等保障法 |trans-title=Public Transport Broadcast Language Equality Guarantee Law |url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E7%9C%BE%E9%81%8B%E8%BC%B8%E5%B7%A5%E5%85%B7%E6%92%AD%E9%9F%B3%E8%AA%9E%E8%A8%80%E5%B9%B3%E7%AD%89%E4%BF%9D%E9%9A%9C%E6%B3%95 |publisher=zh.wikisource.org |language=zh}}</ref>
| agency = [[Ministry of Education (Taiwan)|The Republic of China Ministry of Education]] and some [[Non-governmental organization|NGOs]] are influential in [[Taiwan]]
| iso3 = none
| map = Banlamgu.svg
| mapcaption = Distribution of Southern Min languages, with Hokkien in dark green
| script = Chinese script (see [[written Hokkien]])<br />Latin script ([[Pe̍h-ōe-jī]], [[Tâi-lô]])<br>[[Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols]]
| notice = IPA
| glotto = hokk1242
| glottorefname = Quanzhang
| iso3comment = {{code|nan}} for Southern Min ({{code|hbl}} is proposed<ref>{{Cite web |title=Change Request Documentation: 2021-045 |url = https://iso639-3.sil.org/request/2021-045 |date = 31 August 2021 | access-date= 30 May 2022}}</ref>)
| map2 = Hokkien Speakers in Asia.png
| mapsize = 
| mapcaption2 = Polities by number of Hokkien speakers
{{legend|#084181|≥1,000,000}}
{{legend|#0868AC|≥500,000}}
{{legend|#2B8CBE|≥100,000}}
{{legend|#4EB3D3|≥50,000}}
{{legend|#7BCCC4|Significant minority populations}}
| dia11 = Riau Hokkien ([[Riau Province]], [[Riau islands]], [[Jambi]])<ref name="Minnan" />
| dia12 = Kelantan Hokkien ([[Kota Bharu]], [[Kelantan]], [[Southern Thailand]])<ref name="Minnan" />
| dia13 = Kuching Sarawak Hokkien ([[Kuching]], [[Sarawak]])<ref name="Minnan" />
| dia14 = Java Hokkien ([[Jakarta]], [[Semarang]], [[Surakarta]], etc.)
| dia15 = Hong Kong Hokkien ([[North Point]], [[Causeway Bay]], [[Kowloon Bay]])
| dia16 = Yangon Hokkien ([[Yangon Region]])<ref name="Minnan" />
| dia17 = Phuket Hokkien ([[Phuket province]])<ref name="Minnan" />
| dia18 = Saigon Hokkien ([[Chợ Lớn]], [[Ho Chi Minh City]])<ref name="Minnan" />
}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| title = Hokkien
| s = 福建话
| t = 福建話
| h = Fuk<sup>5</sup>-gien<sup>4</sup>-fa<sup>4</sup>
| p = Fújiànhuà
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|f|u|2|.|j|ian|4|.|h|ua|4}}
| gr = Fwujiannhuah
| bpmf = ㄈㄨˊ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄐㄧㄢˋ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄏㄨㄚˋ
| y = Fuk<sup>1</sup>-gin<sup>3</sup>-wa<sup>6</sup>
| poj = Hok-kiàn-ōe / Hok-kiàn-ōa
| tl = Hok-kiàn-uē / Hok-kiàn-uā
| buc = Hók-gióng-uâ
| wuu = Foh ji ghae ho
| showflag = poj
| s2 = 闽南话／闽南语
| t2 = 閩南話／閩南語
| h2 = Mên<sup>2</sup>-nam<sup>2</sup>-fa<sup>4</sup> / Men<sup>3</sup> nam<sup>2</sup> ngi<sup>1</sup>
| p2 = Mǐnnánhuà / Mǐnnányǔ
| mi2 = {{IPAc-cmn|m|in|3|.|n|an|2|.|h|ua|4}} / {{IPAc-cmn|m|in|3|.|n|an|2|.||yu|3}}
| gr2 = Miinnanhuah / Miinnanyeu
| bpmf2 = ㄇㄧㄣˇ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄋㄢˊ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄏㄨㄚˋ / ㄇㄧㄣˇ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄋㄢˊ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄩˇ
| j2 = Man<sup>5</sup> naam<sup>4</sup> waa<sup>6-2</sup> / Man<sup>4</sup> naam<sup>4</sup> waa<sup>6-2</sup> / Man<sup>5</sup> naam<sup>4</sup> jyu<sup>5</sup> / Man<sup>4</sup> naam<sup>4</sup> jyu<sup>5</sup>
| poj2 = Bân-lâm-ōe / Bân-lâm-ōa / Bân-lâm-gú / Bân-lâm-gí / Bân-lâm-gír
| tl2 = Bân-lâm-uē / Bân-lâm-uā / Bân-lâm-gú / Bân-lâm-gí / Bân-lâm-gír
| buc2 = Mìng-nàng-ngṳ̄
| wuu2 = 3min-noe-nyy
| altname = Southern Min / Min Nan
| s3 = 福佬话
| t3 = 福佬話
| h3 = Fuk<sup>5</sup>-lau<sup>3</sup>-fa<sup>4</sup>
| p3 = Fúlǎohuà
| mi3 = {{IPAc-cmn|f|u|2|.|l|ao|3|.|h|ua|4}}
| gr3 = Fwulaohuah
| bpmf3 = ㄈㄨˊ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄌㄠˇ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄏㄨㄚˋ
| j3 = Fuk<sup>1</sup>-lou<sup>2</sup>-waa<sup>6-2</sup>
| poj3 = Ho̍h-ló-ōe / Hô-ló-ōe / Hō-ló-ōe
| tl3 = Ho̍h-ló-uē / Hô-ló-uē / Hō-ló-uē
| buc3 = Hók-ló-uâ
| wuu3 = Foh loh ghae ho
| c = 
| j = 
| ci = 
| altname3 = Hoklo
| s4 = 咱人话／咱侬话
| t4 = 咱人話／咱儂話
| poj4 = Lán-lâng-ōe / Lán-nâng-ōe / Nán-nâng-ōe
| tl4 = Lán-lâng-uē / Lán-nâng-uē / Nán-nâng-uē
| altname4 = Lanlang
| tp = Fújiàn-huà
| w = Fu²-chien⁴-hua⁴
| tp2 = Mǐn-nán-huà / Mǐn-nán-yǔ
| w2 = Min³-nan²-hua⁴ / Min³-nan²-yü³
| tp3 = Fú-lǎo-huà
| w3 = Fu²-lao³-hua⁴
}}

'''Hokkien''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɒ|k|i|ɛ|n}} {{respell|HOK|ee|en}})<ref name="OED">{{cite web |title=Hokkien, adjective & noun |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/hokkien_adj |website=Oxford English Dictionary |access-date=14 September 2023}}</ref> is a [[Varieties of Chinese|variety]] of the [[Southern Min]] Chinese languages, native to and originating from the [[Minnan region]], in the southeastern part of [[Fujian]] in southeastern [[mainland China]]. It is also referred to as '''Quanzhang''' ({{zh|c=泉漳|p=Quánzhāng|links=no}}), from the first characters of the urban centers of [[Quanzhou]] and [[Zhangzhou]].

[[Taiwanese Hokkien]] is one of the [[national language]]s in [[Taiwan]]. Hokkien is also widely spoken within the overseas [[Chinese diaspora]] in [[Singapore]], [[Malaysia]], the [[Philippines]], [[Indonesia]], [[Cambodia]], [[Myanmar]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Thailand]], [[Brunei]], [[Vietnam]] elsewhere across the world.<!--In comparison to [[Teochew dialect|Teochew]], Xiamen Hokkien has only 51% intelligibility with it, almost the same as the percentage of intelligibity between Russian and Ukrainian, while it has an even lower mutual intelligibility language with other dialect variants of the Hokkien language. It is also even more distantly related to other variants such as [[Putian dialect]], [[Hainanese]] and [[Leizhou dialect]] due to historical influences.--> The mutual intelligibility between Hokkien dialects varies, but they are still held together by ethnolinguistic identity.<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>

In [[maritime Southeast Asia]], Hokkien historically served as the [[lingua franca]] amongst overseas Chinese communities of [[Han Chinese subgroups|all dialects and subgroups]], and it remains today as the most spoken [[Varieties of Chinese|variety of Chinese]] in the region, including in [[Singaporean Hokkien|Singapore]], [[Penang Hokkien|Malaysia]], [[Philippine Hokkien|Philippines]], [[Medan Hokkien|Indonesia]]. This applied to a lesser extent to [[mainland Southeast Asia]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Barbara A. |last=West |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania |publisher=Facts on File |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8160-7109-8 |pages=289–290}} eBook: {{ISBN|978-1438119137}}.<!--Use WorldCat info--></ref> The [[Betawi language|Betawi Malay language]], spoken by some five million people in and around the Indonesian capital [[Jakarta]], includes numerous Hokkien loanwords due to the significant influence of the [[Chinese Indonesians|Chinese Indonesian]] diaspora, most of whom are of Hokkien ancestry and origin. [[Hokkien Kelantan]] in northern [[Peninsular Malaysia|Malaya]] of [[Malaysia]] and [[Hokaglish]] spoken sporadically across the [[Philippines]], especially [[Metro Manila]] are also [[mixed language]]s with Hokkien as the base [[lexifier]].

== Names ==
Various populations of Hokkien speakers refer to the language as:
* {{transliteration|nan|Bân-lâm-gú / Bân-lâm-gí / Bân-lâm-gír / Bân-lâm-ú}} ({{zhi|s=闽南语|t=閩南語}}, literally 'Southern Min language') in China, Taiwan,<ref>{{Citation |title=Táiwān Mǐnnányǔ hànzì zhī xuǎnyòng yuánzé |url=http://ws.moe.edu.tw/001/Upload/6/RelFile/0/1459/guantsik_960523.pdf |trans-title=Selection Principles of Taiwanese Min Nan Chinese Characters |language=zh |script-title=zh:臺灣閩南語漢字之選用原則 |via=ws.moe.edu.tw |access-date=23 September 2017 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308052424/http://ws.moe.edu.tw/001/Upload/6/RelFile/0/1459/guantsik_960523.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Malaysia
* {{transliteration|nan|Bân-lâm-ōe / Bân-lâm-ōa / Bîn-lâm-ōe}} ({{zhi|s=闽南话|t=閩南話}}, literally 'Southern Min language') in China, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia
* {{transliteration|nan|Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú}} ({{lang|zh-Hant-TW|臺語}}, literally 'Taiwanese language') or {{transliteration|nan|Ho̍h-ló-ōe / Hô-ló-ōe}} ({{lang|zh-Hant-TW|福佬話}}, literally 'Hoklo Speech') in Taiwan
* {{transliteration|nan|Lán-lâng-ōe / Lán-nâng-ōe / Nán-nâng-ōe}} ({{lang|nan-PH|咱人話／咱儂話}}, literally 'Our people's language') in the Philippines
* {{transliteration|nan|Hok-kiàn-ōe}} / {{transliteration|nan|Hok-kiàn-ōa}} ({{zhi|c=福建話}}, literally 'Hokkien language') in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines

In parts of Southeast Asia and in the English-speaking communities, the term ''Hokkien'' ({{IPA|[hɔk˥kiɛn˨˩]}}) is etymologically derived from the Southern Min pronunciation for Fujian ({{zhi|c=福建|p=Fújiàn|poj=Hok-kiàn}}), the province from which the language hails. In Southeast Asia and the English press, ''Hokkien'' is used in common parlance to refer to the Southern Min dialects of southern Fujian, and does not include reference to dialects of other Sinitic branches also present in Fujian such as the [[Fuzhou language]] ([[Eastern Min]]), [[Pu-Xian Min]], [[Northern Min]], [[Gan Chinese]] or [[Hakka Chinese|Hakka]].

The word ''Hokkien'' first originated from [[Walter Henry Medhurst]] when he published the ''Dictionary of the Hok-këèn Dialect of the Chinese Language, According to the Reading and Colloquial Idioms'' in 1832. This is considered to be the earliest English-based Hokkien Dictionary and the first major reference work in POJ, although the romanization within was quite different from the modern system. In this dictionary, the word "Hok-këèn" was used. In 1869, POJ was further revised by John Macgowan in his published book ''A Manual Of The Amoy Colloquial''. In this book, "këèn" was changed to "kien" as "Hok-kien" and from then on, the word "Hokkien" began to be used more often.

Historically, Hokkien was also known as [[Amoy dialect|''Amoy'']], after the Hokkien name for [[Xiamen]], the principal port in southern Fujian during the [[Qing dynasty]], as one of the five ports opened to foreign trade by the [[Treaty of Nanking]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Douglas |first=Carstairs |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/chineseenglishdict00doug/page/609/mode/1up?view=theater |title=Chinese–English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy |publisher=Presbyterian Church of England |year=1899 |location=London |pages=609 |language=English & Amoy Hokkien |chapter=Extent of the Amoy Vernacular, and its Sub-division into Dialects.}}</ref> By 1873, Rev. [[Carstairs Douglas]] would publish his "''Chinese–English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, With the Principal Variations of the Chang-chew and Chin-chew Dialects."'' where he would call the language the "Language of Amoy"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Douglas |first=Carstairs |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/chineseenglishdict00doug/page/607/mode/1up?view=theater |title=Chinese–English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy |publisher=Presbyterian Church of England |year=1899 |location=London |pages=607 |language=English & Amoy Hokkien |chapter=Variations of Spelling in Other Books on the Language of Amoy}}</ref> or "''The Amoy Vernacular''"<ref name=":3" /> and by 1883, Rev. John Macgowan would publish another dictionary, the "''English and Chinese Dictionary of the Amoy Dialect''".<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Macgowan |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924023550878/page/n5/mode/2up |title=English and Chinese Dictionary of the Amoy Dialect |publisher=London Missionary Society |year=1883 |location=London |language=English & Amoy Hokkien}}</ref> Due to confusion with differentiating the Amoy dialect of Hokkien from Xiamen with the general language itself, many proscribe this usage though many old books and media may still be observed to be labeled with "Amoy" to refer to the language in general, besides the specific dialect of Hokkien from Xiamen.

== Geographic distribution ==
Hokkien is spoken in the southern seaward quarter of Fujian, southeastern [[Zhejiang]], as well as the eastern part of [[Namoa]] in China; Taiwan; [[Metro Manila]], [[Metro Cebu]], [[Metro Davao]] and other cities in the [[Philippines]]; Singapore; Brunei; [[Medan]], [[Riau]] and other cities in [[Indonesia]]; and from [[Perlis]], [[Kedah]], [[Penang]] and [[Klang (city)|Klang]] in Malaysia.

{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2018}}
Hokkien originated in the southern area of Fujian province, an important center for trade and migration, and has since become one of the most common Chinese varieties overseas. The major pole of Hokkien varieties outside of Fujian is nearby Taiwan, where immigrants from Fujian arrived as workers during the 40 years of [[Dutch Formosa|Dutch rule]], fleeing the Qing dynasty during the 20 years of [[Kingdom of Tungning|Ming loyalist rule]], as immigrants during the 200 years of [[Taiwan under Qing rule|Qing dynasty rule]], especially in the last 120 years after immigration restrictions were relaxed, and even as immigrants during the period of [[Taiwan under Japanese rule|Japanese rule]]. The Taiwanese dialect mostly has origins with the [[Tong'an Hokkien|Tung'an]], [[Quanzhou dialect|Quanzhou]] and [[Zhangzhou dialect|Zhangzhou]] variants, but since then, the Amoy dialect, also known as the Xiamen dialect, has become the modern [[prestige dialect|prestige representative]] for the language in China. Both ''Amoy'' and ''Xiamen'' come from the Chinese name of the city ({{zh|s=厦门|p=Xiàmén|poj=Ē-mûi|links=no}}); the former is from Zhangzhou Hokkien, whereas the latter comes from Mandarin.

