Hokkien
This is the sighted version that was marked on May 5, 2021. There are 3 pending changes that still need to be sighted.
This article is about a variant of the South Chinese language Min-Nan; for the Chinese province of the same name in this language, see Fujian.
Hokkien (Chinese 福建话 / 福建話, pinyin Fújiànhuà, Pe̍h-ōe-jī Hok-kiàn-oē), also called Quanzhang (泉漳片) in Min Nan (Minnan) - after the cities of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou - is a variant of the southern Chinese language Min Nan - i.e. southern Min language - and is spoken in southern Fujian province, in parts of Guangdong and Zhejiang, and on Taiwan, as well as spoken by expatriate Chinese in Southeast Asia.
The name of the language is derived from the province of Fujian (obsolete transliteration after Post: "Fukien"), which is pronounced "Hokkien" in the Min Nan language. Therefore, the term "Fukien dialect" was also common in the past. The dialect spoken on Taiwan is called "Taiwanese". Outside Fujian, Hokkien is also referred to as Heluohua (河洛話 / 河洛话) or Holo by Chinese of other ethnicities, especially in Taiwan.
Geographical distribution
Hokkien originated in Fujian Province, a coastal region that was historically the site of much trade. Through migration, this branch of the language spread across much of Asia via the South China Sea and is now the most widely spoken dialect of the Chinese language family in Southeast Asia. The ethnic group that uses Hokkien as a mother tongue are the Hoklo, who, in addition to their original settlement areas in Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, are mainly found in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand.
The approximately 1.5 million Filipino Chinese (in High Chinese (Standard Chinese) Feilübin Huaren and in Tagalog Tsinoy; about 2% of the population there) have 98.5% Hokkien as their mother tongue. They themselves refer to the language as Lan-Nang - "language of our people".
In the multi-ethnic island and city state of Singapore, 2.8 million of the total population of 3.4 million are ethnic Chinese. The state promotes the use of the high-level language with a Speak Mandarin Campaign. According to the 2015 Official Statistical Survey, most Chinese spoke predominantly High Chinese, English or Singlish at home; only 16% still spoke predominantly Hokkien or other "dialects". Most Singaporean Chinese who speak Hokkien are united or represented by their umbrella organisation, Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan.
Southern Min language: Hokkien in dark green. Teo-Swa in light green. Zhongshan-Min in turquoise. Datian-Min in light blue. Zhenan-Min in blue. Provinces: Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong and Taiwan.
