Min is a diverse group of Sinitic languages within the Sino-Tibetan family, with about 75 million native speakers centered on China's Fujian province and extending into southern Zhejiang, eastern Guangdong, Hainan Island and the Leizhou Peninsula, as well as Taiwan and Southeast Asian diaspora communities. The Min languages are not mutually intelligible with one another or with other varieties of Chinese, and split into a Coastal group (Eastern Min, Southern Min including Hokkien, Pu-Xian Min, Leizhou Min, Hainanese) and an Inland group (Northern Min, Central Min, Shao-Jiang Min). Hokkien, a form of Southern Min originating in southern Fujian, is the most internationally recognized variety, having spread widely through Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
Facts
RegionCentered on Fujian province and extending into southern Zhejiang, eastern Guangdong, Hainan Island and the Leizhou Peninsula 1 Speaker Count Proto-Language StatusProto-Min is reconstructed chiefly through Jerry Norman's comparative work; Norman reconstructs certain Proto-Min initials as voiceless and voiced laterals that later merged in the coastal varieties, and Min is noted for retaining archaic features of Old Chinese lost in other Sinitic branches. 1 Sources
1. Wikipedia: Min Chinese
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, geographic description
These languages are spoken in China in a region centered on modern Fujian Province, stretching from Southern Zhejiang to Eastern Guangdong, as well as on Hainan Island and the neighbouring Leizhou Peninsula.
Phonology/reconstruction section
Norman reconstructs these initials in Proto-Min as voiceless and voiced laterals that merged in coastal varieties.
Lead section, speaker count
about 75 million native speakers
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