There are many Min Nan speakers among [[overseas Chinese]] communities in Southeast Asia, as well as in the United States ([[Hoklo Americans]]). Many ethnic [[Han Chinese]] emigrants to the region were [[Hoklo people|Hoklo]] from southern Fujian, and brought the language to what is now Myanmar, [[Vietnam]], Indonesia (the former [[Dutch East Indies]]) and present day Malaysia and Singapore (formerly [[British Malaya|Malaya]] and the [[British Straits Settlements]]). Most of the Min Nan dialects of this region have incorporated some foreign loanwords. Hokkien is reportedly the native language of up to 80% of the [[Chinese Filipino|ethnic Chinese people]] in the Philippines, among which is known locally as ''[[Philippine Hokkien|Lán-nâng-uē]]'' ("Our people's speech"). Hokkien speakers form the largest group of overseas Chinese in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}

== Classification ==
{{more citations needed section|date=May 2021}}
{{location map+|China Fujian
 | caption=Locations of Hokkien varieties in Fujian
 | alt=Map of Fujian and adjacent areas, with markers for the locations of Hokkien varieties
 | width=250|float=right|places=
 {{location map~|China Fujian
 | label=[[Quanzhou]]|lat_deg=24.92|lon_deg=118.58
 | mark=Red pog.svg|position=left}}
 {{location map~|China Fujian
 | label=[[Zhangzhou]]|lat_deg=24.52|lon_deg=117.65
 | mark=Red pog.svg|position=left}}
 {{location map~|China Fujian
 | label=[[Xiamen]]|lat_deg=24.48|lon_deg=118.09
 | mark=Red pog.svg|position=right}}
}}
Southern Fujian is home to four principal Hokkien dialects: [[Zhangzhou dialect|Chiangchew]], [[Quanzhou dialect|Chinchew]], [[Tong'an dialect|Tung'an]], and Amoy,<ref name="Amoy-English Dictionary1">{{Cite book |last=Douglas |first=Carstairs |url=https://archive.org/details/chineseenglishdict00doug/page/n12/mode/1up?view=theater |title=Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy |date=1899 |publisher=Presbyterian Church of England |location=London |author-link=Carstairs Douglas}}</ref> originating from the cities of Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, historical [[Tung'an County]] ({{zhi|c=同安縣}}, now Xiamen and [[Kinmen]]) and her own [[Port of Xiamen|Port of Amoy]], respectively.

In the late 1800s, the Amoy dialect attracted special attention, because Amoy was one of the five ports opened to foreign trade by the [[Treaty of Nanking]], but before that it had not attracted attention.<ref name="Amoy-English Dictionary2">{{Cite book |last=Douglas |first=Carstairs |url=https://archive.org/details/chineseenglishdict00doug/page/609/mode/1up?view=theater|title=Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy |date=1899 |publisher=Presbyterian Church of England |location=London |author-link=Carstairs Douglas}}</ref> The Amoy dialect is adopted as the 'Modern Representative Min Nan'. The Amoy dialect <em>cannot</em> simply be interpreted as a mixture of the Zhangzhou and Quanzhou dialects, but rather it is formed on the foundation of the Tung'an dialect with further inputs from other sub-dialects.<ref name="第十屆閩方言國際學術研討會">{{cite book|author=張屏生|author-link=國立中山大學中國文學系教授|title=《第十屆閩方言國際學術研討會》|url=http://www.chinese.nsysu.edu.tw/uploads/chapter/file/5dd65c90babd2904d3000343/全文下載__16_.pdf}}</ref> It has played an influential role in history, especially in the [[Western imperialism in Asia#Western European and Russian intrusions into China|relations of Western nations with China]], and was one of the most frequently learnt dialect of the Hokkien variety by Westerners during the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century.

The Modern Representative form of Hokkien spoken around the Taiwanese city of [[Tainan]] ({{zhi|c=台南}}) heavily resembles the Tung'an dialect.<ref name="臺南閩南語1">{{Cite book |last=吳 |first=守禮 |url=https://www.ylib.com/author/wusoli/article-1.htm |title=臺南市福建省同安方言的色彩較濃}}</ref><ref name="臺南閩南語2">{{Cite book |last=吳 |first=守禮 |url=http://olddoc.tmu.edu.tw/chiaushin/ling-1.htm |title=經歷台南同安腔與員林漳州腔的異同 |access-date=12 July 2022 |archive-date=4 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160904210628/http://olddoc.tmu.edu.tw/chiaushin/ling-1.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> All Hokkien dialects spoken throughout the whole of Taiwan are collectively known as Taiwanese Hokkien, or Holo locally, although there is a tendency to call these Taiwanese language for historical reasons. It is spoken by more Taiwanese than any Sinitic language except Mandarin, and it is known by a majority of the population;<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |title=2010 Population and Household Census in Taiwan |url=https://www.stat.gov.tw/public/Attachment/21081884771.pdf |access-date=5 December 2018 |website=Government of Taiwan |publisher=[[Ministry of Education (Republic of China)|Taiwan Ministry of Education]] |language=zh-TW}}</ref> thus, from a [[socio-political]] perspective, it forms a significant pole of language usage due to the popularity of Holo-language media. Douglas (1873/1899) also noted that ''Formosa'' ([[Geography of Taiwan|Taiwan]]) has been settled mainly by emigrants from ''Amo''y (Xiamen), ''Chang-chew'' (Zhangzhou), and ''Chin-chew'' (Quanzhou). Several parts of the island are usually found to be specially inhabited by descendants of such emigrants, but in Taiwan, the various forms of the dialects mentioned prior are a good deal mixed up.<ref name=":2" />

=== Southeast Asia ===
The varieties of Hokkien in [[Southeast Asia]] originate from these dialects. Douglas (1873–1899) notes that

{{blockquote|Singapore and the various [[Straits Settlements]]'' {{bracket|such as Penang and [[Malacca]]}}'', Batavia'' {{bracket|Jakarta}} ''and other parts of the Dutch possessions'' {{bracket|Indonesia}}'', are crowded with emigrants, especially from the Chang-chew'' {{bracket|Zhangzhou}} ''prefecture; Manila and other parts of the Philippines have great numbers from Chin-chew'' {{bracket|Quanzhou}}'', and emigrants are largely scattered in like manner in Siam'' {{bracket|[[Thailand]]}}'', Burmah'' {{bracket|[[Myanmar]]}}'', the Malay Peninsula'' {{bracket|peninsular Malaysia}}'', Cochin China'' {{bracket|[[Southern Vietnam]], [[Cambodia]], [[Laos]]}}'', Saigon'' {{bracket|[[Ho Chi Minh City]], [[Vietnam]]}}'', &c. In many of these places there is also a great mixture of emigrants from Swatow'' {{bracket|[[Shantou]]}}''.''"<ref name=":2" />}}

In modern times though, a mixed dialect descended from the [[Quanzhou dialects|Quanzhou]], Amoy, and [[Zhangzhou dialects]], leaning a little closer to the Quanzhou dialect, possibly due to being from the [[Tong'an Hokkien|Tung'an]] dialect, is spoken by [[Chinese Singaporean]]s, Southern [[Malaysian Chinese]], and [[Chinese Indonesian]]s in Indonesia's [[Riau]] province and [[Riau Islands]]. Variants include [[Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien]] and [[Singaporean Hokkien]] in Singapore.

Among Malaysian Chinese of Penang, and other states in northern mainland Malaysia and ethnic Chinese Indonesians in Medan, with other areas in [[North Sumatra]], Indonesia, a distinct descendant dialect form of [[Zhangzhou dialects|Zhangzhou Hokkien]] has developed. In [[Penang]], [[Kedah]] and [[Perlis]], it is called [[Penang Hokkien]] while across the [[Malacca Strait]] in [[Medan]], an almost identical variant is known as [[Medan Hokkien]].

As for [[Chinese Filipino]]s in the Philippines, a variant known as [[Philippine Hokkien]], which is also mostly derived from Quanzhou Hokkien, particularly the [[Jinjiang, Fujian|Jinjiang]] and [[Nan'an, Fujian|Nan'an]] dialects with a bit of influence from the Amoy (Xiamen) dialect, is still spoken amongst families as most also profess ancestors from the aforementioned areas.

There are also Hokkien speakers scattered throughout other parts of Indonesia (such as Jakarta and around the island of [[Java]]), Thailand (especially [[Southern Thailand]] on the border with Malaysia), [[Chinese people in Myanmar|Myanmar]], other parts of Malaysia (such as [[East Malaysia|insular Malaysia]]), Brunei, [[Chinese Cambodians|Cambodia]], and Southern Vietnam (such as in Ho Chi Minh City), though there are notably more of [[Teochew dialect|Teochew]]/[[Swatow dialect|Swatow]] background among descendants of Chinese migrants in regions such as parts of Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Southern Vietnam.

== History ==
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2016}}
Variants of Hokkien dialects can be traced to 2-4 main principal dialects of origin: the original two being, the Quanzhou ({{zh|t=泉州|poj=Choân-chiu / Chôaⁿ-chiu|labels=no}}) and Zhangzhou ({{zh|t=漳州|poj=Chiang-chiu / Cheng-chiu|labels=no}}) dialects, and in later centuries Xiamen/Amoy ({{zh|t=廈門|poj=Ē-mn̂g / Ēe-mûi|labels=no}}) and [[Tong'an District|Tong'an]] ({{zh|t=同安|poj=Tâng-oaⁿ|labels=no}}) as well. The Amoy and Tong'an dialects are historically mixtures of Quanzhou and [[Zhangzhou dialects]], since they are the geographic and linguistic midpoint between the two, while the rest of the Hokkien dialects spoken in Taiwan and Southeast Asia are respectively derived from varying proportions of the above principal dialects in southern Fujian.

=== Southern Fujian ===
During the [[Three Kingdoms]] period of ancient China, there was constant warfare occurring in the [[Zhongyuan|Central Plains]] of China. Ethnic [[Han Chinese]] gradually migrated from [[Henan]] to the mouth of the [[Yangtze]] to the coasts of [[Zhejiang]] and later began to enter into the [[Fujian]] region, which in ancient times was originally [[Minyue]] country, populated with non-Chinese [[Baiyue]], causing the region for the first time in ancient times to incorporate Old Chinese dialects of which would later become [[Min Chinese]]. The massive migration of Han Chinese into Fujian region mainly occurred after the [[Disaster of Yongjia]]. The [[Jin Dynasty (265–420)|Jìn]] court fled from the north to the south, causing large numbers of Han Chinese to move into Fujian region. They brought the [[Old Chinese]] spoken in the [[Central Plain (China)|Central Plain]] of China from the prehistoric era to the 3rd century into Fujian that later became Min, which later split off into its respective branches, of which Hokkien descends from the [[Southern Min]] branch of it.

In 677 (during the reign of [[Emperor Gaozong of Tang]]), [[Chen Zheng (Tang Dynasty)|Chen Zheng]], together with his son [[Chen Yuanguang]], led a military expedition to suppress a rebellion of the [[She people]]. In 885, (during the reign of [[Emperor Xizong of Tang]]), the two brothers [[Wang Chao (Tang Dynasty)|Wang Chao]] and [[Wang Shenzhi]], led a military expedition force to suppress the [[Huang Chao]] rebellion.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yan |first=Margaret Mian |title=Introduction to Chinese Dialectology |date=2006 |publisher=LINCOM Europa |isbn=978-3-89586-629-6 |location=Berlin |page=120}}</ref> Waves of migration from the north in this era brought the language of [[Middle Chinese]] into the Fujian region, which gave Hokkien and all the other Min languages its [[Literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters|literary readings]].

=== Xiamen ===
During around the late 17th century when [[Haijin|sea bans]] were lifted, the [[Port of Xiamen]], which overshadowed the old port of [[Yuegang]], became Fujian's main port where trade was legalized. From then, the Xiamen dialect, historically "Amoy", became the main principal dialect spoken overseas, such as in [[Taiwan under Qing rule]], [[British Malaya]], the [[Straits Settlements]] ([[Singapore in the Straits Settlements|British Singapore]]), [[British Hong Kong]], [[Captaincy General of the Philippines|Spanish Philippines]], [[Insular Government of the Philippine Islands|American Philippines]], [[Dutch East Indies]], [[French Cochinchina]], etc. Historically, Xiamen had always been part of Tung'an country until after 1912.<ref name="第十屆閩方言國際學術研討會" /> The Amoy dialect was the main prestige form of Hokkien known from the late 17th century to the Republican era. Due to this, books about Hokkien often refer to the language family as "Amoy".

=== Early sources ===
Several playscripts survive from the late 16th century, written in a mixture of Quanzhou and Chaozhou dialects. The most important is the ''[[Romance of the Litchi Mirror]]'', with extant manuscripts dating from 1566 and 1581.<ref name="Chappell Peyraube">{{Cite book |last1=Chappell |first1=Hilary |title=Linguistic Studies in Chinese and Neighboring Languages |last2=Peyraube |first2=Alain |date=2006 |publisher=Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica |editor-last=Ho |editor-first=D.-a. |location=Taipei |pages=973–1011 |chapter=The analytic causatives of early modern Southern Min in diachronic perspective |editor-last2=Cheung |editor-first2=S. |editor-last3=Pan |editor-first3=W. |editor-last4=Wu |editor-first4=F. |chapter-url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00180707}}</ref><ref name="Lien">{{Cite book |last=Lien |first=Chinfa |title=The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-985633-6 |editor-last=Wang |editor-first=William S.-Y. |pages=160–172 |chapter=Min languages |editor-last2=Sun |editor-first2=Chaofen}}</ref>

In the early 17th century, [[Friars in Spanish Philippines|Spanish friars in the Philippines]] produced materials documenting the Hokkien varieties spoken by the Chinese trading community who had settled there in the late 16th century:<ref name="Chappell Peyraube" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Klöter |first=Henning |title=The Language of the Sangleys: A Chinese Vernacular in Missionary Sources of the Seventeenth Century |date=2011 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-18493-0}}{{page needed|date=September 2021}}</ref>
* ''Doctrina Christiana en letra y lengua china'' (1593), a Hokkien version of the ''[[Doctrina Christiana]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yue |first=Anne O. |title=Contemporary Studies on the Min Dialects |date=1999 |publisher=Chinese University Press |series=''Journal of Chinese Linguistics'' Monograph Series |volume=14 |pages=42–76 |chapter=The Min translation of the ''Doctrina Christiana'' |jstor=23833463 |issue=14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=1966 |title=The Manila Incunabula and Early Hokkien Studies, Part 1 |url=http://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1716usrgSxY.pdf |journal=Asia Major |series=New Series |volume=12 |pages=1–43 |given=Piet |surname=Van der Loon |number=1 |access-date=15 August 2016 |archive-date=24 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224203009/http://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1716usrgSxY.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":Catálogo BNE">{{Cite book |last=Cobo |first=Juan |url=http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?id=0000165702&page=1 |title=Doctrina Christiana en letra y lengua China, compuesta por los padres ministros de los Sangleyes, de la Orden de Sancto Domingo |date=1593 |location=Manila |language=[[w:Early Modern Spanish|Early Modern Spanish]] & [[w:Zhangzhou Hokkien|Zhangzhou Hokkien]]|publisher=Keng Yong|via=Catálogo BNE (Biblioteca Nacional de España)}}</ref>
* ''Dictionarium Sino Hispanicum'' (1604), by [[Pedro Chirino]]<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last1=Lee |first1=Fabio Yuchung |last2=José |first2=Regalado Trota |last3=Caño |first3=José Luis Ortigosa |last4=Chang |first4=Luisa |date=August 12, 2023 |title=1. Taiwan. Mesa Redonda. Fabio Yuchung Lee, José Regalado, Luisa Chang |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcp2wQZGyNk&t=1224s&ab_channel=%40Fundaci%C3%B3nDuquesdeSoria |website=Youtube |language=Spanish, Mandarin}}</ref>
* ''Vocabulario de la Lengua Española y China / Vocabulario Hispanico y Chinico''<ref name=":5" />
* ''Bocabulario de la lengua sangleya'' ''por las letraz de el A.B.C.'' (1617), a Spanish–Hokkien dictionary, with definitions.<ref name=":5" />
* ''Arte de la Lengua Chiõ Chiu'' (1620), a Spanish–Hokkien grammar.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mançano |first1=Melchior |url=https://bipadi.ub.edu/digital/collection/manuscrits/id/29622/rec/1 |title=Arte de la Lengua Chiõ Chiu |last2=Feyjoó |first2=Raymundo |year=1620 |via=Universitat de Barcelona}}</ref>
* ''Dictionario Hispanico Sinicum'' (1626–1642), a primarily Spanish-Hokkien dictionary (with additional incomplete [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] part), giving equivalent words, but not definitions.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zulueta |first=Lito B. |date=8 February 2021 |title=World's Oldest and Largest Spanish-Chinese Dictionary Found in UST |newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer |url=https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/378777/worlds-oldest-and-largest-spanish-chinese-dictionary-found-in-ust/ |url-status=live |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407045837/https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/378777/worlds-oldest-and-largest-spanish-chinese-dictionary-found-in-ust/ |archive-date=2022-04-07}}</ref>
* ''Vocabulario de letra china'' (1643), by Francisco Diaz<ref name=":5" />
These texts appear to record a primarily [[Zhangzhou dialects|Zhangzhou-descended dialect]] with some attested Quanzhou and [[Chaoshan Min|Teo-Swa]] features, from the old port of [[Yuegang]] (modern-day [[Haicheng, Fujian|Haicheng]], an old port that is now part of [[Longhai City|Longhai]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1967 |title=The Manila Incunabula and Early Hokkien Studies, Part 2 |url=http://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1745sWSSKnQ.pdf |journal=Asia Major |series=New Series |volume=13 |pages=95–186 |given=Piet |surname=Van der Loon |number=1 |access-date=15 August 2016 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225121102/http://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1745sWSSKnQ.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== 19th century sources ===
Chinese scholars produced [[rhyme dictionary|rhyme dictionaries]] describing Hokkien varieties at the beginning of the 19th century:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Klöter |first=Henning |title=Written Taiwanese |date=2005 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz |isbn=978-3-447-05093-7 |pages=64–65}}</ref>
* {{zhi|poj=Lūi-im Biāu-ngō͘ (Huìyīn Miàowù)}} ({{zhi|c=彙音妙悟}} "Understanding of the collected sounds") was written around 1800 by Huang Qian ({{zhi|c=黃謙}}), and describes the Quanzhou dialect. The oldest extant edition dates from 1831.
* {{zhi|poj=Lūi-chi̍p Ngé-sio̍k-thong Si̍p-ngó͘-im (Huìjí Yǎsútōng Shíwǔyīn)}} ({{zhi|c=彙集雅俗通十五音}} "Compilation of the fifteen elegant and vulgar sounds") by Xie Xiulan ({{zhi|c=謝秀嵐}}) describes the Zhangzhou dialect. The oldest extant edition dates from 1818.
Rev. [[Walter Henry Medhurst]] based his 1832 dictionary, ''"A Dictionary of the Hok-këèn Dialect of the Chinese Language"'', on the latter work.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Medhurst |first=Walter Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofhokk00medhrich/ |title=A Dictionary of the Hok-këèn Dialect of the Chinese Language, According to the Reading and Colloquial Idioms: Containing About 12,000 Characters. Accompanied by a Short Historical and Statistical Account of Hok-këèn |publisher=The Honorable East India Company's Press, by G.J. Steyn and Brother |year=1832 |location=Macao |language=English, Hokkien}}</ref>

