Zhenan Min

Zhenan Min (Chinese: 浙南閩語; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chiat-lâm-bân-gí), is a variety of Min Nan Chinese spoken in the Wenzhou region of the southern Chinese province of Zhejiang. The Zhenan Min people had settled in areas such as Cangnan County, Pingyang County, Yuhuan County and Dongtou County from Fujian Province as early as the Tang dynasty period (618–907) and new waves of immigrants continued during the Southern Song dynasty, Ming Dynasty and the Qing dynasty periods . Zhenan Min has in the past been influenced by the Eastern Min language and the Northern Min language due to its close geographical proximity with those areas. It has limited intelligilbity with other Min Nan dialects, such as Teochew and Hokkien–Taiwanese. Zhenan Min, in proximity to Wenzhou dialect and Jinxiang dialect, has also borrowed some influences from Wu Chinese, such as voiced initials (z) and noun suffixes unique to Wu Chinese (such as 头).