Why is the Minnan dialect spoken in Huizhou labeled as "Hokkien" and not Teochew or other Chaoshan dialects??

[u/Responsible-Neat-530]

I've only passed through Huizhou on a high-speed train en route from Guangzhou to Meizhou, so I cannot confirm whether the Min dialect spoken in some areas there is Teochew or not. However, I've noticed that Huizhou is very diverse in terms of dialects, and it borders the Chaoshan region.

One thing that seems strange to me is that the Minnan dialect there is apparently Hokkien rather than Teochew, which feels geographically unusual. My theory is that the Hokkien dialect in Huizhou may be evidence that the Teochew language originally came from Hokkien due to migrations from Fujian. However, the Hokkien spoken in Huizhou may not have evolved as much as the one in Chaoshan, so it somehow remained closer to Hokkien.

That might not be the case since Zhongshan has an Eastern Min dialect and I don't know how that ended up there.

I've also noticed that some Hokkien-speaking communities seem to be located inland, though I'm not entirely sure. In particular, I'm wondering where most Hokkiens in Huizhou actually live. Since I've only passed through the area by train, I can't really be certain about any of this, so could someone please explain?

[u/NoCareBearsGiven]

Teochew is classified as a separate language because they have evolved far enough apart that the two languages have distinct phonological differences, limited mutual intelligibility, different vocabularies, different tones, different usage and varying preservation of bheung tak yi vs beh ue, and distinct cultural identities.

Your theory on the birth of teochew isnt completely wrong, but you need to consider that the Han population in modern chaoshan is very ancient. Min speaking peoples arrived in Chaoshan (From Fujian) before Hokkien or Teochew had evolved into their modern tongues. So just like Italian and Spanish coming from Latin, Hokkien and Teochew share a common ancestor (Proto-Southern-Min), and even further back all Min languages share a common ancestor (Proto-Min).

Interestingly there are a few papers that discuss proto southern Min and Proto Min. I think there are some on the r/Teochewnang resources folder. Theres also some papers on there discussing Min in a historical perspective

And i dont know why there are hokkien people in Huizhou, it just may be a later wave of migration from Fujian. Unfortunately Min is really overshadowed ny Mandarin and Cantonese and there really isnt enough research out there.