Other popular 19th century works are also like those of Rev. John Macgowan's 1883 dictionary, ''"English and Chinese Dictionary of the Amoy Dialect"'',<ref name=":4" /> and Rev. [[Carstairs Douglas]]'s 1873 dictionary, ''"Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, with the Principal Variations of the Chang-Chew and Chin-Chew Dialects"'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Douglas |first=Carstairs |url=https://archive.org/details/chineseenglish00doug/page/n3/mode/2up |title=Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, with the Principal Variations of the Chang-Chew and Chin-Chew Dialects |publisher=Trübner & Co. |year=1873 |location=57 & 59 Ludgate Hill, London |language=English, Hokkien}}</ref> and its 1899 New Edition with Rev. [[Thomas Barclay (missionary)|Thomas Barclay]].<ref name="Amoy-English Dictionary1" />

== Phonology ==
Hokkien has one of the most diverse [[phoneme]] inventories among Chinese varieties, with more [[consonant]]s than [[Standard Mandarin]] and [[Cantonese]]. [[Vowel]]s are more-or-less similar to that of Mandarin. Hokkien varieties retain many pronunciations that are no longer found in other Chinese varieties. These include the retention of the {{IPA|/t/}} initial, which is now {{IPA|/tʂ/}} (pinyin {{zhi|p=zh}}) in Mandarin (e.g. {{zhi|c=竹|l=bamboo}} is {{zhi|poj=tik}}, but {{zhi|p=zhú}} in Mandarin), having disappeared before the 6th century in other Chinese varieties.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kane |first=Daniel |title=The Chinese Language: Its History and Current Usage |date=2006 |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |isbn=978-0-8048-3853-5 |pages=100–102}}</ref> Along with other Min languages, which are not directly [[daughter language|descended]] from [[Middle Chinese]], Hokkien is of considerable interest to [[historical linguistics|historical linguists]] for [[linguistic reconstruction|reconstructing]] Old Chinese.

=== Initials ===
Southern Min has [[Aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]], unaspirated as well as [[voice (phonetics)|voiced consonant]] initials. For example, the word {{zhi|t=開|l=open|poj=khui}} and {{zhi|t=關|poj=kuiⁿ|l=close}} have the same vowel but differ only by aspiration of the initial and [[nasalization|nasality]] of the vowel. In addition, Southern Min has [[labial consonant|labial initial consonants]] such as {{zhi|poj=m}} in {{zhi|c=命|l=life|poj=miā}}.

Another example is {{zhi|poj=cha-po͘-kiáⁿ / ta-po͘-kiáⁿ / ta-po͘-káⁿ|c=[[wikt:查埔囝|查埔囝]]|l=boy}} and {{zhi|c=[[wikt:查某囝|查某囝]]|l=girl|poj=cha-bó͘-kiáⁿ / cha̋u-kiáⁿ / cha̋u-káⁿ / chő͘-kiáⁿ}}, which for the ''cha-po͘-kiáⁿ'' and ''cha-bó͘-kiáⁿ'' pronunciation differ only in the second syllable in consonant voicing and in [[tone (linguistics)|tone]].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" |
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="4" |[[Stop consonant|Stop]]
!<small>plain</small>
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|
|{{IPA link|k}}
|{{IPA link|ʔ}}
|-
!<small>[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
|{{IPA link|pʰ}}
|{{IPA link|tʰ}}
|
|{{IPA link|kʰ}}
|
|-
![[Voiced|<small>voiced</small>]]
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA link|b}}<br />(m)
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA link|d}}<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Douglas |first=Carstairs |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/chineseenglishdict00doug/page/99/mode/1up?view=theater |title=Chinese-English dictionary of the vernacular or spoken language of Amoy |publisher=Presbyterian Church of England |year=1899 |location=London |pages=99 |language=English & Amoy Hokkien |chapter=D.}}</ref>~{{IPA link|l}}<br />({{IPA link|n}})
| rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA link|ɡ}}<br />({{IPA link|ŋ}})
| rowspan="2" |
|-
!<small>([[nasal stop|nasalized]])</small>
|-
! rowspan="3" |[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!<small>plain</small>
|
|{{IPA link|ts}}
|
|
|
|-
!<small>aspirated</small>
|
|{{IPA link|tsʰ}}
|
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|
|{{IPA link|dz}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Douglas |first=Carstairs |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/chineseenglishdict00doug/page/99/mode/1up?view=theater |title=Chinese-English dictionary of the vernacular or spoken language of Amoy |publisher=Presbyterian Church of England |year=1899 |location=London |pages=99 |language=English & Amoy Hokkien |chapter=dz}}</ref>~{{IPA link|l}}~{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
|
|{{IPA link|s}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
! colspan="2" |Semi-vowels
|{{IPA link|w}}
|
|{{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|}
* All consonants but {{IPA link|ʔ}} may be nasalized; voiced oral stops may be nasalized into voiced nasal stops.
* Nasal stops mostly occur word-initially.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fang |first=Meili |title=Spoken Hokkien |date=2010 |publisher=SOAS |location=London |page=13}}</ref>
* Quanzhou and nearby may pronounce {{IPA|⟨j⟩}}/{{IPA|⟨dz⟩}} as {{IPA|⟨l⟩}} or {{IPA|⟨g⟩}}.{{Citation needed|reason=gl is dubious|date=May 2020}}
* {{IPA|⟨l⟩}} is often interchanged with {{IPA|⟨n⟩}} and {{IPA|⟨j⟩}}/{{IPA|⟨dz⟩}} throughout different dialects.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Douglas |first=Carstairs |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/chineseenglishdict00doug/page/288/mode/1up?view=theater |title=Chinese-English dictionary of the vernacular or spoken language of Amoy |publisher=Presbyterian Church of England |year=1899 |location=London |pages=288 |language=English & Amoy Hokkien |chapter=L.}}</ref>
* {{IPA|⟨j⟩}}, sometimes into {{IPA|⟨dz⟩}}, is often pronounced very 'thick' so as to change to {{IPA|⟨l⟩}}, or very nearly so.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Douglas |first=Carstairs |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/chineseenglishdict00doug/page/610/mode/1up?view=theater&q=J. |title=Chinese–English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy |publisher=Presbyterian Church of England |year=1899 |location=London |pages=610 |language=English & Amoy Hokkien |chapter=Extent of the Amoy Vernacular, and its Sub-division into Dialects.}}</ref>
* Some dialects may pronounce {{IPA|⟨l⟩}} as {{IPA|⟨d⟩}}, or a sound very like it.<ref name=":1" />
*Approximant sounds [{{IPA link|w}}] [{{IPA link|j}}], only occur word-medially, and are also realized as laryngealized [{{IPA link|w̰}}] [{{IPA link|j̰}}], within a few medial and terminal environments.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tay |first=Mary W. J. |date=1970 |title=Hokkien Phonological Structure |journal=Journal of Linguistics |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=81–88 |doi=10.1017/S0022226700002371 |jstor=4175053|s2cid=145243105 }}</ref>

=== Finals ===
Unlike Mandarin, Hokkien retains all the final consonants corresponding to those of Middle Chinese. While Mandarin only preserves the {{IPA|[n]}} and {{IPA|[ŋ]}} finals, Southern Min also preserves the {{IPA|[m]}}, {{IPA|[p]}}, {{IPA|[t]}} and {{IPA|[k]}} finals and has developed the [[glottal stop]] {{IPA|[ʔ]}}.

The vowels of Hokkien are listed below:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fang |first=Meili |title=Spoken Hokkien |date=2010 |publisher=SOAS |location=London |pages=9–11}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+Hokkien Finals
! colspan="3" |
! colspan="5" |Oral
! colspan="6" |Nasal
! colspan="4" |Stops
|-
! colspan="3" |Medial
!<small>∅</small>
!e
!i
!o
!u
!∅
!m
!n
!ŋ
!i
!u
!p
!t
!k
!ʔ
|-
! rowspan="8" |Nucleus
! rowspan="8" |Vowel
!a
|{{IPA|a}}
|
|{{IPA|ai}}
|
|{{IPA|au}}
|{{IPA|ã}}
|{{IPA|ãm}}
|{{IPA|ãn}}
|{{IPA|ãŋ}}
|{{IPA|ãĩ}}
|{{IPA|ãũ}}
|ap
|at
|ak
|aʔ
|-
!i
|{{IPA|i}}
|
|
|{{IPA|io}}
|{{IPA|iu}}
|{{IPA|ĩ}}
|{{IPA|ĩm}}
|{{IPA|ĩn}}
|{{IPA|ĩŋ}}
|
|{{IPA|ĩũ}}
|ip
|it
|ik
|iʔ
|-
!e
|{{IPA|e}}
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA|ẽ}}
|
|
|ẽŋ*
|
|
|
|
|ek*
|eʔ
|-
!ə
|{{IPA|ə}}
|
|
|
|
|
|ə̃m*
|ə̃n*
|ə̃ŋ*
|
|
|əp*
|ət*
|ək*
|əʔ*
|-
!o
|{{IPA|o}}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|õŋ*
|
|
|
|ot*
|ok*
|oʔ
|-
!ɔ
|{{IPA|ɔ}}
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA|ɔ̃}}
|ɔ̃m*
|ɔ̃n*
|{{IPA|ɔ̃ŋ}}
|
|
|ɔp*
|ɔt*
|ɔk
|ɔʔ
|-
!u
|{{IPA|u}}
|ue
|{{IPA|ui}}
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA|ũn}}
|
|{{IPA|ũĩ}}
|
|
|ut
|
|uʔ
|-
!ɯ
|{{IPA|ɯ}}*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA|ɯ̃ŋ}}*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" rowspan="4" |Diphthongs
!ia
|ia
|
|
|
|{{IPA|iau}}
|{{IPA|ĩã}}
|{{IPA|ĩãm}}
|{{IPA|ĩãn}}
|{{IPA|ĩãŋ}}
|
|{{IPA|ĩãũ}}
|iap
|iat
|iak
|iaʔ
|-
!iɔ
|
|
|
|
|
|ĩɔ̃*
|
|
|{{IPA|ĩɔ̃ŋ}}
|
|
|
|
|iɔk
|
|-
!iə
|iə
|
|
|
|
|
|ĩə̃m*
|{{IPA|ĩə̃n}}*
|ĩə̃ŋ*
|
|
|iəp*
|iət*
|
|
|-
!ua
|ua
|
|{{IPA|uai}}
|
|
|ũã
|
|{{IPA|ũãn}}
|ũãŋ*
|ũãĩ
|
|
|uat
|
|uaʔ
|-
! colspan="2" rowspan="1" |Others
!∅
|
|
|
|
|
|
|m̩
|
|ŋ̍
|
|
|
|
|
|
|}

(*)Only certain dialects
* Oral vowel sounds are realized as nasal sounds when preceding a nasal consonant.

