Quick Facts about Fookien, more formally known as Hokkien
1. Hokkien is a group of *mutually intelligible **Min Nan Chinese dialects spoken by many overseas Chinese throughout Southeast Asia. It originated from a dialect spoken in southern Fujian.
2. It is called Fúlǎohuà 福佬話 / 福佬话 and written in ***Pe̍h-ōe-jī as Hō-ló-oē
INTERESTING FACT:
Because of its mountainous nature and the numerous waves of migration from central China in the course of history, Fujian is one of the most linguistically diverse places in all Han Chinese areas of China. Local dialects can become unintelligible within 10 kilometres (6.2 mi). This is reflected in the expression that "if you drive five miles in Fujian the culture changes, and if you drive ten miles, the language does". Classification of these various dialects has confounded linguists.
In general, most dialects of Fujian are put into a broad Min category, then subdivided into Min Bei, Min Dong, Min Zhong, Min Nan, Pu Xian, and Shao Jiang. (The seventh subdivision of Min, Qiong Wen, is not spoken in Fujian.) The Fuzhou dialect is part of Min Dong, but some linguists classify it as Min Bei; the Amoy language is part of Min Nan. Hakka, another subdivision of spoken Chinese, is spoken around Longyan by the Hakka people who live there.
As is true of other provinces, the official language in Fujian is Mandarin, which is used for communication between people of different localities.
KEY TERMS:
*mutually intelligible - means able to be understood by speakers of another variety. This is usually used to describe two or more speech varieties, like 2 or more dialects.
For example, Hindi is mutually intelligible with Urdu.
**Min-Nan or Southern Min (simplified Chinese: 闽南语; traditional Chinese: 閩南語; pinyin: Mǐnnán Yǔ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bân-lâm-gí/Bân-lâm-gú; literally "Southern Fujian language"), are a family of Chinese languages or varieties spoken in parts of China such as southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, and southern Zhejiang, and in Taiwan. The languages are also spoken by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora such as in South East Asia.
In common parlance, Southern Min usually refers to Hokkien, in particular the Amoy and Taiwanese. Amoy and Taiwanese are both combinations of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou speech. The Southern Min family also includes Teochew. Teochew has limited mutual intelligibility with the Amoy.
Hainanese and Puxian Min both originated from Minnan. However, both these dialects are generally not considered to be mutually intelligible with any other Southern Min variants phonologically although the grammar and most vocabulary is very similar as they come from the same roots as Minnan.
Southern Min forms part of the Min language group, alongside several other divisions. The Min languages/dialects are part of the Chinese language group, itself a member of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Southern Min is not mutually intelligible with Eastern Min, Cantonese, or Mandarin. As with other varieties of Chinese, there is a political dispute as to whether the Southern Min language should be called a language or a dialect.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A6%8F%E5%BB%BA%E8%A9%B1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fookien
1. Hokkien is a group of *mutually intelligible **Min Nan Chinese dialects spoken by many overseas Chinese throughout Southeast Asia. It originated from a dialect spoken in southern Fujian.
2. It is called Fúlǎohuà 福佬話 / 福佬话 and written in ***Pe̍h-ōe-jī as Hō-ló-oē
INTERESTING FACT:
Because of its mountainous nature and the numerous waves of migration from central China in the course of history, Fujian is one of the most linguistically diverse places in all Han Chinese areas of China. Local dialects can become unintelligible within 10 kilometres (6.2 mi). This is reflected in the expression that "if you drive five miles in Fujian the culture changes, and if you drive ten miles, the language does". Classification of these various dialects has confounded linguists.
In general, most dialects of Fujian are put into a broad Min category, then subdivided into Min Bei, Min Dong, Min Zhong, Min Nan, Pu Xian, and Shao Jiang. (The seventh subdivision of Min, Qiong Wen, is not spoken in Fujian.) The Fuzhou dialect is part of Min Dong, but some linguists classify it as Min Bei; the Amoy language is part of Min Nan. Hakka, another subdivision of spoken Chinese, is spoken around Longyan by the Hakka people who live there.
As is true of other provinces, the official language in Fujian is Mandarin, which is used for communication between people of different localities.
KEY TERMS:
*mutually intelligible - means able to be understood by speakers of another variety. This is usually used to describe two or more speech varieties, like 2 or more dialects.
For example, Hindi is mutually intelligible with Urdu.
**Min-Nan or Southern Min (simplified Chinese: 闽南语; traditional Chinese: 閩南語; pinyin: Mǐnnán Yǔ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bân-lâm-gí/Bân-lâm-gú; literally "Southern Fujian language"), are a family of Chinese languages or varieties spoken in parts of China such as southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, and southern Zhejiang, and in Taiwan. The languages are also spoken by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora such as in South East Asia.
In common parlance, Southern Min usually refers to Hokkien, in particular the Amoy and Taiwanese. Amoy and Taiwanese are both combinations of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou speech. The Southern Min family also includes Teochew. Teochew has limited mutual intelligibility with the Amoy.
Hainanese and Puxian Min both originated from Minnan. However, both these dialects are generally not considered to be mutually intelligible with any other Southern Min variants phonologically although the grammar and most vocabulary is very similar as they come from the same roots as Minnan.
Southern Min forms part of the Min language group, alongside several other divisions. The Min languages/dialects are part of the Chinese language group, itself a member of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Southern Min is not mutually intelligible with Eastern Min, Cantonese, or Mandarin. As with other varieties of Chinese, there is a political dispute as to whether the Southern Min language should be called a language or a dialect.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A6%8F%E5%BB%BA%E8%A9%B1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fookien
Seen. Thanks for the "primer".
TumugonBurahin