Amoy and Kulangsu rapidly developed, which resulted in a large influx of people from neighboring areas such as Quanzhou and Zhangzhou.

Over the last several centuries, a large number of Southern Fujianese people from these same areas migrated to Taiwan during Dutch and Qing rule.

Amoy dialect speakers also migrated to Southeast Asia, mainly in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar.

Like other languages of Southern Min, Amoy has complex rules for literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters.

Because of the loose nature of the rules governing when to use a given pronunciation, a learner of Amoy must often simply memorize the appropriate reading for a word on a case-by-case basis.

Amoy grammar shares a similar structure to other Chinese dialects, although it is slightly more complex than Mandarin.

Amoy complement constructions are roughly parallel to Mandarin ones, although there are variations in the choice of lexical term.

In the case of adverbs: 伊ihe走cháuruns會ēobtains緊kínquick伊 走 會 緊i cháu ē kínhe runs obtains quickHe runs quickly.In the case of the adverb "very": 伊iHe走cháuruns真chinobtains緊kínquick伊 走 真 緊i cháu chin kínHe runs obtains quickHe runs very quickly.伊iHe走cháuruns袂bōenot緊kínquick伊 走 袂 緊i cháu bōe kínHe runs not quickHe does not run quickly.伊iHe看khòaⁿsee會ēobtains著tio̍halready achieved伊 看 會 著i khòaⁿ ē tio̍hHe see obtains {already achieved}He can see.For the negative, 伊iHe看khòaⁿsees袂bōenot著tio̍halready achieved伊 看 袂 著i khòaⁿ bōe tio̍hHe sees not {already achieved}He cannot see.For the adverb "so," Amoy uses kah (甲) instead of Mandarin de (得): 伊iHe驚kiaⁿstartled甲kahto the point of話ōewords著tio̍halso講kóngsay袂bōenot出來chhut-lâicome out伊 驚 甲 話 著 講 袂 出來i kiaⁿ kah ōe tio̍h kóng bōe chhut-lâiHe startled {to the point of} words also say not {come out}He was so startled, that he could not speak.Negative particle syntax is parallel to Mandarin about 70% of the time, although lexical terms used differ from those in Mandarin.

"伊i共kā錢chîⁿ交kau與hō·你lí伊 共 錢 交 與 你i kā chîⁿ kau hō· lí"He handed the money to you"伊i加ke食chia̍h一chi̍t碗óaⁿ伊 加 食 一 碗i ke chia̍h chi̍t óaⁿ"He ate one more bowl.

"伊i有ū較khah濟chōe的ê朋友pêng-iú伊 有 較 濟 的 朋友i ū khah chōe ê pêng-iú"He has comparatively many friends.