=== Dialectal sound shifts ===
The following table illustrates some of the more commonly seen sound shifts between various dialects. Pronunciations are provided in [[Pe̍h-ōe-jī]] and [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+
! rowspan="2" |Character
! colspan="7" |Hokkien
! colspan="2" |[[Chaoshan Min|Teochew]]
![[Haklau Min]]
|-
![[Nanguan music|operatic]]
![[Nan'an, Fujian|Nan'an]]
![[Quanzhou]]
![[Xiamen]]
![[Zhangzhou]]
![[Zhangpu]]
![[Zhaoan]]
![[Chaozhou]]
![[Chaoyang, Shantou|Chaoyang]]
![[Haifeng]]
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:二|二]]}}<br>'two'
|{{zhi|poj=lī}}
|{{zhi|poj=lī}}
|{{zhi|poj=lī}}
|{{zhi|poj=lī}}
|{{zhi|poj=jī}}
|{{zhi|poj=jī}}
|{{zhi|poj=jī}}
|{{zhi|poj=jĭ}}
|{{zhi|poj=jĭ}}
|{{zhi|poj=jĭ}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[li⁴¹]}}
|{{IPA|[li³¹]}}
|{{IPA|[li⁴¹]}}
|{{IPA|[li²²]}}
|{{IPA|[dʑi²²]}}
|{{IPA|[dʑi²²]}}
|{{IPA|[dʑi²²]}}
|{{IPA|[dʑi³⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[dʑi⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[dʑi³⁵]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:坐|坐]]}}<br>'to sit'
|{{zhi|poj=chěr}}
|{{zhi|poj=chěr}}
|{{zhi|poj=chěr}}
|{{zhi|poj=chē}}
|{{zhi|poj=chē}}
|{{zhi|poj=chē}}
|{{zhi|poj=chēr}}
|{{zhi|poj=chǒ}}
|{{zhi|poj=chǒ}}
|{{zhi|poj=chě}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[tsə²²]}}
|{{IPA|[tsə²²]}}
|{{IPA|[tsə²²]}}
|{{IPA|[tse²²]}}
|{{IPA|[tse²²]}}
|{{IPA|[tsɛ²²]}}
|{{IPA|[tsə²²]}}
|{{IPA|[tso³⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[tso⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[tse³⁵]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:皮|皮]]}}<br>'skin'
|{{zhi|poj=phêr}}
|{{zhi|poj=phêr}}
|{{zhi|poj=phêr}}
|{{zhi|poj=phê}}
|{{zhi|poj=phôe}}
|{{zhi|poj=phôe}}
|{{zhi|poj=phôe}}
|{{zhi|poj=phôe}}
|{{zhi|poj=phôe}}
|{{zhi|poj=phôe}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[pʰə²⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[pʰə²⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[pʰə²⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[pʰe²⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[pʰue¹³]}}
|{{IPA|[pʰue³¹²]}}
|{{IPA|[pʰue³⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[pʰue⁵⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[pfʰue³³]}}
|{{IPA|[pʰue⁵⁵]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:雞|雞]]}}<br>'chicken'
|{{zhi|poj=kire}}
|{{zhi|poj=koe}}
|{{zhi|poj=koe}}
|{{zhi|poj=koe}}
|{{zhi|poj=ke}}
|{{zhi|poj=kei}}
|{{zhi|poj=kei}}
|{{zhi|poj=koi}}
|{{zhi|poj=koi}}
|{{zhi|poj=kei}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[kɯe³³]}}
|{{IPA|[kue³³]}}
|{{IPA|[kue³³]}}
|{{IPA|[kue⁴⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[ke³⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[kiei⁴⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[kei⁴⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[koi³³]}}
|{{IPA|[koi³¹]}}
|{{IPA|[kei³³]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:病|病]]}}<br>'sick'
|{{zhi|poj=pīⁿ}}
|{{zhi|poj=pīⁿ}}
|{{zhi|poj=pīⁿ}}
|{{zhi|poj=pīⁿ}}
|{{zhi|poj=pēⁿ}}
|{{zhi|poj=pēⁿ}}
|{{zhi|poj=pēⁿ}}
|{{zhi|poj=pēⁿ}}
|{{zhi|poj=pēⁿ}}
|{{zhi|poj=pēⁿ}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[pĩ⁴¹]}}
|{{IPA|[pĩ³¹]}}
|{{IPA|[pĩ⁴¹]}}
|{{IPA|[pĩ²²]}}
|{{IPA|[pɛ̃²²]}}
|{{IPA|[pɛ̃²²]}}
|{{IPA|[pɛ̃²²]}}
|{{IPA|[pẽ²¹]}}
|{{IPA|[pẽ⁴²]}}
|{{IPA|[pẽ³¹]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:飯|飯]]}}<br>'rice'
|{{zhi|poj=pn̄g}}
|{{zhi|poj=pn̄g}}
|{{zhi|poj=pn̄g}}
|{{zhi|poj=pn̄g}}
|{{zhi|poj=pūiⁿ}}
|{{zhi|poj=pūiⁿ}}
|{{zhi|poj=pūiⁿ}}
|{{zhi|poj=pūng}}
|{{zhi|poj=pn̄g}}
|{{zhi|poj=pūiⁿ}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[pŋ̍⁴¹]}}
|{{IPA|[pŋ̍³¹]}}
|{{IPA|[pŋ̍⁴¹]}}
|{{IPA|[pŋ̍²²]}}
|{{IPA|[puĩ²²]}}
|{{IPA|[puĩ²²]}}
|{{IPA|[puĩ²²]}}
|{{IPA|[puŋ²¹]}}
|{{IPA|[pŋ̍⁴²]}}
|{{IPA|[puĩ³¹]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:自|自]]}}<br>'self'
|{{zhi|poj=chīr}}
|{{zhi|poj=chīr}}
|{{zhi|poj=chīr}}
|{{zhi|poj=chū}}
|{{zhi|poj=chū}}
|{{zhi|poj=chū}}
|{{zhi|poj=chīr}}
|{{zhi|poj=chīr}}
|{{zhi|poj=chū}}
|{{zhi|poj=chū}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[tsɯ⁴¹]}}
|{{IPA|[tsɯ³¹]}}
|{{IPA|[tsɯ⁴¹]}}
|{{IPA|[tsu²²]}}
|{{IPA|[tsu²²]}}
|{{IPA|[tsu²²]}}
|{{IPA|[tsɯ²²]}}
|{{IPA|[tsɯ²¹]}}
|{{IPA|[tsu⁴²]}}
|{{IPA|[tsu³¹]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:豬|豬]]}}<br>'pig'
|{{zhi|poj=tir}}
|{{zhi|poj=tir}}
|{{zhi|poj=tir}}
|{{zhi|poj=tu}}
|{{zhi|poj=ti}}
|{{zhi|poj=ti}}
|{{zhi|poj=tir}}
|{{zhi|poj=tir}}
|{{zhi|poj=tu}}
|{{zhi|poj=ti}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[tɯ³³]}}
|{{IPA|[tɯ³³]}}
|{{IPA|[tɯ³³]}}
|{{IPA|[tu⁴⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[ti³⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[ti⁴⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[tɯ⁴⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[tɯ³³]}}
|{{IPA|[tu³¹]}}
|{{IPA|[ti³³]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:取|取]]}}<br>'to take'
|{{zhi|poj=chhú}}
|{{zhi|poj=chhú}}
|{{zhi|poj=chhú}}
|{{zhi|poj=chhú}}
|{{zhi|poj=chhí}}
|{{zhi|poj=chhí}}
|{{zhi|poj=chhír}}
|{{zhi|poj=chhú}}
|{{zhi|poj=chhú}}
|{{zhi|poj=chhí}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[tsʰu⁵⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[tsʰu⁵⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[tsʰu⁵⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[tsʰu⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[tɕʰi⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[tɕʰi⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[tsʰɯ⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[tsʰu⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[tsʰu⁴⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[tɕʰi⁵³]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:德|德]]}}<br>'virtue'
|{{zhi|poj=tirak}}
|{{zhi|poj=terk}}
|{{zhi|poj=tiak}}
|{{zhi|poj=tek}}
|{{zhi|poj=tek}}
|{{zhi|poj=tek}}
|{{zhi|poj=tek}}
|{{zhi|poj=tek}}
|{{zhi|poj=tek}}
|{{zhi|poj=tek}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[tɯak⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[tək⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[tiak⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[tiɪk³²]}}
|{{IPA|[tiɪk³²]}}
|{{IPA|[tɛk³²]}}
|{{IPA|[tɛk³²]}}
|{{IPA|[tek³²]}}
|{{IPA|[tek⁴³]}}
|{{IPA|[tek³²]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:偶|偶]]}}<br>'idol'
|{{zhi|poj=giró}}
|{{zhi|poj=gió}}
|{{zhi|poj=gió}}
|{{zhi|poj=ngó͘}}
|{{zhi|poj=ngó͘}}
|{{zhi|poj=ngóu}}
|{{zhi|poj=ngóu}}
|{{zhi|poj=ngóu}}
|{{zhi|poj=ngóu}}
|{{zhi|poj=ngóu}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[ɡɯo⁵⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[ɡio⁵⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[ɡio⁵⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[ŋɔ̃⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[ŋɔ̃⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[ŋɔ̃u⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[ŋɔ̃u⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[ŋou⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[ŋou⁴⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[ŋou⁵³]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:蝦|蝦]]}}<br>'prawn'
|{{zhi|poj=hê}}
|{{zhi|poj=hê}}
|{{zhi|poj=hê}}
|{{zhi|poj=hê}}
|{{zhi|poj=hê͘}}
|{{zhi|poj=hê͘}}
|{{zhi|poj=hê͘}}
|{{zhi|poj=hê}}
|{{zhi|poj=hê}}
|{{zhi|poj=hê}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[he²⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[he²⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[he²⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[he²⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[hɛ¹³]}}
|{{IPA|[hɛ³¹²]}}
|{{IPA|[hɛ³⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[he⁵⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[he³³]}}
|{{IPA|[he⁵⁵]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:銀|銀]]}}<br>'silver'
|{{zhi|poj=girêrn}}
|{{zhi|poj=gêrn}}
|{{zhi|poj=gûn}}
|{{zhi|poj=gûn}}
|{{zhi|poj=gîn}}
|{{zhi|poj=gîn}}
|{{zhi|poj=gîn}}
|{{zhi|poj=ngîrng}}
|{{zhi|poj=ngîng}}
|{{zhi|poj=ngîn}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[ɡɯən²⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[ɡən²⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[ɡun²⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[ɡun²⁴]}}
|{{IPA|[ɡin¹³]}}
|{{IPA|[ɡin³¹²]}}
|{{IPA|[ɡin³⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[ŋɯŋ⁵⁵]}}
|{{IPA|[ŋiŋ³³]}}
|{{IPA|[ŋin⁵⁵]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{zhi|c=[[wikt:向|向]]}}<br>'to face'
|{{zhi|poj=hiòng}}
|{{zhi|poj=hiòng}}
|{{zhi|poj=hiòng}}
|{{zhi|poj=hiòng}}
|{{zhi|poj=hiàng}}
|{{zhi|poj=hiàng}}
|{{zhi|poj=hiàng}}
|{{zhi|poj=hiàng}}
|{{zhi|poj=hiàng}}
|{{zhi|poj=hiàng}}
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|{{IPA|[hiɔŋ⁴¹]}}
|{{IPA|[hiɔŋ³¹]}}
|{{IPA|[hiɔŋ⁴¹]}}
|{{IPA|[hiɔŋ³¹]}}
|{{IPA|[hiaŋ²¹]}}
|{{IPA|[hiaŋ¹¹]}}
|{{IPA|[hiaŋ¹¹]}}
|{{IPA|[hiaŋ²¹²]}}
|{{IPA|[hiaŋ⁵³]}}
|{{IPA|[hiaŋ²¹²]}}
|}

=== Tones ===
According to the traditional Chinese system, Hokkien dialects have 7 or 8 distinct tones, including two [[entering tone]]s which end in [[plosive]] consonants. The entering tones can be analysed as [[allophone]]s, giving 5 or 6 [[phonemic]] [[tone (linguistics)|tones]]. In addition, many dialects have an additional phonemic tone ("tone 9" according to the traditional reckoning), used only in special or foreign loan words.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zhou |first=Changji 周長楫 |title=Mǐnnán fāngyán dà cídiǎn |date=2006 |publisher=Fujian renmin chuban she |isbn=7-211-03896-9 |pages=17, 28 |language=zh |script-title=zh:闽南方言大词典}}</ref> This means that Hokkien dialects have between 5 and 7 phonemic tones.

[[Tone sandhi]] is extensive.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 August 2007 |title=Shēngdiào xìtǒng |script-title=zh:聲調系統 |url=http://www.ntcu.edu.tw/tailo/g_in/form/f_05.html |access-date=16 September 2010 |language=zh |via=ntcu.edu.tw |archive-date=21 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721064634/http://www.ntcu.edu.tw/tailo/g_in/form/f_05.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> There are minor variations between the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou tone systems. Taiwanese tones follow the patterns of Amoy or Quanzhou, depending on the area of Taiwan.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!rowspan=2 colspan=2|[[Four tones (Middle Chinese)|Tones]]
|colspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|level
|colspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|rising
|colspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|departing
|colspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|entering
|-
!style="border-left: 3px;"|dark level
!light level
!style="border-left: 3px;"|dark rising
!light rising
!style="border-left: 3px;"|dark departing
!light departing
!style="border-left: 3px;"|dark entering
!light entering
|-
!colspan=2|Tone Number
|style="border-left: 3px;"|1
|5
|style="border-left: 3px;"|2
|6
|style="border-left: 3px;"|3
|7
|style="border-left: 3px;"|4
|8
|-
!rowspan=12|[[Tone letter|Tone contour]]
!rowspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|Xiamen, Fujian
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˦˦
!˨˦
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˥˧
! –
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˨˩
!˨˨
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˧˨
!˦
|-
|style="border-left: 3px;"|{{zhi|c=東}} taŋ<sup>1</sup>
|{{zhi|c=銅}} taŋ<sup>5</sup>
|style="border-left: 3px;"|{{zhi|c=董}} taŋ<sup>2</sup>
| –
|style="border-left: 3px;"|{{zhi|c=凍}} taŋ<sup>3</sup>
|{{zhi|c=動}} taŋ<sup>7</sup>
|style="border-left: 3px;"|{{zhi|c=觸}} tak<sup>4</sup>
|{{zhi|c=逐 }}tak<sup>8</sup>
|-
!rowspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|[[Taipei]], Taiwan
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˦˦
!˨˦
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˥˧
! –
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˩˩
!˧˧
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˧˨
!˦
|-
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
| –
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|-
!rowspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|Tainan, Taiwan
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˦˦
!˨˧
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˦˩
! –
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˨˩
!˧˧
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˧˨
!˦˦
|-
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
| –
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|-
!rowspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|[[Zhangzhou]], Fujian
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˧˦
!˩˧
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˥˧
! –
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˨˩
!˨˨
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˧˨
!˩˨˩
|-
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
| –
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|-
!rowspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|Quanzhou, Fujian
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˧˧
!˨˦
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˥˥
!˨˨
!colspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|˦˩
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˥
!˨˦
|-
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
| –
|colspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|-
!rowspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|[[Penang]], Malaysia<ref>{{Citation |last1=Chang |first1=Yueh-chin |title=Complete and Not-So-Complete Tonal Neutralization in Penang Hokkien |date=2013 |url=https://www.academia.edu/5132554 |last2=Hsieh |first2=Feng-fan |via=Academia.edu}}</ref>
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˧˧
!˨˧
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˦˦˥
! –
!colspan=2 style="border-left: 3px;"|˨˩
!style="border-left: 3px;"|˧
!˦
|-
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
| –
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|style="border-left: 3px;"|
|
|}

== Dialects ==
{{further|Taiwanese Hokkien#Quanzhou–Zhangzhou inclinations}}
Southern Min is spoken in a variety of accents and dialects across the [[Minnan region]]. The Hokkien spoken in most areas of the three counties of southern Zhangzhou have merged the coda finals -n and -ng into -ng. The initial consonant j ([[Voiced alveolar affricate|dz]] and [[Voiced alveolo-palatal affricate|dʑ]]) is not present in most dialects of Hokkien spoken in Quanzhou, having been merged into the [[Voiced dental and alveolar stops|d]] or [[Dental, alveolar and postalveolar lateral approximants|l]] initials.

The -ik or -ɪk final consonant that is preserved in the native Hokkien dialects of Zhangzhou and Xiamen is also preserved in the Nan'an dialect ({{zhi|c=色}}, {{zhi|c=德}}, {{zhi|c=竹}}) but are pronounced as -iak in Quanzhou Hokkien.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Nán'ān fāngyán fùcí fēnxī |script-title=zh:南安方言副词分析 |url=https://max.book118.com/html/2014/1216/10683867.shtm |url-status=dead |publisher=[[Fujian Normal University]] |access-date=31 January 2019 |archive-date=31 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131145437/https://max.book118.com/html/2014/1216/10683867.shtm }}</ref>

