Zhenan Min has in the past been influenced by Eastern Min and the Northern Min, due to its close geographical proximity with those areas. It has limited intelligibility with other Min Nan dialects, such as Teochew and Hokkien–Taiwanese. Zhenan Min, in proximity to the 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).
Notes
^Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.[1][2][3]
References
^Mei, Tsu-lin (1970), "Tones and prosody in Middle Chinese and the origin of the rising tone", Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 30: 86–110, doi:10.2307/2718766, JSTOR2718766