Zhongshan Min (), known as ''Cunhua'' () by its speakers, are three

Min Chinese Min (; BUC: ''Mìng-ngṳ̄'') is a broad group of Sinitic languages spoken by about 30 million people in Fujian province as well as by the descendants of Min speaking colonists on Leizhou peninsula and Hainan, or assimilated natives of Chaoshan ...

dialect islands in the Zhongshan region of the southern

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

province of

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

. The Zhongshan Min people settled in the region from

Fujian Province Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

as early as the

Northern Song dynasty Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

period (1023–1031). The three dialects are: *

Longdu dialect The Longdu dialect is a variety of Southern Min Chinese language originating from the towns of Dachong and Shaxi in Zhongshan in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong. The two regions Shaxi and Dachong are together informally known as the Longdu re ...

, spoken mainly in Shaxi and

Dachong Dachong () is a town under the direct administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhongshan, in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong province, China. Location It is situated at the southwest periphery of the city of Zhongshan and the eas ...

in the west of the prefecture, *

Nanlang dialect The Nanlang dialect is a variety of Eastern Min Chinese mostly spoken in Nanlang in Zhongshan in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong, China. Despite its close proximity, Nanlang is not very closely related to the surrounding dialects in the region ...

or Dongxiang dialect, spoken mainly in

Nanlang Nanlang () is a town situated at the eastern periphery of the city of Zhongshan in Guangdong Province, China. The town has a population 38,000 permanent residents and a total area of . Nanlang has administrative jurisdiction over the village of Cu ...

and Zhangjiabian in the east, and *

Sanxiang dialect Sanxiang (in Cantonese ''Samheung'', in the language itself ''Sahiu'') is a variety of Eastern Min Chinese mostly spoken in Sanxiang in Zhongshan in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong, China. Despite its close proximity, Sanxiang is not very clos ...

, spoken in

Sanxiang Sanxiang (; Cantonese: ''Sāamhēung Jan'') is a town situated at the southern periphery of the city of Zhongshan, Guangdong province. The population of Sanxiang is permanent residents and an estimated temporary residents. The total area of the ...

in the south. According to

Nicholas Bodman Nicholas Cleaveland Bodman (July 27, 1913 – June 29, 1997) was an American linguist who made fundamental contributions to the study of historical Chinese phonology and Sino-Tibetan languages. Bodman was born in Chicago in 1913. He entered Harva ...

, the Longdu and Nanlang dialects belong to the

Eastern Min Eastern Min or Min Dong (, Foochow Romanized: Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄), is a branch of the Min group of Sinitic languages of China. The prestige form and most-cited representative form is the Fuzhou dialect, the speech of the capital of Fujian. ...

group, while the Sanxiang dialect belongs to

Southern Min Southern Min (), Minnan (Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Sinitic languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian (especially the Minnan region), most of Taiwan ( ...

. All three have been heavily influenced by the

Shiqi dialect The Shiqi dialect is a dialect of Yue Chinese. It is spoken by roughly 160,000 people in Zhongshan, Guangdong's Shiqi urban district. It differs slightly from Standard Cantonese, mainly in its pronunciation and lexicon. Shiqi has the fewest ...

, the local variety of

Yue Chinese Yue () is a group of similar Sinitic languages spoken in Southern China, particularly in Liangguang (the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces). The name Cantonese is often used for the whole group, but linguists prefer to reserve that name for t ...

. As the dialect with the most speakers, the Longdu dialect may be taken as the representative dialect of Zhongshan Min.

Notes

References

* * * *

Notes

References

See also