{{tree list}}
*'''Hokkien'''
**[[Quanzhou dialects|Quanzhou Hokkien dialects]] ({{zhi|c=泉州腔|poj=Choân-chiu khiuⁿ}}):
***Coastal Quanzhou Hokkien dialects ({{zhi|c=泉州海口腔|poj=Choân-chiu Hái-kháu khiuⁿ}})
****[[Coastal Nan'an dialect]] ({{zhi|c=海南安腔|poj=Hái Lâm-oaⁿ khiuⁿ}})
****[[Hui'an dialect]] ({{zhi|c=惠安腔|poj=Hūi-oaⁿ khiuⁿ}})
*****[[Toubei dialect]] (in [[Quangang]]) ({{zhi|c=頭北話|poj=Thâu-pak-ōe}}) (Transitionary with [[Pu-Xian Min]])
****[[Jinjiang, Fujian#Language|Jinjiang dialect]] ({{zhi|c=晋江腔|poj=Chìn-kang khiuⁿ}})
****[[Luojiang dialect]] ({{zhi|c=洛江腔|poj=Lo̍k-kang khiuⁿ}})
****[[Quanzhou dialect|Quanzhou City Proper dialect]] ({{zhi|c=泉州市腔|poj=Choân-chiu-chhǐ khiuⁿ}})
****[[Philippine Hokkien]] ({{zhi|c=咱人話|poj=Lán-nâng-ōe / Nán-nâng-ōe / Lán-lâng-ōe}})
***Inland Quanzhou Hokkien dialects ({{zhi|c=泉州府城腔|poj=Choân-chiu Hú-siâⁿ khiuⁿ}})
****[[Anxi dialect]] ({{zhi|c=安溪腔|poj=An-khoe khiuⁿ}}) (Transitionary with [[Zhangzhou dialect]])
****[[Dehua dialect]] ({{zhi|c=德化腔|poj=Tek-hòe khiuⁿ}})
****[[Highland Nan'an dialect]] ({{zhi|c=頂南安腔|poj=Téng Lâm-oaⁿ khiuⁿ}})
****[[Yongchun dialect]] ({{zhi|c=永春腔|poj=Éng-chhun khiuⁿ}})
****[[Youxi dialect]] ({{zhi|c=尤溪腔|poj=Iû-khe khiuⁿ}}) (Transitionary with [[Eastern Min]] and [[Central Min]])
****[[Datian Min|Datian Frontlect]] ({{zhi|c=大田前路話|poj=Tōa-chhân Chûiⁿ-lō͘-ōe}})* (Transitionary with [[Central Min]])
*****[[Taoyuan dialect]] ({{zhi|c=大田桃源話|poj=Tōa-chhân Thô-goân-ōe}})* (Transitionary with [[Yong'an]] [[Central Min]]){{Clarify|date=February 2024}} 
**[[Amoy dialect|Amoy-Tong'an Hokkien dialect]]s ({{zhi|c=廈門同安腔|poj=Ē-mn̂g Tâng-oaⁿ khiuⁿ}}) (Transitionary between [[Quanzhou dialects]] and [[Zhangzhou dialects]])
***[[Amoy dialect]] ({{zhi|c=廈門腔|poj=Ē-mn̂g khiuⁿ}})
***[[Tong'an Hokkien|Tong'an dialect]] ({{zhi|c=同安腔|poj=Tâng-oaⁿ khiuⁿ}}) (Transitionary with [[Quanzhou dialect]])
***[[Guankou dialect]] ({{zhi|c=灌口腔|poj=Koàn-kháu khiuⁿ}}) (Transitionary with [[Zhangzhou dialect]])
***[[Kinmen dialect]] ({{zhi|c=金門腔|poj=Kim-mn̂g khiuⁿ}})
***Southern [[Malacca Straits]] Hokkien
****[[Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien]] ({{zhi|c=南馬福建話|poj=Lâm-Má Hok-kiàn-oē}})
****[[Singaporean Hokkien]] ({{zhi|c=新加坡福建話|poj=Sin-ka-pho Hok-kiàn-ōe / Sin-ka-po Hok-kiàn-ōe}})
****Riau Hokkien (in [[Riau Province]], [[Riau islands]], [[Jambi]])
**[[Zhangzhou dialects|Zhangzhou Hokkien dialects]] ({{zhi|c=漳州腔|poj=Chiang-chiu khioⁿ}}):
***Northern Zhangzhou Hokkien dialects
****[[Changtai dialect]] ({{zhi|c=長泰腔|poj=Tiôⁿ-thòa khioⁿ}}) (Transitionary with [[Quanzhou dialect]])
****[[Haicang dialect]] ({{zhi|c=海滄腔|poj=Hái-chhng khioⁿ}}) (Transitionary with Amoy dialect)
****[[Hua'an dialect]] ({{zhi|c=華安腔|poj=Hôa-an khioⁿ}}) (Transitionary with [[Longyan dialect]])
****[[Pinghe dialect]] ({{zhi|c=平和腔|poj=Pêng-hô khioⁿ}})
****[[Zhangzhou dialect|Zhangzhou City Proper dialect]] ({{zhi|c=漳州市腔|poj=Chiang-chiu-chhī khioⁿ}})
*****Haicheng dialect ({{zhi|c=海澄腔|poj=Hái-têng khioⁿ}})
*****[[Longxi dialect]] ({{zhi|c=龍溪腔|poj=Liông-khe khioⁿ}})
*****Nanjing dialect ({{zhi|c=南靖腔|poj=Lâm-chēng khioⁿ}})
***Southern Zhangzhou Hokkien dialects
****[[Dongshan dialect]] ({{zhi|c=東山腔|poj=Tang-soaⁿ khioⁿ}})
****[[Yunxiao dialect]] ({{zhi|c=雲霄腔|poj=Ûn-sio khioⁿ}})
****[[Zhangpu dialect]] ({{zhi|c=漳浦腔|poj=Chiuⁿ-phó͘ khioⁿ}})
****[[Zhao'an dialect]] ({{zhi|c=詔安腔|poj=Chiàu-an khioⁿ}})* (Transitionary with [[Teo-Swa Min]])
***[[Haklau Min|Haklau Min / Hailufeng / Hai Lok Hong]] ({{zhi|c=海陸豐話|poj=Hái-Lo̍k-hong-ōa}})* (Transitionary with [[Teo-Swa Min]] and [[Hailu dialect|Hoiluk]] [[Hakka language|Hakka]])
****[[Haifeng dialect]] ({{zhi|c=海豐話|poj=Hái-hong-ōa}})*
****[[Haifeng dialect|Lufeng dialect]] ({{zhi|c=陸豐話|poj=Lo̍k-hong-ōa}})*
***Northern [[Malacca Straits]] Hokkien
****[[Penang Hokkien]] ({{zhi|c=檳城福建話|poj=Peng-siâⁿ Hok-kiàn-ōa / Pin-siâⁿ Hok-kiàn-ōa}}／{{zhi|c=庇能福建話|poj=Pī-néeng Hok-kiàn-ōa}})
****[[Medan Hokkien]] ({{zhi|c=棉蘭福建話|poj=Mî-lân Hok-kiàn-oā}})
**[[Longyan dialect]] ({{zhi|c=龍巖腔|poj=Liông-nâ khioⁿ}})* (Transitionary with [[Zhangping]] [[Hakka language|Hakka]])
**[[Taiwanese Hokkien]] ({{zhi|c=台語|poj=Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú}}／{{zhi|c=臺灣話|poj=Tâi-oân-ōe}}／{{zhi|c=臺灣閩南語|poj=Tâi-oân Bân-lâm-gú / Tâi-oân Bân-lâm-gí}})* (Transitionary between [[Zhangzhou dialects]], [[Amoy dialect|Amoy-Tong'an dialects]], and [[Quanzhou dialects]])
***Various dialects per region descended variously and mixed from the above as well (See [[Taiwanese Hokkien#Quanzhou–Zhangzhou inclinations]])
{{tree list/end}}

<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Haklau Min]] (''Hai Lok Hong'', including the Haifeng and Lufeng dialect), Chaw'an / Zhao'an (詔安話), [[Longyan Min]], and controversially, [[Taiwanese Hokkien|Taiwanese]], are sometimes considered as not Hokkien anymore, besides being under [[Southern Min]] (Min Nan). On the other hand, those under [[Longyan Min]], [[Datian Min]], [[Zhenan Min]] have some to little mutual intelligibility with Hokkien, while [[Chaoshan Min|Teo-Swa Min]], the [[Sanxiang dialect]] of [[Zhongshan Min]], and [[Hainanese|Qiong]]-[[Leizhou Min|Lei Min]] also have historical linguistic roots with Hokkien, but are significantly divergent from it in terms of phonology and vocabulary, and thus have almost little to no practical face-to-face mutual intelligibility with Hokkien.

== Comparison ==
The Xiamen dialect is a variant of the Tung'an dialect. Majority of [[Taiwanese Hokkien|Taiwanese]], from [[Tainan]], to [[Taichung]], to [[Taipei]], is also heavily based on Tung'an dialect while incorporating some vowels of Zhangzhou dialect, whereas [[Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien]], including [[Singaporean Hokkien]], is based on the Tung'an dialect, with [[Philippine Hokkien]] on the Quanzhou dialect, and [[Penang Hokkien]] & [[Medan Hokkien]] on the Zhangzhou dialect. There are some variations in pronunciation and vocabulary between Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects. The grammar is generally the same.

Additionally, extensive contact with the [[Japanese language]] has left a legacy of Japanese loanwords in Taiwanese Hokkien. On the other hand, the variants spoken in [[Singapore]] and [[Malaysia]] have a substantial number of loanwords from [[Malay language|Malay]] and to a lesser extent, from [[English language|English]] and other Chinese varieties, such as the closely related Teochew and some [[Cantonese]]. Meanwhile, in the [[Philippines]], there are also a few [[Philippine Spanish|Spanish]] and [[Filipino language|Filipino]] ([[Tagalog language|Tagalog]]) loanwords, while it is also currently a norm to frequently [[codeswitch]] with [[Philippine English|English]], Tagalog, and in some cases other [[Philippine languages]], such as [[Cebuano language|Cebuano]], [[Hiligaynon language|Hiligaynon]], [[Central Bikol|Bicol Central]], [[Ilocano language|Ilocano]], [[Chavacano]], [[Waray language|Waray-waray]], [[Kapampangan language|Kapampangan]], [[Pangasinan language|Pangasinense]], [[Northern Sorsogon language|Northern Sorsogonon]], [[Southern Sorsogon language|Southern Sorsogonon]], etc.

=== Mutual intelligibility ===
Tong'an, Xiamen, Taiwanese, Singaporean dialects as a group are more [[mutually intelligible]], but it is less so amongst the forementioned group, Quanzhou dialect, and Zhangzhou dialect.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Chinese, Min Nan |website=Ethnologue |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/nan |access-date=12 June 2018}}</ref>

Although the Min Nan varieties of Teochew and Amoy are 84% phonetically similar including the pronunciations of un-used Chinese characters as well as same characters used for different meanings,{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}} and 34% [[lexical similarity|lexically similar]],{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}}, Teochew has only 51% intelligibility with the Tong'an Hokkien|Tung'an dialect (Cheng 1997){{who|date=September 2019}} whereas Mandarin and Amoy Min Nan are 62% phonetically similar{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}} and 15% lexically similar.{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}} In comparison, German and English are 60% lexically similar.<ref>{{Cite web |title=German |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=deu |access-date=16 September 2010 |website=Ethnologue}}</ref>

[[Hainanese]], which is sometimes considered Southern Min, has almost no mutual intelligibility with any form of Hokkien.<ref name=":0" />

== Grammar ==
Hokkien is an [[analytic language]]; in a sentence, the arrangement of words is important to its meaning.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Ratte |first=Alexander T. |title=A Dialectal and Phonological Analysis of Penghu Taiwanese |date=2009 |degree=BA |publisher=Williams College |url=http://sanders.phonologist.org/Papers/ratte-thesis.pdf |page=4}}</ref> A basic sentence follows the [[subject–verb–object]] pattern (i.e. a [[subject (grammar)|subject]] is followed by a [[verb]] then by an [[object (grammar)|object]]), though this order is often violated because Hokkien dialects are [[Topic-prominent language|topic-prominent]]. Unlike [[synthetic language]]s, seldom do words indicate [[time]], [[gender]] and [[plural]] by inflection. Instead, these concepts are expressed through adverbs, aspect markers, and grammatical particles, or are deduced from the context. Different particles are added to a [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]] to further specify its status or [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]].

A verb itself indicates no [[grammatical tense]]. The time can be explicitly shown with time-indicating adverbs. Certain exceptions exist, however, according to the pragmatic interpretation of a verb's meaning. Additionally, an optional [[Grammatical aspect|aspect]] particle can be appended to a verb to indicate the state of an action. Appending interrogative or exclamative particles to a sentence turns a statement into a question or shows the attitudes of the speaker.

Hokkien dialects preserve certain grammatical reflexes and patterns reminiscent of the broad stage of [[Archaic Chinese]]. This includes the [[Serial verb construction|serialization of verb phrases]] (direct linkage of verbs and [[verb phrase]]s) and the infrequency of [[nominalization]], both similar to Archaic Chinese grammar.<ref name="McCoyLight1986">{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Y. C. |title=Contributions to Sino-Tibetan Studies |date=1986 |publisher=E. J. Brill |isbn=90-04-07850-9 |editor-last=McCoy |editor-first=John |location=Leiden |page=393 |chapter=Historical Significance of Certain Distinct Grammatical Features in Taiwanese |editor-last2=Light |editor-first2=Timothy |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdYUAAAAIAAJ&q=mccoy+%22Contributions+to+Sino-Tibetan+studies%22&pg=PA393}}</ref>

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|{{zhi|c=汝}} {{zhi|c=去}} {{zhi|c=買}} {{zhi|c=有}} {{zhi|c=錶仔}} {{zhi|c=無？}}
|{{zhi|poj=Lí}} {{zhi|poj=khì}} {{zhi|poj=bué}} {{zhi|poj=ū}} {{zhi|poj=pió-á}} {{zhi|poj=--bô?}}
|{{gcl|2SG}} go buy have watch no
|"Did you go to buy a watch?"}}

Choice of grammatical function words also varies significantly among the Hokkien dialects. For instance, ({{zhi|c=乞|poj=knit}}) (denoting the causative, passive or dative) is retained in [[Jinjiang, Fujian|Jinjiang]] (also unique to the Jinjiang dialect is {{zhi|c=度|poj=thō͘}} and in [[Jieyang]], but not in [[Longxi County, Fujian|Longxi]] and Xiamen, whose dialects use {{zhi|c=互／予|poj=hō͘}} instead.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lien |first=Chinfa |date=2002 |script-title=zh:Grammatical Function Words 乞, 度, 共, 甲, 將 and 力 in Li Jing Ji 荔鏡記 and their Development in Southern Min |url=http://intranet.ling.sinica.edu.tw/eip/FILES/journal/2007.6.23.25251406.1786841.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Papers from the Third International Conference on Sinology |publisher=National Tsing Hua University |pages=179–216 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116141841/http://intranet.ling.sinica.edu.tw/eip/FILES/journal/2007.6.23.25251406.1786841.pdf |archive-date=16 November 2011 |access-date=3 July 2011}}</ref>

=== Pronouns ===
Hokkien dialects differ in the pronunciation of some pronouns (such as the second person pronoun {{zhi|poj=lí}}, {{zhi|poj=lú}}, or {{zhi|poj=lír}}), and also differ in how to form plural pronouns (such as {{zhi|poj=n}} or {{zhi|poj=lâng}}). Personal pronouns found in the Hokkien dialects are listed below:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!
! Singular
! Plural
|-
!1st person
|{{zhi|c=我}}<br />{{zhi|poj=góa}}
|{{zhi|c=阮}}<sup>1</sup><br />{{zhi|poj=gún, góan}}<br /><br />{{zhi|c=咱}}<sup>2</sup> or {{zhi|c=俺}}<br />{{zhi|poj=lán}} or {{zhi|poj=án}}<br /><br />{{zhi|c=我儂}}<sup>1,3</sup><br />{{zhi|poj=góa-lâng}}
|-
!2nd person
|{{zhi|c=汝}}<br />{{zhi|poj=lí, lír, lú}}
| {{zhi|c=恁}}<br />{{zhi|poj=lín}}<br /><br />{{zhi|c=汝儂}}<sup>3</sup><br />{{zhi|poj=lí-lâng, lú-lâng}}
|-
!3rd person
| {{zhi|c=伊}}<br />{{zhi|poj=i}}
| {{zhi|c=𪜶}}<br />{{zhi|poj=in}}<br /><br />{{zhi|c=伊儂}}<sup>3</sup><br />{{zhi|poj=i-lâng}}
|}
:<sup>1</sup> Exclusive
:<sup>2</sup> Inclusive
:<sup>3</sup> {{zhi|c=儂|poj=lâng}} is typically suffixed in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects (with the exception of Philippine Hokkien)

[[Possessive pronoun]]s can be marked by the particle {{zhi|c=的|poj=ê}}), in the same way as normal nouns. In some dialects, possessive pronouns can also be formed with a nasal suffix, which means that possessive pronouns and plural pronouns are [[homophone]]s:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Klöter |first=Henning |title=Written Taiwanese |date=2005 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-05093-7}}{{page needed|date=September 2021}}</ref>

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|{{zhi|c=阮}} {{zhi|c=翁}} {{zhi|c=姓}} {{zhi|c=陳。}}
|{{zhi|poj=gún}} {{zhi|poj=ang}} {{zhi|poj=sìⁿ}} {{zhi|poj=Tân}}
|"My husband's surname is [[Chen (surname)|Tan]]."}}

The most common [[reflexive pronoun]] is {{zhi|poj=ka-kī}} ({{zhi|c=家己}}). In formal contexts, {{zhi|poj=chū-kí}} ({{zhi|c=自己}}) is also used.

Hokkien dialects use a variety of [[demonstrative pronoun]]s, which include:
*'this' – {{zhi|poj=che}} ({{zhi|c=這}}，{{zhi|c=即}})，{{zhi|poj=chit-ê}} ({{zhi|c=即個}})
*'that' – {{zhi|poj=he}} ({{zhi|c=許}}，{{zhi|c=彼}})，{{zhi|poj=hit-ê}} ({{zhi|c=彼個}})
*'here' – {{zhi|poj=hia}} ({{zhi|c=遮}})，{{zhi|poj=chit-tau}} ({{zhi|c=即兜}})
*'there' – {{zhi|poj=hia}} ({{zhi|c=遐}})，{{zhi|poj=hit-tau}} ({{zhi|c=彼兜}})

The interrogative pronouns include:
*'what' – {{zhi|poj=siáⁿ-mih}} ({{zhi|c=啥物}})，{{zhi|poj=sím-mih}} ({{zhi|c=甚麼}})，{{zhi|poj=há-mi̍h}} ({{zhi|c=何物}})
*'when' – {{zhi|poj=tī-sî}} ({{zhi|c=底時}})，{{zhi|poj=kúi-sî}} ({{zhi|c=幾時}})，{{zhi|poj=tang-sî}} ({{zhi|c=當時}})，{{zhi|poj=sím-mih sî-chūn}} ({{zhi|c=甚麼時陣}})
*'where' – {{zhi|poj=tó-lo̍h}} ({{zhi|c=倒落}})，{{zhi|poj=tó-uī}} ({{zhi|c=倒位}})
*'who' – {{zhi|poj=siáⁿ-lâng}} ({{zhi|c=啥人}})，{{zhi|poj=siáng}} ({{zhi|c=誰}}),
*'why' – {{zhi|poj=ūi-siáⁿ-mih}} ({{zhi|c=為啥物}})，{{zhi|poj=ūi-sím-mih}} ({{zhi|c=為甚物}})，{{zhi|poj=án-chóaⁿ}} ({{zhi|c=按怎}})，{{zhi|poj=khah}} ({{zhi|c=盍}})
*'how' – {{zhi|poj=án-chóaⁿ}} ({{zhi|c=按怎}})，{{zhi|poj=lû-hô}} ({{zhi|c=如何}})，{{zhi|poj=cháiⁿ-iūⁿ}} ({{zhi|c=怎樣}})

=== Copula ===
States and qualities are generally expressed using [[stative verbs]] that do not require a verb meaning 'to be':

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|{{zhi|c=我}} {{zhi|c=腹肚}} {{zhi|c=枵。}}
|{{zhi|poj=goá}} {{zhi|poj=pak-tó͘}} {{zhi|poj=iau.}}
|{{gcl|1SG}} stomach hungry
|"I am hungry."}}

With noun complements, the verb {{zhi|poj=sī}} ({{zhi|c=是}}) serves as the verb 'to be'.

