Hokkien Dialect Essay Example

justify">Han Chinese The people of China number more than 1.2 billion, accounting for one-fifth of the world’s population. China’s ethnic majority is the Han people. At a time roughly parallel to the ancient Roman empire-spanning the time when Christ walked on this earth-China’s racially diverse people unified under the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty (206 BC to 221 AD) is noted as a period of remarkable progress in literature and the arts. Linguistically, China’s ethnic majority is quite diverse. Eight major languages and 600 dialects share one common written language. Hokkien is one of these eight major languages and is spoken by forty-nine million people worldwide. Mandarin Chinese is the dominant language and is spoken by over 750 million people. The Hokkien Province

The Hokkien dialect emerged from China’s Fujian province in the area surrounding the Min River. History records there are more than 2,100 years of significance for the Min River as a vital transportation system for the Southern China. It is only natural that Hokkien people refer to China’s Fujian Province in their own language as Hokkien Province. Though scattered throughout the world, their common roots in Hokkien Province creates a very strong bond relationship among the Hokkien people. Some are atheist, but the majority of the Hokkien people practice a mix of Taoism, Buddhism and animism. But only 1% of Hokkien people worldwide are Christian. Hokkien Dialect

Hokkien or Quanzhou-Zhangzhou is a group of mutually comprehensible Min Nan Chinese dialects spoken by many overseas Chinese throughout Southeast Asia. Hokkien is originated from a dialect in southern Fujian. It is closely related to the Teochew , though mutual comprehension is difficult,

and is somewhat more distantly related to Hainanese. The Amoy and Taiwanese prestige dialect (based on Tainan variant) are considered standards. The term Hokkien itself is not a term used in Chinese to describe the dialect as it simply means Fujian province. In Chinese linguistics, these dialects are known by their classification under the Quanzhang Division of Min Nan, which comes from the first characters of the two main Hokkien urban centers Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. The language is also known by other terms such as the more general Min Nan or Southern Min, and Fulaohua.

Geographic Distribution Hokkien is originated in the Southern region of Fujian province which is an important centre for trade and migration. From the deal, trade and migration of the people from China to overseas, the dialect has since spread beyond China and becoming one of the most common Chinese languages in the overseas. Apart from Taiwan, a country which have the most Hokkien speakers outside the Fujian Province there are also many Hokkien speakers among overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. Reason is because there were many ethnic Chinese emigrants to the region were Hoklo from southern Fujian, and they brought the dialect to Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Many of the Hokkien dialects of this region are highly similar to Taiwanese and Amoy. Besides, Hokkien is reportedly the native language of up to 98.5% of the Chinese Filipino in the Philippines, among which is known locally as Lan-nang ("Our people’s language"). As a result, the Hokkien speakers have form the largest group of Chinese in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Classification Southern Fujian is home to three main principal

Hokkien dialects. They are known by the geographic locations to which they correspond: Quanzhou (Chinchew) Xiamen (Amoy) Zhangzhou (Changchew) As Amoy/Xiamen is the principal city of southern Fujian, the Amoy dialect is considered as the most essential, or even the prestige dialect, of Hokkien. It's a mix of the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects. Other than that, it has played a significant role in the Chinese history, especially in the relations of Western nations with China and it was one of the most frequently learned of all Chinese dialects by Westerners during the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century. The varieties of Hokkien spoken in Taiwan are similar to the three varieties of Fujian, and are collectively known as Taiwanese. Taiwanese is used by a majority of the population and bears much importance from a socio-political perspective, forming the second (and perhaps today most significant) major pole of the language. The varieties of Hokkien in Southeast Asia, including Singaporean Hokkien, Penang Hokkien, Medan Hokkien and so on are also originate from these dialects.

