Amoy dialect
The Amoy dialect or Xiamen dialect (Chinese: 廈門話; pinyin: Xiàménhuà; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ē-mn̂g-ōe), also known as Amoynese, Amoy Hokkien, Xiamenese or Xiamen Hokkien, is a dialect of Hokkien spoken in the city of Xiamen (historically known as "Amoy") and its surrounding metropolitan area, in the southern part of Fujian province. Currently, it is one of the most widely researched and studied varieties of Southern Min. It has historically come to be one of the more standardized varieties.
| Amoy | |
|---|---|
| Amoynese, Xiamenese | |
| 廈門話 Ē-mn̂g-ōe | |
| Native to | China |
| Region | part of Xiamen (Amoy) (Siming and Huli districts), Haicang and Longhai districts to the west |
Native speakers | 2 million (2021) |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | xiam1236 |
| Linguasphere | 79-AAA-je > 79-AAA-jeb |
Distribution of Hokkien dialects. Amoy dialect is in magenta. | |
Amoynese and Taiwanese are both historically mixtures of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects. As such, they are very closely aligned phonologically. There are some differences between the two, especially lexical, as a result of physical separation and the differing histories of mainland China and Taiwan during the 20th century. Amoynese and Taiwanese are mutually intelligible. Intelligibility with other Hokkien, especially inland, is more difficult. By that standard, Amoynese and Taiwanese may be considered dialects of a single language. Ethnolinguistically, however, Amoynese is part of mainland Hokkien.