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|{{zhi|c=昨昏}} {{zhi|c=是}} {{zhi|c=八月節。}}
|{{zhi|poj=cha-hng}} {{zhi|poj=sī}} {{zhi|poj=poeh-ge̍h-choeh.}}
|"Yesterday was the Mid-Autumn festival."}}

To indicate location, the words {{zhi|poj=tī}} ({{zhi|c=佇}}) {{zhi|poj=tiàm}} ({{zhi|c=踮}}), {{zhi|poj=leh}} ({{zhi|c=咧}}), which are collectively known as the locatives or sometimes coverbs in Chinese linguistics, are used to express '(to be) at':

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|{{zhi|c=我}} {{zhi|c=踮}} {{zhi|c=遮}} {{zhi|c=等}} {{zhi|c=汝。}}
|{{zhi|poj=goá}} {{zhi|poj=tiàm}} {{zhi|poj=chia}} {{zhi|poj=tán}} {{zhi|poj=lí.}}
|"I am here waiting for you."}}

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|{{zhi|c=伊}} {{zhi|c=這摆}} {{zhi|c=佇}} {{zhi|c=厝}} {{zhi|c=裡}} {{zhi|c=咧}} {{zhi|c=睏。}}
|{{zhi|poj=i}} {{zhi|poj=chit-mái}} {{zhi|poj=tī}} {{zhi|poj=chhù}} {{zhi|poj=lāi}} {{zhi|poj=leh}} {{zhi|poj=khùn.}}
|"They're sleeping at home now."}}

=== Negation ===
Hokkien dialects have a variety of negation particles that are prefixed or affixed to the verbs they modify. There are six primary negation particles in Hokkien dialects (with some variation in how they are [[Written Hokkien#Chinese characters|written in characters]]):
#{{zhi|poj=m̄}} ({{zhi|c=毋}}，{{zhi|c=呣}}，{{zhi|c=唔}}，{{zhi|c=伓}})
#{{zhi|poj=bē}} ({{zhi|c=未}})
#{{zhi|poj=bōe}} ([[File:Be-tw.svg|15px]])
#{{zhi|poj=mài}} ({{zhi|c=莫}}，{{zhi|c=【勿愛】}})
#{{zhi|poj=bô}} ({{zhi|c=無}})
#{{zhi|poj=put}} ({{zhi|c=不}}) – literary

Other negative particles include:
#{{zhi|poj=bâng}} ({{zhi|c=甭}})
#{{zhi|poj=bián}} ({{zhi|c=免}})
#{{zhi|poj=thài}} ({{zhi|c=汰}})

The particle {{zhi|poj=m̄}} ({{zhi|c=毋}}，{{zhi|c=呣}}，{{zhi|c=唔}}，{{zhi|c=伓}}) is general and can negate almost any verb:
{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|{{zhi|c=伊}} {{zhi|c=毋}} {{zhi|c=捌}} {{zhi|c=字。}}
|{{zhi|poj=i}} {{zhi|poj=m̄}} {{zhi|poj=bat}} {{zhi|poj=jī}}
|{{gcl|3SG}} not know character
|"They cannot read."}}

The particle {{zhi|poj=mài}} ({{zhi|c=莫}}，{{zhi|c=【勿爱】}}), a concatenation of {{zhi|poj=m-ài}} ({{zhi|c=毋愛}}) is used to negate imperative commands:
{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|{{zhi|c=莫}} {{zhi|c=講！}}
|{{zhi|poj=mài}} {{zhi|poj=kóng}}
|"Don't speak!"}}

The particle {{zhi|poj=bô}} ({{zhi|c=無}}) indicates the past tense:{{dubious|date=October 2023}}
{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|{{zhi|c=伊}} {{zhi|c=無}} {{zhi|c=食。}}
|{{zhi|poj=i}} {{zhi|poj=bô}} {{zhi|poj=chia̍h}}
|"They did not eat."}}

The verb 'to have', {{zhi|poj=ū}} ({{zhi|c=有}}) is replaced by {{zhi|poj=bô}} ({{zhi|c=無}}) when negated (not {{zhi|c=無有}}):
{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|{{zhi|c=伊}} {{zhi|c=無}} {{zhi|c=錢。}}
|{{zhi|poj=i}} {{zhi|poj=bô}} {{zhi|poj=chîⁿ}}
|"They do not have any money."}}

The particle {{zhi|poj=put}} ({{zhi|c=不}}) is used infrequently, mostly found in literary compounds and phrases:
{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|{{zhi|c=伊}} {{zhi|c=真}} {{zhi|c=不孝。}}
|{{zhi|poj=i}} {{zhi|poj=chin}} {{zhi|poj=put-hàu}}
|They are really unfilial."}}

== Vocabulary ==
The majority of Hokkien vocabulary is [[monosyllabic]].<ref>{{Cite conference |conference=SEALSVIII: 8th Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (1998) |date=2007 |last1=Lim |first1=Beng Soon |last2=Teoh |first2=Boon Seong |title=Malay Lexicalized Items in Penang Peranakan Hokkien |editor-last1=Alves |editor-first1=Mark |editor-last2=Sidwell |editor-first2=Paul |editor-last3=Gil |editor-first3=David |url=http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/soon1998malay.pdf |location=Canberra |publisher=Pacific Linguistics |page=165}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=November 2016}} Many Hokkien [[word]]s have [[cognate]]s in other Chinese varieties. That said, there are also many indigenous words that are unique to Hokkien and are potentially not of [[Sino-Tibetan]] origin, while others are shared by all the [[Min Chinese|Min]] dialects (e.g. 'congee' is {{zhi|c=糜}} {{zhi|poj=mê}}, {{zhi|poj=bôe}}, {{zhi|poj=bê}}, not {{zhi|c=粥}} {{zhi|p=zhōu}}, as in other dialects).

As compared to Mandarin, Hokkien dialects prefer to use the monosyllabic form of words, without suffixes. For instance, the Mandarin noun suffix {{zhi|c=子|p=zi}} is not found in Hokkien words, while another noun suffix, {{zhi|c=仔|poj=á}} is used in many nouns. Examples are below:
*'duck' – {{zhi|c=鴨|poj=ah}} or {{zhi|c=鴨仔|poj=ah-á}} (cf. Mandarin {{zhi|c=鴨子|p=yāzi}})
*'color' – {{zhi|c=色|poj=sek}} (cf. Mandarin {{zhi|c=顏色|p=yán sè}})

In other bisyllabic morphemes, the syllables are inverted, as compared to Mandarin. Examples include the following:
*'guest' – {{zhi|c=人客|p=lâng-kheh}} (cf. Mandarin {{zhi|c=客人|p=kèrén}})

In other cases, the same word can have different meanings in Hokkien and Mandarin. Similarly, depending on the region Hokkien is spoken in, loanwords from local languages (Malay, Tagalog, Burmese, among others), as well as other Chinese dialects (such as Southern Chinese dialects like Cantonese and [[Teochew dialect|Teochew]]), are commonly integrated into the vocabulary of Hokkien dialects.

=== Literary and colloquial readings ===
The existence of [[literary and colloquial reading]]s is a prominent feature of some Hokkien dialects and indeed in many Sinitic varieties in the south. The bulk of literary readings ({{zhi|c=文讀|poj=bûn-tha̍k}}), based on pronunciations of the vernacular during the [[Tang dynasty]], are mainly used in formal phrases and written language (e.g. philosophical concepts, given names, and some place names), while the colloquial (or vernacular) ones ({{zhi|c=白讀|poj=pe̍h-tha̍k}}) are usually used in spoken language, vulgar phrases and surnames. Literary readings are more similar to the pronunciations of the Tang standard of Middle Chinese than their colloquial equivalents. <!-------Referring to Min Dong? ------The recent contact with [[Standard Mandarin]] has led to the creation of another strata of literary readings,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zheng |first=Rongbin |title=The Zhongxian ({{zhi|c=中仙}} ) Min Dialect: A Preliminary Study of Language Contact and Stratum-Formation |url=http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fchinalinks.osu.edu%2Fnaccl-20%2Fproceedings%2F30_zheng-r.pdf&ei=Dc4VTq3yM6nzmAXeqIgQ&usg=AFQjCNHmj6Cp3fSfeM48Awc2Aelm407CGg |access-date=7 July 2011 |website=Proceedings of the 20th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-20). 2008. Volume 1.}}</ref> loaned from Mandarin which may either be similar to Mandarin or, due to the formal nature, may revisit the Tang pronunciations.-------->

The pronounced divergence between literary and colloquial pronunciations found in Hokkien dialects is attributed to the presence of several strata in the Min lexicon. The earliest, colloquial stratum is traced to the [[Han dynasty]] (206 BCE – 220 CE); the second colloquial one comes from the period of the [[Northern and Southern dynasties]] (420–589 CE); the third stratum of pronunciations (typically literary ones) comes from the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) and is based on the [[prestige dialect]] of [[Chang'an]] (modern day [[Xi'an]]), its capital.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chappell |first1=Hilary |last2=Alain Peyraube |title=The Analytic Causatives Of Early Modern Southern Min In Diachronic Perspective |url=http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/18/07/07/PDF/causatives_early_S_MIN.pdf |journal=Linguistic Studies in Chinese and Neighboring Languages |location=Paris, France |publisher=Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale |pages=1–34}}</ref>

Some commonly seen sound correspondences (colloquial → literary) are as follows:
*p- ({{IPA|[p-]}}, {{IPA|[pʰ-]}}) → h ({{IPA|[h-]}})
*ch-, chh- ({{IPA|[ts-]}}, {{IPA|[tsʰ-]}}, {{IPA|[tɕ-]}}, {{IPA|[tɕʰ-]}}) → s ({{IPA|[s-]}}, {{IPA|[ɕ-]}})
*k-, kh- ({{IPA|[k-]}}, {{IPA|[kʰ-]}}) → ch ({{IPA|[tɕ-]}}, {{IPA|[tɕʰ-]}})
*-ⁿ ({{IPA|[-ã]}}, {{IPA|[-uã]}}) → n ({{IPA|[-an]}})
*-h ({{IPA|[-ʔ]}}) → t ({{IPA|[-t]}})
*i ({{IPA|[-i]}}) → e ({{IPA|[-e]}})
*e ({{IPA|[-e]}}) → a ({{IPA|[-a]}})
*ia ({{IPA|[-ia]}}) → i ({{IPA|[-i]}})

This table displays some widely used characters in Hokkien that have both literary and colloquial readings:<ref name=mothertongue /><ref name="MoE">{{Cite web |date=2011 |title=Táiwān Mǐnnányǔ chángyòng cí cídiǎn |script-title=zh:臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 |trans-title=[[Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan]] |url=http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/index.html |publisher=Ministry of Education, R.O.C.}}</ref>

{{HokkienLiteraryColloquial}}

This feature extends to [[Chinese numerals]], which have both literary and colloquial readings.<ref name=MoE /> Literary readings are typically used when the numerals are read out loud (e.g. phone numbers, years), while colloquial readings are used for counting items.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!rowspan=2|Numeral
!colspan=2|Reading
!rowspan=2|Numeral
!colspan=2|Reading
|-
!Literary!!Colloquial!!Literary!!Colloquial
|-
| 1 || {{zhi|poj=it}} || {{zhi|poj=chi̍t}} || 6 || {{zhi|poj=lio̍k}} || {{zhi|poj=la̍k}}
|-
| 2 ||{{zhi|poj=jī, lī}}
|{{zhi|poj=nn̄g}}|| 7 || colspan="2" | {{zhi|poj=chhit}}
|-
| 3 || {{zhi|poj=sam}} || {{zhi|poj=saⁿ}} || 8 || {{zhi|poj=pat}} || {{zhi|poj=peh, poeh}}
|-
| 4 || {{zhi|poj=sù, sìr}} || {{zhi|poj=sì}} || 9 || {{zhi|poj=kiú}} || {{zhi|poj=káu}}
|-
| 5 || {{zhi|poj=ngó͘}} || {{zhi|poj=gō͘}} || 10 || {{zhi|poj=si̍p}} || {{zhi|poj=cha̍p}}
|}

=== Semantic differences between Hokkien and Mandarin ===
Quite a few words from the variety of [[Old Chinese]] spoken in the state of [[Wu (state)|Wu]], where the ancestral language of Min and Wu dialect families originated, and later words from [[Middle Chinese]] as well, have retained the original meanings in Hokkien, while many of their counterparts in [[Mandarin Chinese]] have either fallen out of daily use, have been substituted with other words (some of which are borrowed from other languages while others are new developments), or have developed newer meanings. The same may be said of Hokkien as well, since some lexical meaning evolved in step with Mandarin while others are wholly innovative developments.

This table shows some Hokkien dialect words from Classical Chinese, as contrasted to the written Mandarin:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan=2|Gloss
!colspan=2|Hokkien
!colspan=2|Mandarin
|-
!Hanji
![[Pe̍h-ōe-jī|POJ]]
!Hanzi
![[Pinyin]]
|-
| 'eye'
| {{lang|zh-tw|目睭／目珠}}
| {{zhi|poj=ba̍k-chiu}}
| {{lang|zh-tw|眼睛}}
| {{zhi|p=yǎnjīng}}
|-
| '[[chopstick]]'
| {{lang|zh-tw|箸}}
| {{zhi|poj=tī, tīr, tū}}
| {{lang|zh-tw|筷子}}
| {{zhi|p=kuàizi}}
|-
| 'to chase'
| {{lang|zh-tw|逐}}
| {{zhi|poj=jiok, lip}}
| {{lang|zh-tw|追}}
| {{zhi|p=zhuī}}
|-
| 'wet'
| {{lang|zh-tw|澹}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=%E6%BF%95&oldid=69295622|title=濕|date=17 September 2022|via=Wiktionary}}</ref>
| {{zhi|poj=tâm}}
| {{lang|zh-tw|濕}}
| {{zhi|p=shī}}
|-
| 'black'
| {{lang|zh-tw|烏}}
| {{zhi|poj=o͘}}
| {{lang|zh-tw|黑}}
| {{zhi|p=hēi}}
|-
| 'book'
| {{lang|zh-tw|冊}}
| {{zhi|poj=chheh}}
| {{lang|zh-tw|書}}
| {{zhi|p=shū}}
|}

For other words, the classical Chinese meanings of certain words, which are retained in Hokkien dialects, have evolved or deviated significantly in other Chinese dialects. The following table shows some words that are both used in both Hokkien dialects and Mandarin Chinese, while the meanings in Mandarin Chinese have been modified:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan=2|Word
!colspan=2|Hokkien
!colspan=2|Mandarin
|-
!POJ
!Gloss<br /><small>(and Classical Chinese)</small>
!Pinyin
!Gloss
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|走}}
| {{zhi|poj=cháu}}
| 'to flee'
| {{zhi|p=zǒu}}
| 'to walk'
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|細}}
| {{zhi|poj=sè, sòe}}
| 'tiny', 'small, 'young'
| {{zhi|p=xì}}
| 'thin', 'slender'
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|鼎}}
| {{zhi|poj=tiáⁿ}}
| 'pot'
| {{zhi|p=dǐng}}
| 'tripod'
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|食}}
| {{zhi|poj=chia̍h}}
| 'to eat'
| {{zhi|p=shí}}
| 'to eat' (largely superseded by {{zhi|c=吃}})
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|懸}}
| {{zhi|poj=kôan, koâiⁿ, kûiⁿ}}
| 'tall', 'high'
| {{zhi|p=xuán}}
| 'to hang', 'to suspend'
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|喙}}
| {{zhi|poj=chhùi}}
| 'mouth'
| {{zhi|p=huì}}
| 'beak'
|}

