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Eastern Min or Min Dong (, Foochow Romanized: ) is a branch of the Min Chinese group of the Chinese languages of China. The prestige form and most commonly cited representative form is the Fuzhou dialect, the speech of the capital of Fujian.
It is also widely encountered as the first language of the Matsu Islands controlled by Taiwan. Historically, the Eastern Min varieties in the Matsu Islands were seen as a part of the Lianjiang variety. The establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 separated the Matsu Islands from the rest of Fujian, and as communications were cut off between the ROC and the PRC, the specific identity of the Matsu Islands was established. Thus, the varieties of Eastern Min on the Matsu Islands became seen as the Matsu dialect.
Additionally, the inhabitants of Taishun County and Cangnan County to the north of Fujian in Zhejiang also speak Eastern Min varieties. To the south of Fujian, in Zhongshan, Guangdong, varieties classified as Eastern Min are also spoken in the towns of Dachong, Shaxi and Nanlang.
Eastern Min generally coexists with Standard Chinese, in all these areas. On the ROC, the Matsu dialect is officially recognized as a statutory language for transport announcements on the Matsu Islands. In Fuzhou, there is radio available in the local dialect, and the Fuzhou Metro officially uses alongside Standard Mandarin and English in its announcements.
Norman lists four distinctive features in the development of Eastern Min:
Besides these three branches, some dialect islands in the province of Guangdong have been classified as Eastern Min.
Zhongshan Min is a group of Min varieties spoken in the Zhongshan county of Guangdong, divided into three branches: the Longdu dialect and Nanlang dialect belong to the Eastern Min group, while the Sanxiang dialect belongs to Southern Min. (1985). 9780824809928, University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824809928
The finals vary significantly between varieties, with the extremes being represented by Manjiang dialects at a low of 39 separate finals, and the Ningde dialect representing the high at 69 finals.
| + Comparison of numbers of Eastern Min initials and finals |
Eastern Min varieties generally have seven tones, by the traditional count (based on the four tones of Middle Chinese, including the checked tone as a separate entity). In the middle of the Qing dynasty, eight tones were attested, but the historical rising tones (上聲) re-merged.
| + Comparison of tones across Eastern Min varieties ! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" Level ! rowspan="2" | Rising ! colspan="2" | Departing ! colspan="2" | Entering | |||
| Fuzhou dialect | 44 | 53 | 31 | 213 | 242 | 23 | 5 |
| Fu'an | 332 | 22 | 42 | 21 | 324 | 2 | 5 |
| Ningde | 44 | 11 | 42 | 35 | 52 | 4 | 5 |
| Fuding | 445 | 212 | 55 | 53 | 22 | 5 | 23 |
| Taishun County | 213 | 33 | 455 | 53 | 42 | 5 | 43 |
| Cangnan County | 44 | 214 | 45 | 41 | 21 | 5 | 21 |
| Cangnan County | 33 | 213 | 45 | 41 | 11 | 5 | 1 |
Tone sandhi across Eastern Min varieties can be regressive (where the last syllable affects the pronunciation of those before), progressive (where earlier syllables affect the later ones) or mutual (where both or all syllables change). The rules are generally quite complicated.
Initial assimilation of consonants is usually progressive and may create new phonemes that are not phonemically contrastive in initial position but do contrast in medial position. For example, in the Fuzhou dialect, the phoneme can arise from or in an intervocalic environment. (2025). 9781881265931, Dunwoody Press. ISBN 9781881265931
Many varieties also exhibit regressive assimilation of consonants, such as in the way a final nasal consonant, usually given the citation value , assimilates to the place of articulation of the following consonant. For example, the negative adverb of the Fuzhou dialect, often written , is generally transcribed in Bàng-uâ-cê as n̂g , but it can also surface as before labial consonants and as before dental consonants. In this case, since both regressive and progressive assimilation processes occur, it can be described as mutual assimilation, resulting in one nasal consonant.
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