Fuzhou dialect

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Fuzhounese
福州話 / Hók-ciŭ-uâ 福州語 / Hók-ciŭ-ngṳ̄ 平話 / Bàng-uâ
Pronunciation	[huʔ˨˩ tsju˥˧ uɑ˨˦˨]
Native to	China (Fuzhou and its surrounding counties) and Taiwan (Matsu Islands), Thailand (Chandi and Lamae), Singapore, Malaysia (Sibu, Miri, Sepang, Bintulu, Yong Peng, Sitiawan and Ayer Tawar) and Indonesia (Semarang and Surabaya)
Ethnicity	Fuzhou
Native speakers	(10 million cited 1994)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Min Coastal Min Eastern Min Houguan Fuzhounese
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese[a] Eastern Han Chinese[citation needed] Proto-Min
Dialects	Matsu
Writing system	Chinese characters and Foochow Romanized
Official status
Official language in	Matsu Islands, Taiwan (as local language[5])[6]
Recognised minority language in	one of the statutory languages for public transport announcements in the Matsu Islands[7]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	fzho
Glottolog	fuzh1239
Linguasphere	79-AAA-ice
The Fuzhou dialect in Fujian Province, regions where the standard form is spoken are deep blue. 1: Fuzhou City Proper, 2: Minhou, 3: Fuqing, 4: Lianjiang, 5: Pingnan 6: Luoyuan, 7: Gutian, 8: Minqing, 9: Changle, 10: Yongtai, 11: Pingtan 12: Regions in Fuding, 13: Regions in Xiapu, 14: Regions in Ningde 15: Regions in Nanping, 16: Regions in Youxi
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The Fuzhou language (simplified Chinese: 福州话; traditional Chinese: 福州話; pinyin: Fúzhōuhuà, FR: Hók-ciŭ-uâ^ⓘ IPA: [huʔ˨˩ tsiu˥˧ ua˨˦˨]), also Foochow, Hokchew, Hok-chiu, or Fuzhounese, is the prestige variety of the Eastern Min branch of Min Chinese spoken mainly in the Mindong region of Eastern Fujian Province. As it is mutually unintelligible to neighbouring varieties (e.g. Hokkien) in the province, under a technical linguistic definition Fuzhou is a language and not a dialect (conferring the variety a 'dialect' status is more socio-politically motivated than linguistic). Thus, while Fuzhou may be commonly referred to as a 'dialect' by laypersons, this is colloquial usage and not recognised in academic linguistics. Like many other varieties of Chinese, the Fuzhou dialect is dominated by monosyllabic morphemes that carry lexical tones,^[8] and has a mainly analytic syntax. While the Eastern Min branch it belongs to is relatively closer to other branches of Min such as Southern Min or Pu-Xian Min than to other Sinitic branches such as Mandarin, Wu Chinese or Hakka, they are still not mutually intelligible.

Centered in Fuzhou City, the Fuzhou dialect covers 11 cities and counties in China: Fuzhou City Proper, Pingnan, Gutian, Luoyuan, Minqing, Lianjiang, Minhou, Changle, Yongtai, Fuqing and Pingtan; and Lienchiang County (the Matsu Islands), in Taiwan (the ROC). It is also the second local language in many northern and middle Fujian cities and counties such as Nanping, Shaowu, Shunchang, Sanming and Youxi.^[9]

The Fuzhou dialect is also widely spoken in some regions abroad, especially in Southeastern Asian countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. The Malaysian city of Sibu is called "New Fuzhou" due to the influx of immigrants there in the late 19th century and early 1900s. Many Fuzhou people have also emigrated to Japan, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

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