=== Words from Min Yue ===
Some commonly used words, shared by all{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}{{dubious|date=November 2016}} Min Chinese languages, came from the [[Old Yue languages]]. [[Jerry Norman (sinologist)|Jerry Norman]] suggested that these languages were [[Austroasiatic]]. Some terms are thought be cognates with words in [[Tai Kadai]] and [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] languages. They include the following examples, compared to the [[Fuzhou dialect]], a [[Min Dong language]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Word
!Hokkien POJ
!Foochow Romanized
!Gloss
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|骹}}
| {{zhi|poj=kha}} {{IPA|[kʰa˥]}}
| {{transliteration|nan|kă}} {{IPA|[kʰa˥]}}
| 'foot and leg'
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|囝}}
| {{zhi|poj=kiáⁿ}} {{IPA|[kjã˥˩]}}
| {{transliteration|nan|giāng}} {{IPA|[kjaŋ˧]}}
| 'son', 'child', 'whelp', 'a small amount'
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|睏}}
| {{zhi|poj=khùn}} {{IPA|[kʰun˨˩]}}
| {{transliteration|nan|káung}} {{IPA|[kʰɑwŋ˨˩˧]}}
| to sleep
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|骿}}
| {{zhi|poj=phiaⁿ}} {{IPA|[pʰjã˥]}}
| {{transliteration|nan|piăng}} {{IPA|[pʰjaŋ˥]}}
| 'back', 'dorsum'
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|厝}}
| {{zhi|poj=chhù}} {{IPA|[tsʰu˨˩]}}
| {{transliteration|nan|chuó, chió}} {{IPA|[tsʰwɔ˥˧]}}
| 'home', 'house'
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|刣}}
| {{zhi|poj=thâi}} {{IPA|[tʰaj˨˦]}}
| {{transliteration|nan|tài}} {{IPA|[tʰaj˥˧]}}
| 'to kill', 'to slaughter'
|-
| ({{lang|zh-tw|肉}})
| {{zhi|poj=bah}} {{IPA|[baʔ˧˨]}}
| —
| 'meat'
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|媠}}
| {{zhi|poj=suí}} {{IPA|[sui˥˧]}}
| —
| 'beautiful'
|-
| {{lang|zh-tw|檨}}
| {{zhi|poj=soāiⁿ}} {{IPA|[suãi˨˨]}}
| {{transliteration|nan|suông}} {{IPA|[suɔŋ˨˦˨]}}
| 'mango' (Austroasiatic)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=%E6%AA%A8&oldid=66357509|title=檨|date=5 April 2022|via=Wiktionary}}</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/HmUpNeIlfg4 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20210319060505/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmUpNeIlfg4 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmUpNeIlfg4| title = Teochew, another Minnan language – Oung-Heng HENG {{!}} PG 2019 | website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
|}

=== Loanwords ===
[[Loanword]]s are not unusual among Hokkien dialects, as speakers readily adopted indigenous terms of the languages they came in contact with. As a result, there is a plethora of loanwords that are not mutually comprehensible among Hokkien dialects.

[[Taiwanese Hokkien]], as a result of linguistic contact with [[Japanese language|Japanese]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011 |title=Táiwān Mǐnnányǔ wàilái cí |script-title=zh:臺灣閩南語外來詞 |trans-title=Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan |url=http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/index/fulu_wailaici.jsp |access-date=8 July 2011 |publisher=Ministry of Education, R.O.C. |location=Taiwan |language=zh}}</ref> and [[Formosan languages]], contains many loanwords from these languages. Many words have also been formed as [[calque]]s from Mandarin, and speakers will often directly use Mandarin vocabulary through [[codeswitching]]. Among these include the following examples:
*'toilet' – {{zhi|poj=piān-só͘}} ({{lang|zh|{{linktext|便所}}}}) from Japanese {{nihongo4||便所|benjo}}
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{lang|zh-hant|屎礐}} ({{transliteration|nan|sái-ha̍k}}), {{lang|zh-hant|廁所}} ({{transliteration|nan|chhek-só͘}})
*'car' – {{zhi|poj=chū-tōng-chhia}} ({{lang|zh-hant|{{linktext|自動車}}}}) from Japanese {{nihongo4||自動車|jidōsha}}
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{lang|zh-hant|{{linktext|風}}車}} ({{transliteration|nan|hong-chhia}}), {{lang|zh-hant|汽車}} ({{transliteration|nan|khì-chhia}})
*'to admire' – {{zhi|poj=kám-sim}} ({{zhi|t={{linktext|感心}}}}) from Japanese {{nihongo4||感心|kanshin}}
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{lang|zh-hant|{{linktext|感動}}}} ({{transliteration|nan|kám-tōng}})
*'fruit' – {{zhi|poj=chúi-ké / chúi-kóe / chúi-kér}} ({{lang|zh|{{linktext|水果}}}}) from Mandarin ({{zhi|c=水果|p=shuǐguǒ}})
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{lang|zh|果子}} ({{transliteration|nan|ké-chí}} / {{transliteration|nan|kóe-chí}} / {{transliteration|nan|kér-chí}})

[[Singaporean Hokkien]], [[Penang Hokkien]] and other Malaysian Hokkien dialects tend to draw loanwords from [[Malay language|Malay]], [[English language|English]] as well as other Chinese dialects, primarily [[Teochew dialect|Teochew]]. Examples include:
*'but' – {{zhi|poj=ta-pi}}, from Malay
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{zhi|c=但是}} ({{transliteration|nan|tān-sī}})
*'doctor' – {{zhi|c=老君|poj=ló-kun}}, from Malay {{lang|ms|dukun}}
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{zhi|c=醫生}} ({{transliteration|nan|i-seng}})
*'stone', 'rock' – {{zhi|poj=bà-tû}}, from Malay {{lang|ms|batu}}
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{zhi|c=石头}} ({{transliteration|nan|chio̍h-thâu}})
*'market' – {{zhi|c=巴剎}} {{zhi|poj=pa-sat}}, from Malay {{lang|ms|pasar}} from Persian {{transliteration|fa|[[bazaar]]}} ({{lang|fa|بازار}})<ref name="似懂非懂2006">{{Cite book |last=Sidong Feidong {{zhi|c=似懂非懂}} |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x6grAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1873 |title=Pēi nán mì |date=2006 |publisher=Hyweb Technology Co. |pages=1873– |language=zh |script-title=zh:卑南覓 |id=GGKEY:TPZ824QU3UG}}</ref>
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{zhi|c=市場}} ({{transliteration|nan|chhī-tiûⁿ}}), {{zhi|c=菜市}} ({{transliteration|nan|chhài-chhī}})
*'they' – {{zhi|c=伊儂}} {{zhi|poj=i-lâng}} from Teochew ({{transliteration|zh|i1 nang5}})
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{zhi|c𪜶}} ({{transliteration|nan|in}})
*'together' – {{zhi|c=做瓠}} {{zhi|poj=chò-bú}} from Teochew {{zhi|c=做瓠}} ({{transliteration|zh|jo3 bu5}})
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{zhi|c=做夥}} ({{transliteration|nan|chò-hóe}}), {{zhi|c=同齊}} ({{transliteration|nan|tâng-chê}}) or {{zhi|c=鬥陣}} ({{transliteration|nan|tàu-tīn}})
*'soap' – {{zhi|c=雪文}} {{zhi|poj=sap-bûn}} from Malay {{lang|ms|sabun}}, from Arabic {{transliteration|ar|ṣābūn}} ({{lang|ar|صابون}}).<ref name="似懂非懂2006" /><ref name="Watters1889">{{Cite book |last=Thomas Watters |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.69416 |title=Essays on the Chinese Language |date=1889 |publisher=Presbyterian Mission Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.69416/page/n354 346]–}}</ref>

Philippine Hokkien, as a result of centuries-old contact with both Philippine languages and Spanish also incorporate words from these languages. Speakers today will also often directly use [[Philippine English|English]] and [[Filipino language|Filipino]] ([[Tagalog language|Tagalog]]), or other [[Philippine languages]] like [[Cebuano language|Bisaya]], vocabulary through [[codeswitching]]. Examples include:
*'cup' – {{zhi|poj=ba-sù}}, from either [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] {{lang|tl|baso}} or Spanish {{lang|es|vaso}}
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{zhi|c=杯仔|poj=poe-á}}, {{zhi|c=杯|poj=poe}}
*'office' – {{zhi|poj=o-pi-sín}}, from Tagalog {{lang|tl|opisina}}, which itself is from Spanish {{lang|es|oficina}}
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{zhi|c=辦公室|poj=pān-kong-sek/pān-kong-siak}}
*'soap' – {{zhi|poj=sap-bûn}}, from either Tagalog {{lang|tl|sabon}} or [[Early Modern Spanish]] {{lang|es|xabon}}
* 'coffee' – {{zhi|poj=ka-pé}}, from Tagalog {{lang|tl|kape}}, which itself is from Spanish {{lang|es|café}}
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{zhi|c=咖啡|poj=ko-pi}}, {{zhi|c=咖啡|poj=ka-pi}}
*'to pay' – {{zhi|poj=pá-lâ}}, from Spanish {{lang|es|pagar}}
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{zhi|c=予錢|poj=hō͘-chîⁿ}}, {{zhi|c=還錢|poj=hêng-chîⁿ}}
* 'dozen' – {{zhi|poj=lo-sin}}, from [[Philippine English]] ''dozen''
*:Other Hokkien variants: {{zhi|c=打|poj=táⁿ}}
Philippine Hokkien usually follows the 3 decimal place [[Hindu–Arabic numeral system|Hindu-Arabic numeral system]] used worldwide, but still retains the concept of {{zhi|c=萬|poj=bān|l=ten thousand}} from the [[Chinese numerals|Chinese numeral system]], so 'ten thousand' would be {{zhi|c=一萬|poj=chi̍t-bān}}, but 'eleven thousand' would be {{zhi|c=十一千|poj=cha̍p-it-chheng}} instead of {{zhi|c=一萬一千|poj=chi̍t-bān chi̍t-chheng}}, and so on. Philippine Hokkien additionally has words for 'million': {{zhi|c=桶|poj=tháng}} or {{zhi|c=面桶|poj=bīn-tháng}}, instead of {{zhi|c=百萬|poj=pah-bān}}, so 'one million' would be {{zhi|c=一桶|poj=chi̍t-tháng}} or {{zhi|c=一面桶|poj=chi̍t-bīn-tháng}}; sometimes 'one hundred million' would be {{zhi|c=一百桶|poj=chi̍t-pah-tháng}} or {{zhi|c=一億|poj=chi̍t-iak}}.

=== Comparison with Mandarin and Sino-Xenic pronunciations ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Gloss !! Characters !! Mandarin !! Yue || Hokkien<ref>{{Cite web |last=Iûⁿ, Ún-giân |title=Tâi-bûn/Hôa-bûn Sòaⁿ-téng Sû-tián |script-title=zh:台文/華文線頂辭典 |trans-title=Taiwanese/Chinese Online Dictionary |url=http://210.240.194.97/iug/Ungian/SoannTeng/chil/Taihoa.asp |access-date=1 October 2014 |archive-date=6 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006113321/http://210.240.194.97/iug/Ungian/SoannTeng/chil/Taihoa.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref>!! Korean !! Vietnamese !! Japanese
|-
| 'book' || {{zhi|c=冊}} || {{zhi|p=cè}} || {{zhi|j=caak8}} || {{zhi|poj=chheh}} || {{transliteration|ko|chaek}} || {{transliteration|vi|tập/sách}} || {{transliteration|ja|saku/satsu/shaku}}
|-
| 'bridge' || {{zhi|c=橋}} || {{zhi|p=qiáo}} || {{zhi|j=kiu4}} || {{zhi|poj=kiô}} || {{transliteration|ko|kyo}} || {{transliteration|vi|cầu/kiều}} || {{transliteration|ja|kyō}}
|-
| 'dangerous' || {{zhi|c=危險}} || {{zhi|p=wēixiǎn}} || {{zhi|j=ngai4 him2}} || {{zhi|poj=guî-hiám}} || {{transliteration|ko|wiheom}} || {{transliteration|vi|nguy hiểm}} || {{transliteration|ja|kiken}}
|-
| 'flag' || {{zhi|c=旗}} || {{zhi|p=qí}} || {{zhi|j=kei4}} || {{zhi|poj=kî}} || {{transliteration|ko|ki}} || {{transliteration|vi|cờ/kỳ}} || {{transliteration|ja|ki}}
|-
| 'insurance' || {{zhi|c=保險}} || {{zhi|p=bǎoxiǎn}} || {{zhi|j=bou2 him2}} || {{zhi|poj=pó-hiám}} || {{transliteration|ko|boheom}} || {{transliteration|vi|bảo hiểm}} || {{transliteration|ja|hoken}}
|-
| 'news' || {{zhi|c=新聞}} || {{zhi|p=xīnwén}} || {{zhi|j=san1 man4}} || {{zhi|poj=sin-bûn}} || {{transliteration|ko|shinmun}} || {{transliteration|vi|tân văn}} || {{transliteration|ja|shinbun}}
|-
| 'student' || {{zhi|c=學生}} || {{zhi|p=xuéshēng}} || {{zhi|j=hok6 saang1}} || {{zhi|poj=ha̍k-seng}} || {{transliteration|ko|haksaeng}} || {{transliteration|vi|học sinh}} || {{transliteration|ja|gakusei}}
|-
| university' || {{zhi|c=大學}} || {{zhi|p=dàxué}} || {{zhi|j=daai6 hok9}} || {{zhi|poj=tāi-ha̍k}} ({{zhi|poj=tōa-o̍h}}) || {{transliteration|ko|daehak}} || {{transliteration|vi|đại học}} || {{transliteration|ja|daigaku}}
|}

== Culture ==
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2021}}
[[Quanzhou]] was historically the cultural center for Hokkien, as various traditional Hokkien cultural customs such as [[Nanguan music]], [[Beiguan music]], [[glove puppetry]], and the [[Kaoka opera|kaoka]] and [[Lewan opera|lewan]] genres of [[Hokkien culture#Performing arts|Hokkien opera]] originated from Quanzhou. This was mainly due to the fact that Quanzhou had become an important trading and commercial port since the Tang dynasty and had prospered into an important city. After the [[Opium War]] in 1842, Xiamen became one of the major [[treaty port]]s to be opened for trade with the outside world. From the mid-19th century onwards, Xiamen slowly developed to become the political and economical center of the Hokkien-speaking region in China. This caused the Amoy dialect to gradually replace the position of dialects from Quanzhou and [[Zhangzhou]]. From the mid-19th century until the end of [[World War II]], {{citation needed|date=November 2016}} western diplomats usually learned Amoy as the preferred dialect if they were to communicate with the Hokkien-speaking populace in China or Southeast Asia. In the 1940s and 1950s, Taiwan{{who|date=November 2016}} also tended towards the Amoy dialect.

The [[retreat of the Republic of China to Taiwan]] in 1949 drove party leaders to seek to both culturally and politically assimilate the islanders. As a result, laws were passed throughout the 1950s to suppress Hokkien and other languages in favor of Mandarin. By 1956, speaking Hokkien in ROC schools or military bases was illegal. However, popular outcry from both older islander communities and more recent Mainlander immigrants prompted a general wave of education reform, during which these and other education restrictions were lifted. The general goal of assimilation remained, with Amoy Hokkien seen as less 'native', and therefore preferred.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wong |first=Ting-Hong |date=May 2020 |title=Education and National Colonialism in Postwar Taiwan: The Paradoxical Use of Private Schools to Extend State Power, 1944–1966 |journal=History of Education Quarterly |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=156–184 |doi=10.1017/heq.2020.25 |s2cid=225917190}}</ref>

However, from the 1980s onwards, the development of [[Hokkien pop|Taiwanese Min Nan]] pop music and media industry in Taiwan caused the [[Hokkien culture|Hokkien cultural]] hub to shift from Xiamen to Taiwan.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}} The flourishing [[Hokkien entertainment media|Taiwanese Min Nan entertainment and media industry]] from Taiwan in the 1990s and early 21st century led Taiwan to emerge as the new significant cultural hub for Hokkien.

