什麼是閩南話？

What is a Min-nan Dialect?

歐亞大陸有兩個古語燈塔。一個是日耳曼語系的立陶宛語，一個是漢語的閩方言。從漢語方言分區的進程看，自有漢語分區以來，閩語即為獨立一區，向無疑義；然而到了1987年《中國語言地圖集》面世，學者卻仍不免為閩語的適切定義猶豫不決，舉箸難定。閩語界說不予確定，什麼是閩南話勢將無從說起。定義難下出於焦點轉移、模糊。方言作為歷史的產物，作為語言的地域變體，探討方言有必要注視其歷史人文背景及其所處社會環境。孕育閩語的自然環境是三山一海；乘桴浮於海與翻山越嶺而來的是兩種人文現象。由海及山，方言色彩漸次變異。其變化有如湖心、漣漪。論及閩語，宜從湖心開展。湖心就是代表點，傳統地方韻書產地即為湖心所在，而沿海又重於內陸。以此觀之，所謂閩語即「十五音」系統的漢語方言。什麼是閩南話？即閩江、戴雲山以南十五音方言中「魚」讀h-，「錢」讀tsĩ的方言。

In theory, dialect sub-grouping is a by-product of linguistic reconstruction and definition of a certain dialect can be drawn from an established tree diagram. In practice, Chinese dialectologists face difficulties when they are asked to give a proper definition for some dialect groups, among them Min is one. If we are focused on the five representative dialects of Min, a common feature soon presents itself: A Min dialect is a Chinese dialect that has 15 consonants in its initial system, as evidenced by local rhyme books compiled at different times during the Qing Dynasty. Min-nan dialect is any Min dialect which renders the character for “fish” with an aitch initial and the character for “money” is pronounced as
tsĩ. As is natural, details may vary in the border region or outliers, but they can all be shown to have derived from the two original features.