Hokkian & Chinese Language Family

There are some arguments whether there is one Chinese language that consists of many dialects or there is Chinese language family that consists of many languages within the family. The first argument refers Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, Hakka, Minnan, etc as dialects of one language i.e. Han Chinese language. The second argument refers Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, Hakka, Minnan, etc as languages of one family i.e. Han Chinese language family.

Personally I tend toward the second argument since those languages have their own characteristics and are usually unintelligible to each other, unless in written form. Yet it's very obvious that they are closely related to each other since they share the same writing system and have great similarity in grammar, also their pronunciation on words usually reflect their closeness. They share similarity in written vocabulary, yet slightly differ in diction.

Hokkian is the name used by its native speakers to identify their language. They also refer themselves as Hokkian people. Hokkian language is also referred as Hokkien, Minnan, Amoy, Fujianese, Fukkien, Taiwanese, Taigi, Taigu, Hoklo, etc. In general sense, Hokkian and Minnan are interchangable terms. Linguistically Hokkian is considered as part of Minnan language. Minnan is considered as a language group that consists of many dialects that some are easily intelligible to each other and some are harder. In its broadest sense, Minnan includes Teochew/Tiociu dialects and Hainan dialects beside Hokkian dialects.

Hokkian / Minnan is a member of Chinese language family. In fact, Chinese language isn't only Mandarin or Putonghua. It's a family of languages (or dialects) which used by Chinese people. In this unique family, there are language groups of:

Minnan language consists of many dialects. Those dialects are usually named after their speakers' hometown. Here are some of them:

Hokkian Pronunciation		漢字		Mandarin Pronunciation		English Transliteration
Dialect Name	Affiliation of	方言名稱	屬於	Dialect Name	Affiliation of	Dialect Name	Affiliation of
Cuan~ Ciu/.	Hok^ Kian~.	泉州	福建閩南	Quan2 Zhou1	Fu2 Jian4 Min3 Nan2	Cuanciu / Quanzhou	Hokkian
Taq~ Ua*/.	Hok^ Kian~.	同安	福建閩南	Tong2 An1	Fu2 Jian4 Min3 Nan2	Tang-ua / Tong-an	Hokkian
E~ Mqv.	Hok^ Kian~.	廈門	福建閩南	Xia4 Men2	Fu2 Jian4 Min3 Nan2	Amoy / Emng / Xiamen	Hokkian
Kim- Mqv.	Hok^ Kian~.	金門	福建閩南	Jin1 Men2	Fu2 Jian4 Min3 Nan2	Quemoy / Kinmen / Kimmng / Jinmen	Hokkian
Ciaq- Ciu/.	Hok^ Kian~.	漳州	福建閩南	Zhang1 Zhou1	Fu2 Jian4 Min3 Nan2	Ciangciu / Zhangzhou	Hokkian
Tio~ Ciu/.	Tio~ Ciu/.	潮州	潮州	Chao2 Zhou1	Chao2 Zhou1	Teochew / Tiociu	Teochew
Sua*- T'auv.	Tio~ Ciu/.	汕頭	潮州	Shan1 Tou2	Chao2 Zhou1	Swatou	Teochew
Hai= Lamv.	Hai= Lamv.	海南	海南	Hai3 Nan2	Hai3 Nan2	Hainan	Hainan
and many more... (note: the list above is sorted by area from North to South)

Mandarin Pronunciation		漢字		Hokkian Pronunciation		English Transliteration
Language Name	Origin Place	語言名稱	原鄉	Language Name	Origin Place	Language Name	Origin Place
Pu3 Tong1 Hua4	Bei3 Ping2 ; Bei3 Jing1	普通話	北平 ; 北京	P'o= T'oq- Ue-.	Pak^ Piqv. ; Pak^ Kia*/.	Mandarin ; Putonghua	Beijing ; Peking
Wu2	Shang4 Hai3	吳	上海	QoV. ; NgoV.	Sioq~ Hai\.	Wu	Shanghai
Gan4	Jiang1 Xi1	贛	江西	Kan-.	Kaq- Se/.	Gan	Jiangxi
Xiang1	Hu2 Nan2	湘	湖南	Sioq/.	O~ LamV.	Xiang	Hunan
Min3 Bei3	Fu2 Jian4 Bei3 Bu4 ; Fu2 Zhou1	閩北	福建北部 ; 福州	Ban~ Pak\.	Hok^Kian~. Pak^ Po-.; Hok^ Ciu/.	Minbei	Northern Fujian ; Fuzhou
Min3 Nan2	Fu2 Jian4 Nan2 Bu4 ; Xia4 Men2	閩南	福建南部 ; 廈門	Hok^ Kian~.; Ban~ LamV.	Hok^ Kian~. Lam~ Po-. ; E~ MqV.	Hokkian; Hokkien; Minnan; Amoy; Taiwanese	Southern Fujian; Amoy; Xiamen
Ke4 Jia1	Guang3 Dong1 Mei2 Xian4	客家	廣東梅縣	K'e\.	Kq= Taq/. Mui~ Kuai-.	Hakka	Mei County - Guangdong
Yue4	Guang3 Dong1 ; Guang3 Zhou1	粵	廣東 ; 廣州	Uat^.	Kq= Taq/. ; Kq= Ciu/.	Yue / Cantonese	Guangdong / Canton
etc. (note: the list above is sorted by area, from Northern China to Southern China)