Pu-Xian Min - History of Language

History of Language

Before the year 979 AD, the Puxian region was part of Quanzhou county and people there spoke a form of Min Nan (Southern Min). Due to its origin in the past as part of spoken Minnan, it lies closely to the other modern Minnan dialects, see chart relationship Min_Chinese#Varieties.

In 979 AD, during the Song Dynasty, the region was administratively separately from Quanzhou and the language developed separately from the rest of Southern Min. Due to its proximity with Fuzhou, it absorbed some elements of Min Dong, but its basic linguistic characteristic i.e. grammar and most vocabulary is based on Quanzhou Minnan.