History Variants of Hokkien dialects can be traced to two sources of origin Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. Both Amoy and Taiwanese are based on a combination of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects, while the rest of the Hokkien dialects spoken in South East Asia are either derived from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, or based on a combination of both dialects. Quanzhou

During the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China, there was constant warfare occurring in the Central Plain of China. The Northerners began to move into Fujian province, causing the region to incorporate parts of northern Chinese dialects. However,

the massive migration of northern Han Chinese into Fujian province mainly occurred after the Disaster of Yongjia. The Jìn court fled from the north to the south, causing large numbers of northern Han Chinese to move into Fujian province. They had brought the old Chinese — spoken in Central Plain of China from prehistoric era to 3rd century — into Fujian. This then gradually evolved into the Quanzhou dialect. Zhangzhou

In 677 (during the reign of Emperor Gaozong), Chen Zheng, together with his son Chen Yuanguang, led a military expedition to pacify the rebellion in Fujian. They settled in Zhangzhou and brought the Middle Chinese phonology of northern China during the 7th century into Zhangzhou; In 885, (during the reign of Emperor Xizong of Tang), the two brothers Wang Chao and Wang Shenzhi, led a military expedition force to pacify the Huang Chao rebellion. They brought the Middle Chinese phonology commonly spoken in Northern China into Zhangzhou. These two waves of migrations from the north generally brought the northern Middle Chinese languages into Fujian region. This then gradually evolved into the Zhangzhou dialect. Xiamen

Xiamen dialect, sometimes known as Amoy, is the main dialect spoken in the Chinese city of Xiamen and its surrounding regions of Tong'an and Xiang'an, both of which are now included in the Greater Xiamen area. This dialect developed in the late Ming dynasty when Xiamen was increasingly taking over Quanzhou's position as the main port of trade in southeastern China. Quanzhou traders began travelling southwards to Xiamen to carry on their businesses while Zhangzhou peasants began traveling northwards to Xiamen in search of job opportunities. It is at

this time when a need for a common language arose. The Quanzhou and Zhangzhou varieties are similar in many ways (as can be seen from the common place of Henan Luoyang where they originated), but due to differences in accents, communication can be a problem. Quanzhou businessmen considered their speech to be the prestige accent and considered Zhangzhou's to be a village dialect. Over the centuries, dialect leveling occurred and the two speeches mixed to produce the Amoy dialect.

Tones In general, Hokkien dialects have 5 to 7 phonemic tones. According to the traditional Chinese system, however there are 7 to 9 "tones", more correctly termed tone classes since two of them are non-phonemic "entering tones". Tone sandhi is extensive. There are minor variations between the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou tone systems. Taiwanese tones follow the patterns of Amoy or Quanzhou, depending on the area of Taiwan. Quanzhou is the only Hokkien dialect that preserves all 6 phonemic tones of Late Middle Chinese (LMC); both Amoy and Taiwanese Hokkien typically have 5 phonemic tones, having lost LMC tone 6. Many dialects have an additional phonemic tone ("tone 9" according to the traditional reckoning), used only in special or foreign loan words.

Methodology The focus of this field work was primarily on the issue of the originality of Hokkien dialect and why there are several differences in pronunciation and the use of term by the Hokkien speakers. A formal questionnaire, interview and literature overview were done to determine why there are differences in the pronunciation and the used of term by the speakers. The conversations in the interviewed were mostly related to the common terms

used by the Hokkien speakers in the real life. The survey form and interview sessions was given to 20 Hokkien speakers who are coming from Medan Indonesia, Singapore, Johor, Selangor, Penang and Perlis. The 20 people who participated in the survey ranged in age from 20-75. Most important is that they have spoken the dialect for more than 15 years or more. A response rate of nearly 60 percent for a questionnaire that requires over 5 minutes to complete is considered excellent. However the interview requires over 15 minutes of conversation is considered excellent. Two thirds of the respondents are men.

Finding Chart of where the respondents learn the dialect from.

From the bar chart above it shows that 17 of respondents learn the dialect from their parents or elder. However there are 3 respondents claimed they learn the dialect from the community. For the second question which is how often you use the dialect. Several answers were obtained. It includes all day long, depend on occasion, most of the time, only with the elder and so on. For the third question regarding does the dialect helpful and useful in respondent’s real life. Results show that 100 percent of the respondents claimed that the dialect is very helpful and useful in their real life. Explanations also were given.