Fuzhou dialect

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/fuzhou-dialect

1. What is the primary location?
2. What is the linguistic classification?
3. Why is the Fuzhou dialect sometimes called a "dialect" even though it is a language?
4. Where is the Fuzhou dialect spoken?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary location?Mindong region, Eastern Fujian Province, China
2. What is the linguistic classification?Prestige variety of the Eastern Min branch of Min Chinese
3. Why is the Fuzhou dialect sometimes called a "dialect" even though it is a language?People often use the word "dialect" because of political reasons, but linguists see it as a separate language because speakers of nearby Min varieties cannot understand it.
4. Where is the Fuzhou dialect spoken?It is spoken in Fuzhou City and eleven other cities and counties in Fujian Province, plus the Matsu Islands in Taiwan. Fuzhou speakers also live in many cities around the world, such as Sibu in Malaysia, Japan, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

Linguistic Autonomy: The state of a language or dialect being distinct and independent in its structure and usage.
Lexical Tones: Variations in pitch that distinguish the meaning of words in a language.
Diaspora: A scattered population whose origin lies in a separate geographic location.