nokkien

Nokkien is a term occasionally encountered in written sources as an alternate spelling for the Hokkien language group, a set of Southern Min varieties spoken in Fujian province, Taiwan, and across diaspora communities. It is not a standard designation in most linguistic references, where Hokkien or Minnan is typically used.

Classification and varieties: Nokkien/Hokkien belongs to the Minnan (Minnan) branch of the Southern Min varieties within the Sinitic family. Major varieties include Amoy (Xiamen), Taiwanese Hokkien, and Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects. While mutually intelligible to varying degrees, these varieties exhibit differences in pronunciation, lexicon, and some grammatical features.

Geographic distribution: Historically concentrated in Fujian, China, Hokkien is widely spoken in Taiwan and among Chinese communities in Southeast Asia—such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines—and in overseas diasporic communities. In Taiwan, Taiwanese Hokkien is a prominent regional language alongside Mandarin.

Writing and phonology: Hokkien is traditionally written with Chinese characters; romanization schemes such as Pe̍h-ōe-jī have been used for language study, literature, and education. Phonology features a tonal system and a rich array of final consonants and nasals; dialects differ in tone inventories and phonetic details. The term Nokkien remains uncommon in formal linguistic usage, but may appear in some sources as a variant spelling of Hokkien.