Manjiang dialect
| Manjiang | |
|---|---|
| 蠻講, 蠻話 | |
| Native to | China |
| Region | southeastern Zhejiang |
Native speakers | 500,000 (2012) |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| Linguasphere | 79-AAA-ia |
Manjiang (simplified Chinese: 蛮讲; traditional Chinese: 蠻講; pinyin: Mánjiǎng), also known as Manhua (simplified Chinese: 蛮话; traditional Chinese: 蠻話; pinyin: Mánhuà; lit. 'Man speech'), is an Eastern Min dialect spoken mainly in Taishun and Cangnan Counties in Wenzhou, as well as parts of Qingyuan County in Lishui, in southeastern Zhejiang province.
As a dialect of Eastern Min, Manjiang is very distant from major Chinese varieties such as Mandarin and Cantonese, and displays very significant elements of a substratal indigenous language, perhaps belonging to the Austroasiatic or Tai–Kadai language families.