In the 1990s, marked by the liberalization of language development and [[mother tongue]] movement in Taiwan, Taiwanese Hokkien had developed quickly. In 1993, Taiwan became the first region in the world to implement the teaching of Taiwanese Hokkien in Taiwanese schools. In 2001, the local Taiwanese language program was further extended to all schools in Taiwan, and Taiwanese Hokkien became one of the compulsory local Taiwanese languages to be learned in schools.<ref>{{Cite web |script-title=zh:《網路社會學通訊期刊》第45期，2005年03月15日 |url=http://www.nhu.edu.tw/~society/e-j/45/45-16.htm |access-date=16 September 2010 |publisher=Nhu.edu.tw}}</ref> The [[mother tongue]] movement in Taiwan even influenced Xiamen (Amoy) to the point that in 2010, Xiamen also began to implement the teaching of Hokkien dialect in its schools.<ref>{{Cite web |script-title=zh:有感于厦门学校“闽南语教学进课堂”_博客臧_新浪博客 |url=http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4d3f04b40100ibvw.html |website=[[Sina Weibo]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108065635/http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4d3f04b40100ibvw.html|archive-date=2018-11-08|access-date=2022-01-04}}</ref> In 2007, the [[Ministry of Education (Republic of China)|Ministry of Education]] in Taiwan also completed the standardization of Chinese characters used for writing Hokkien and developed [[Taiwanese Romanization System|Tai-lo]] as the standard Hokkien pronunciation and romanization guide. A number of universities in Taiwan also offer Taiwanese degree courses for training Hokkien-fluent talents to work for the Hokkien media industry and education. Taiwan also has its own Hokkien literary and cultural circles whereby Hokkien poets and writers compose poetry or literature in Hokkien.

Thus, by the 21st century, Taiwan had become one of the most significant Hokkien cultural hubs of the world. The historical changes and development in Taiwan had led [[Taiwanese Hokkien]] to become the most influential pole of the Hokkien dialect after the mid-20th century. Today, the Taiwanese prestige dialect ({{lang|zh-hant|台語優勢腔／通行腔}}) is heard on Taiwanese media.

== Writing systems ==
{{Main|Written Hokkien}}
{{further|Comparison of Hokkien writing systems}}

=== Chinese script ===
Hokkien dialects are typically written using [[Chinese character]]s ({{zhi|c=漢字|poj=Hàn-jī}}. However, the written script was and remains adapted to the literary form, which is based on [[classical Chinese]], not the vernacular and spoken form. Furthermore, the character inventory used for Mandarin (standard written Chinese) does not correspond to Hokkien words, and there are a large number of informal characters ({{zhi|c=替字|poj=thè-jī, thòe-jī|l=substitute characters}} which are unique to Hokkien, as is the case with [[written Cantonese]]. For instance, about 20 to 25% of Taiwanese morphemes lack an appropriate or standard Chinese character.<ref name="mothertongue">{{Cite web |last=Mair |first=Victor H. |author-link=Victor H. Mair |date=2010 |title=How to Forget Your Mother Tongue and Remember Your National Language |url=http://www.pinyin.info/readings/mair/taiwanese.html |access-date=2 July 2011 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania}}</ref>

While most Hokkien morphemes have standard designated characters, they are not always etymological or phono-semantic. Similar-sounding, similar-meaning or rare characters are commonly borrowed or substituted to represent a particular morpheme. Examples include "beautiful" ({{zhi|c=美|poj=bí}} is the literary form), whose vernacular morpheme {{zhi|p=suí}} is represented by characters like {{zhi|c=媠}} (an obsolete character), {{zhi|c=婎}} (a vernacular reading of this character) and even {{zhi|c=水}} (transliteration of the sound {{zhi|poj=suí}}), or ({{zhi|c=高|poj=ko}} is the literary form), whose morpheme {{zhi|poj=kôan}} is {{zhi|c=懸}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Iûⁿ, Ún-giân |script-title=zh:台語線頂字典 |trans-title=Taiwanese Hokkien Online Character Dictionary |url=http://210.240.194.97/TG/jitian/tgjt.asp |language=zh-tw |access-date=6 February 2015 |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225061147/http://210.240.194.97/TG/jitian/tgjt.asp%20 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Common grammatical particles are not exempt; the negation particle {{zhi|poj=m̄}} is variously represented by {{zhi|c=毋}}, {{zhi|c=呣}} or {{zhi|c=唔}}, among others. In other cases, characters are invented to represent a particular morpheme (a common example is the character {{zhi|c=[[wikt:𪜶|𪜶]]|poj=in}}, which represents the personal pronoun 'they'). In addition, some characters have multiple and unrelated pronunciations, adapted to represent Hokkien words. For example, the Hokkien word {{zhi|poj=bah|l=meat}}) has been reduced to the character {{zhi|c=肉}}, which have etymologically unrelated colloquial and literary readings {{zhi|poj=he̍k}} and {{zhi|poj=jio̍k}}, respectively).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Klöter |first=Henning |title=Written Taiwanese |date=2005 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-05093-7 |page=21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/mobile/result_detail.jsp?n_no=2607 |date=2013 |at=#2607 |publisher=Ministry of Education, R.O.C. |language=zh |trans-title=Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan |script-title=zh:臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典}}</ref> Another case is the word {{zhi|l=to eat|poj=chia̍h}}, which is often transcribed in Taiwanese newspapers and media as {{zhi|c=呷}} (a Mandarin transliteration {{zhi|zh=xiā}}, to approximate the Hokkien term), even though its recommended character in dictionaries is {{zhi|c=食}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hsieh |first=Shelley Ching-yu |date=October 2005 |title=Taiwanese Loanwords in Mandarin Chinese: Language Interaction in Taiwan |journal=Taiwan Papers |url=http://myweb.ncku.edu.tw/~shelley/publication/38._Taiwanese_Loan_Words_in_Mandarin_Chinese-Hsieh_Ching-yu.pdf |publisher=Southern Taiwan University of Technology |volume=5 |access-date=1 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326005433/http://myweb.ncku.edu.tw/~shelley/publication/38._Taiwanese_Loan_Words_in_Mandarin_Chinese-Hsieh_Ching-yu.pdf |archive-date=March 26, 2012}}</ref>

Moreover, unlike Cantonese, Hokkien does not have a universally accepted standardized character set. Thus, there is some variation in the characters used to express certain words and characters can be ambiguous in meaning. In 2007, the Ministry of Education of the [[Republic of China]] formulated and released a standard character set to overcome these difficulties.<ref>{{Citation |title=Táiwān Mǐnnányǔ tuījiàn yòng zì (dì 1 pī) |script-title=zh:臺灣閩南語推薦用字（第1批） |language=zh |url=http://www.edu.tw/files/bulletin/M0001/300iongji_960523.pdf |publisher=Jiaoyu bu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923113111/http://www.edu.tw/files/bulletin/M0001/300iongji_960523.pdf |access-date=2 July 2011 |archive-date=23 September 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> These standard Chinese characters for writing [[Taiwanese Hokkien]] are now taught in schools in Taiwan.

=== Latin script ===
Hokkien, especially Taiwanese Hokkien, is sometimes written in the [[Latin script]] using one of several alphabets. Of these the most popular is [[Pe̍h-ōe-jī|POJ]], developed first by [[Presbyterian]] [[missionaries]] in China and later by the indigenous [[Presbyterian Church in Taiwan]]. Use of this script and orthography has been actively promoted since the late 19th century. The use of a mixed script of Han characters and Latin letters is also seen, though remains uncommon. Other Latin-based alphabets also exist.

Min Nan texts, all Hokkien, can be dated back to the 16th century. One example is the ''[[Doctrina Christiana]] en letra y lengua china'', presumably written around 1593 by the Spanish [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] friars in the Philippines. Another is a [[Ming dynasty]] script of a play called ''[[Tale of the Lychee Mirror]]'' (1566), supposedly the earliest Southern Min colloquial text, although it is written in [[Teochew dialect]].

Taiwan has developed a Latin alphabet for Taiwanese Hokkien, derived from POJ, known as Tai-lo. Since 2006, it has been officially promoted by Taiwan's Ministry of Education and taught in Taiwanese schools. [[Xiamen University]] has also developed an alphabet based on Pinyin called [[Bbánlám pìngyīm]].

=== Computing ===
[[File:亻因 (in).png|thumb|The character for the third-person pronoun 'they' in some Hokkien dialects, {{zhi|c=𪜶|poj=in}}, is now supported by the Unicode Standard, at U+2A736.]]
Hokkien is registered as "Southern Min" per RFC 3066 as [https://www.iana.org/assignments/lang-tags/zh-min-nan zh-min-nan].<ref>{{Cite web |title=RFC 3066 Language code assignments |url=http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso639/iana-lang-assignments.html |access-date=16 September 2010 |publisher=Evertype.com}}</ref>

When writing Hokkien in [[Chinese characters]], some writers create 'new' characters when they consider it impossible to use directly or borrow existing ones; this corresponds to similar practices in character usage in [[Written Cantonese|Cantonese]], Vietnamese [[chữ Nôm]], Korean [[hanja]] and Japanese [[kanji]]. Some of these are not encoded in [[Unicode]], thus creating problems in computer processing.

All [[Latin]] characters required by [[Pe̍h-ōe-jī]] can be represented using [[Unicode]] (or the corresponding ISO/IEC 10646: Universal Character Set), using precomposed or combining (diacritics) characters. Prior to June 2004, the vowel akin to but more open than ''o'', written with a dot above right, was not encoded. The usual workaround was to use an (stand-alone; spaced) [[interpunct]] (U+00B7, ·) or less commonly the combining character dot above (U+0307). As these are far from ideal, since 1997 proposals have been submitted to the ISO/IEC [[working group]] in charge of ISO/IEC 10646—namely, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070628163947/http://anubis.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/wg2/ ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2]—to encode a new combining character ''dot above right''. This is now officially assigned to U+0358 (see documents [http://www.evertype.com/standards/la/taioan.html N1593], [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311082219/http://anubis.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n2507 N2507], [https://web.archive.org/web/20060928065416/http://anubis.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n2628 N2628],
[http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2699 N2699], and [http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2713 N2713]).

== Cultural and political role ==
{{See also|Hokkien culture}}
Hokkien (or Min Nan) can trace its roots through the Tang dynasty and also even further to the people of the [[Minyue]], the indigenous non-Han people of modern-day Fujian.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Austroasiatics in Ancient South China: Some Lexical Evidence |date=1976 |url=http://tlmei.com/tm17web/1976a_austroasiatics.pdf |journal=Monumenta Serica |volume=32 |pages=274–301 |postscript=. |doi=10.1080/02549948.1976.11731121 |jstor=40726203 |last2=Mei |first2=Tsu-lin |author-link=Jerry Norman (sinologist) |given1=Jerry |surname1=Norman|issue=1 }}</ref> Min Nan (Hokkien) people call themselves "[[Names of China#Tang|Tang]] people," ({{zh|c=唐人|poj=Tn̂g-lâng|labels=no}}) which is synonymous to "Chinese people". Because of the widespread influence of the Tang culture during the great Tang dynasty, there are today still many Min Nan pronunciations of words shared by the [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], [[Korean language|Korean]] and Japanese languages.

In 2002, the [[Taiwan Solidarity Union]], a party with about 10% of the [[Legislative Yuan]] seats at the time, suggested making Taiwanese a second official language.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lin |first=Mei-chun |date=10 March 2002 |title=Hokkien Should Be Given Official Status, Says Tsu |page=1 |work=Taipei Times |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2002/03/10/0000127068}}</ref> This proposal encountered strong opposition not only from mainland Chinese groups but also from [[Hakka]] and [[Taiwanese aboriginal]] groups who felt that it would slight their home languages. Because of these objections, support for this measure was lukewarm among moderate [[Taiwan independence]] supporters, and the proposal did not pass.

Hokkien was finally made an official language of Taiwan in 2018 by the ruling DPP government.

== See also ==
{{Portal|China|Taiwan|Singapore|Languages}}
*[[Hokkien Kelantan]]
*[[Hokkien people]]
*[[Languages of China]]
*[[Languages of Taiwan]]
*[[List of Hokkien dictionaries]]
*[[List of Hokkien people]]
*[[wikt:Appendix:Amoy Min Nan Swadesh list|Amoy Min Nan Swadesh list]]

== References ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Branner |first=David Prager |title=Problems in Comparative Chinese Dialectology—the Classification of Miin and Hakka |date=2000 |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |isbn=3-11-015831-0 |series=Trends in Linguistics series, no. 123 |location=Berlin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Chung |first=Raung-fu |title=The Segmental Phonology of Southern Min in Taiwan |date=1996 |publisher=Crane Pub. |isbn=957-9463-46-8 |location=Taipei}}
* {{Cite journal |last=DeBernardi |first=Jean |date=1991 |title=Linguistic Nationalism: The Case of Southern Min |url=http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp025_taiwanese.html |journal=[[Sino-Platonic Papers]] |volume=25 |oclc=24810816}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ding |first=Picus Sizhi |title=Southern Min (Hokkien) as a Migrating Language |date=2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-981-287-593-8 |location=Singapore}}
** {{Cite journal |last=Francis |first=Norbert |date=2014 |title=''Southern Min (Hokkien) as a Migrating Language: A Comparative Study of Language Shift and Maintenance across National Borders'' by Picus Sizhi Ding (review) |url=http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003018 |journal=[[China Review International]] |volume=21 |pages=128–133 |doi=10.1353/cri.2014.0008 |number=2|s2cid=151455258 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Klöter |first=Henning |title=The Language of the Sangleys: A Chinese Vernacular in Missionary Sources of the Seventeenth Century |date=2011 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-18493-0}} An analysis and facsimile of the ''Arte de la Lengua Chio-chiu'' (1620), the oldest extant grammar of Hokkien.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Wikivoyage|Minnan phrasebook|Minnan|a phrasebook}}
* {{Cite book |url=http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA000094 |title=Lìzhī jì |script-title=zh:荔枝記 |trans-title=Litchi Mirror Tale |ref=none |access-date=16 October 2015 |archive-date=7 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207112620/http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA000094 |url-status=dead }} A playscript from the late 16th century.
* {{Cite book |last=Cobo |first=Juan, O.P. |title=Doctrina Christiana |date=1607 |location=Manila |ref=none}} Hokkien translation of the ''[[Doctrina Christiana]]'':
** [http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?id=0000165702 at Biblioteca Nacional de España]
** [http://digitallibrary.ust.edu.ph/cdm/compoundobject/collection/section7/id/39880 at UST Miguel de Benavidez Library, Manila] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208160842/http://digitallibrary.ust.edu.ph/cdm/compoundobject/collection/section7/id/39880 |date=8 February 2021 }}
** [http://ip194097.ntcu.edu.tw/memory/tgb/thak.asp?id=178 at NCTU, Taiwan]
** [https://www.filipinaslibrary.org.ph/biblio/46722/ at Filipinas Heritage Library, Manila]
* {{Cite book |last1=Mançano|first1=Melchior|url=http://bipadi.ub.edu/cdm/ref/collection/manuscrits/id/29744 |title=Arte de la Lengua Chio-chiu |last2=Feyjoó |first2=Raymundo |date=1620 |location=Manila |language=es}} A manual for learning Hokkien written by a Spanish missionary in the Philippines.
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/02077330.cn |title=Huìjí yǎsú tōng shíwǔ yīn |date=1818 |script-title=zh:彙集雅俗通十五音 |trans-title=Compilation of the Fifteen Elegant and Vulgar Sounds |language=zh}} The oldest known rhyme dictionary of a Zhangzhou dialect.
* {{Cite book |last=Douglas |first=Carstairs |url=https://archive.org/details/chineseenglishdict00doug |title=Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy |date=1899 |publisher=Presbyterian Church of England |location=London |author-link=Carstairs Douglas}}
* {{Cite book |last=Medhurst |first=Walter Henry |title=A Dictionary of the Hok-Këèn Dialect of the Chinese Language, According to the Reading and Colloquial Idioms |date=1832 |publisher=C.J. Steyn |location=Macao |author-link=Walter Henry Medhurst |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofhokk00medhrich}}
* [http://alt.reasoning.cs.ucla.edu/jinbo/dzl/ 當代泉州音字彙], a dictionary of Quanzhou speech
* [http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/languages/amoy.html Voyager – Spacecraft – Golden Record – Greetings From Earth – Amoy], includes translation and sound clip
*: (The voyager clip says: {{lang|nan|Thài-khong pêng-iú, lín-hó. Lín chia̍h-pá--bē? Ū-êng, to̍h lâi gún chia chē--ô͘!}}<!-- The double hyphen is correctly a part of the POJ orthography. --> 太空朋友，恁好。恁食飽未？有閒著來阮遮坐哦!)

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