Does Min Nan (Hokkien) sound more like Thai than Mandarin Chinese? What are the differences in sound between these languages

Min Nan, also known as Hokkien, is a Southern Min Chinese language spoken mainly in southern China (particularly in Fujian province) and in various overseas Chinese communities, including those in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Thai, on the other hand, is a Tai-Kadai language primarily spoken in Thailand.

While Min Nan and Mandarin Chinese belong to the Sino-Tibetan language family and share some commonalities, they have distinct phonological features that differentiate them from each other. Here are some key differences in sound between Min Nan (Hokkien) and Mandarin Chinese, as well as a comparison to Thai:

Tones:

Thai: Thai is also a tonal language with five contrastive tones (high, mid, low, rising, and falling). Thai tones are important for distinguishing between words with different meanings.

Mandarin Chinese: Mandarin has four lexical tones (high-level, rising, falling-rising, and falling) plus a neutral tone. Tones play a crucial role in distinguishing word meanings.

Min Nan (Hokkien): Like Mandarin, Min Nan is a tonal language, but it typically has fewer tones (often six or seven) compared to Mandarin's four. Tones in Min Nan can vary in contour and pitch height.

Consonants:

Mandarin Chinese: Mandarin has fewer consonants compared to Hokkien, with a simpler inventory and a lack of final consonants in most syllables.

Thai: Thai has a smaller set of consonants compared to both Min Nan and Mandarin. It has voiced and voiceless stops, nasals, approximants, and fricatives, with fewer consonant clusters than Hokkien.

Min Nan (Hokkien): Hokkien has a rich inventory of consonants, including voiced and voiceless stops, affricates, fricatives, nasals, and liquids. It also has consonant clusters.

Vowels:

Min Nan (Hokkien): Hokkien has a variety of vowel sounds, including monophthongs, diphthongs, and triphthongs. Vowel length is phonemic in Hokkien.

Mandarin Chinese: Mandarin has a relatively simple vowel system compared to Hokkien, with fewer vowel distinctions and no phonemic vowel length.

Thai: Thai has a complex vowel system with short and long vowels, as well as vowel diphthongs and triphthongs. Vowel length is phonemic in Thai and contributes to lexical contrasts.

While there may be some superficial similarities in sound between Min Nan and Thai due to their tonal nature and the presence of certain consonant and vowel sounds, they are ultimately distinct languages with their own unique phonological characteristics. Additionally, the linguistic relationship between Min Nan and Thai is different; Min Nan is a Sino-Tibetan language, while Thai belongs to the Tai-Kadai language family.