Datian Min

Datian Min (<a href="/facts/Simplified_Chinese_characters/UcAD6xXs">simplified Chinese</a>: 大田闽语; <a href="/facts/Traditional_Chinese_characters/bBFLkuz7">traditional Chinese</a>: 大田閩語; <a href="/facts/Pinyin/pUwjfMXg">pinyin</a>: Dàtián Mǐnyǔ; <a href="/facts/Pe%25CC%258Dh-%25C5%258De-j%25C4%25AB/D9XlKhn6">Pe̍h-ōe-jī</a>: Tāi-chhân bân-gú) or Datian dialect (<a href="/facts/Simplified_Chinese_characters/UcAD6xXs">simplified Chinese</a>: 大田话; <a href="/facts/Traditional_Chinese_characters/bBFLkuz7">traditional Chinese</a>: 大田話; <a href="/facts/Pinyin/pUwjfMXg">pinyin</a>: Dàtiánhuà 'Datian speech') is a <a href="/facts/Southern_Min/bgvVNyDB">Southern Min</a> language spoken in <a href="/facts/Datian_County/5YPRcYAo">Datian County</a>, <a href="/facts/Sanming/G1skmtLP">Sanming</a> City, <a href="/facts/Fujian/Knjv0XCG">Fujian Province</a>, China. It has been influenced by other <a href="/facts/Min_Chinese/J2pewsaR">Min languages</a>, including <a href="/facts/Central_Min/vahFhn4K">Central Min</a>, <a href="/facts/Eastern_Min/ll3HQE6R">Eastern Min</a>, <a href="/facts/Northern_Min/r82Ph14u">Northern Min</a> and <a href="/facts/Puxian_Min/1FBCb1ce">Puxian Min</a>.
Datian Min developed from <a href="/facts/Hokkien/zUtFFsnL">Hokkien</a>, a dialect of <a href="/facts/Southern_Min/bgvVNyDB">Southern Min</a>. Before the year 1535, this area belonged to four counties: <a href="/facts/Youxi/co2xCmce">Youxi</a>, <a href="/facts/Dehua/DE7zGHPv">Dehua</a>, <a href="/facts/Yong%2527an/2Xdznsfh">Yong'an</a> and <a href="/facts/Zhangping/AsPpFnII">Zhangping</a>. Hokkien was spoken in Dehua and Zhangping, while Yong'an and Youxi spoke <a href="/facts/Central_Min/vahFhn4K">Central Min</a> and <a href="/facts/Eastern_Min/ll3HQE6R">Eastern Min</a> respectively. <a href="/facts/Datian_County/5YPRcYAo">Datian County</a> was set up and affiliated to Yanping Fu (延平府, modern <a href="/facts/Nanping/4ntpeNae">Nanping</a>) which spoke <a href="/facts/Northern_Min/r82Ph14u">Northern Min</a> in 1535. <a href="/facts/Language_contact/xU290Qnk">Language contact</a> occurred in the later days. The county changed affiliate to Yongchun Zhou (永春州, modern <a href="/facts/Yongchun_County/MBomzNjQ">Yongchun County</a>, spoke Hokkien dialect) in 1734, then to Yong'an Division (永安专区, modern <a href="/facts/Sanming/G1skmtLP">Sanming Prefecture</a>, spoke Central Min) in 1949. The administrative here changed so frequently that the differences between Datian Min and Hokkien dialect became more and more obvious.
Datian Min has little <a href="/facts/Mutual_intelligibility/h1SbX0wN">intelligibility</a> with other varieties of <a href="/facts/Southern_Min/bgvVNyDB">Southern Min</a>, and is sometimes classified as a separate branch of <a href="/facts/Min_Chinese/J2pewsaR">Min</a>. Some Chinese scholars call it Min dialects transition area (闽方言过渡区).

Datian Min open-in-new

Datian Min