Teochew dialect

Teochew dialect
Traditional Chinese 潮州話
Simplified Chinese 潮州话
Teochew dialect
Hangul 조주어 (variant: 됴쥬말)
Hanja 潮州話
Revised Romanization Choju-ŏ (variant: Tyeojyu-mal)
McCune–Reischauer Ch'o chu-ŏ (variant: Dyojyu-mal)

The Teochew language (referred to as Chaozhou hua in Mandarin-speaking parts of China, variably spelled Teochiu ue, Tiuchiu ue, Tiochiu ue, Diojiu ue, Tözüue, Trieu Chau in Vietnamese, Choju-o or Tyeojyu-mal (조주어/됴쥬말) in Korean, and Shio-shū ben (潮州弁) in Japanese, but most commonly referred to in English as Teochew) is typically classified by Chinese linguists as part of the Southern Min Chinese language family. It is spoken in the Chaoshan (潮汕) region of eastern Guangdong and by the Teochew diaspora in various regions around the world.

Teochew
潮州話
Spoken in
Region in China: eastern Guangdong province including Chaozhou, Shantou, Jieyang, Chaoyang, Puning, Chao'an, Raoping, Huilai, and Shanwei, and the southmost Fujian county of Zhao'an.
Total speakers About 10 million in Chaoshan. Approximately 2-5 million speakers overseas. (49 million for Min Nan as a group)
Ranking 21 (Southern Min Language as a group) [1]
Language family Sino-Tibetan
Language codes
ISO 639-1 zh
ISO 639-2 chi (B)  zho (T)
ISO 639-3 nan – Min Nan
Linguasphere
Banlamgu.svg
     Teochew
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Teochew language preserves many Ancient Chinese archaic pronunciations and vocabulary that have been lost in some of the other modern dialects of Chinese. As such, many linguists consider Teochew one of the most conservative Chinese dialects.

Contents

Classification

Teochew is a member of the Southern Min or Min Nan dialect group, which in turn constitutes one of the seven major dialect groups of the Sinitic language family. Like other varieties of Chinese, people have not yet agreed on whether Teochew should be treated as a language or a dialect. However, apart from the political perspective of this, from a purely linguistic point of view, Teochew (or the Southern Min Language at large) should be a language in its own right since it is mutually unintelligible with other "dialect groups" of China. Nevertheless, Teochew is mutually intelligible with some other Southern Min Languages, notably the dialects of Zhangzhou (漳州) and Quanzhou (泉州) probably because of their proximity. Even within the Teochew varieties, there is substantial variation in phonology between different regions of Chaoshan and between different Teochew communities overseas.

The Chaozhou language in China, in terms of their closeness, can be roughly divided into 3 sub-groups:

1) Chaozhou sub-group, including Chaozhou (潮州), Shantou (汕頭/汕头), Jieyang (揭陽/揭阳), Chenghai (澄海), Nan'ao County (南澳) and Raoping (饒平/饶平),

2) Chaopu sub-group, including Chaoyang (潮陽/潮阳), Puning (普寧/普宁), Huilai (惠來/惠来), and

3) Hailufeng (海陸豐/海陆丰) sub-group, including Shanwei (汕尾), Lufeng (陸豐/陆丰) and Haifeng (海豐/海丰)

History and geography

Chinese temple in Ketapang

Modern Teochew evolved from the more archaic Southern Min Language. Between the 9th and the 15th century, a group of Min people migrated south from Fujian to the coastal region of eastern Guangdong now known as Chaoshan (潮汕). This migration was most likely due in part to over-population in Fujian (福建).

Due to geographical isolation from Fujian, Teochew evolved into a separate dialect.

As mentioned above, the Chaoshan region where Chaozhou is spoken includes the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou, which are jointly the source of the name, as well as Jieyang, Chaoyang, Puning, Chao'an, Raoping, Huilai, Chenghai, Nanao, Lufeng, Haifeng, Shanwei and Huidong (惠东). Parts of the Hakka-speaking region, like Jiexi (揭西), Dabu (大埔) and Fengshun (豐順/丰顺) are also Chaozhou-speaking.

The administrative region now known as Chaoshan in China was one of the major sources of Chinese emigration to Southeast Asia during the 18th–20th centuries, forming one of the larger dialect groups among the Overseas Chinese. In particular, the Teochew people settled in significant numbers in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos where they form the largest Chinese dialect group. They constitute a significant minority in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia (especially in Riau, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, and West Kalimantan, in Pontianak and Ketapang). Teochew speakers also live in Australia, New Zealand, North America, and Europe, a result of both direct emigration from Chaoshan to these nations and secondary emigration from Southeast Asia.

However, as the world globalises, the language is losing popularity among its ancestral speakers. In Singapore, due to common culture, and influences from the media and government, Singaporean Chinese youths whose ancestral language is Teochew are either converting to English, Standard Mandarin or Hokkien (with which it shares a certain degree of mutual intelligibility). Teochew remains the ancestral language of many Chinese people in Singapore - Teochew people are the second largest Chinese group in Singapore, after the Hokkien - although Mandarin is gradually supplanting Teochew as their mother tongue, especially among the younger generations.

Languages in contact

This refers to Chaozhou, which is the variety of Teochew spoken in the People's Republic of China.

Mandarin

Chaozhou children are introduced to Mandarin as early as in kindergarten; however, Chaozhou remains the primary medium of instruction. In the early years of primary education, Mandarin then becomes the sole language of instruction, although students typically continue to talk one another in Chaozhou. Mandarin is widely understood, however minimally, by most younger Chaozhou speakers, but the elderly usually do not speak Mandarin since, in their times, teaching was done in the local vernacular.

Chaozhou accent in Mandarin

Native Chaozhou speakers find the neutral tone in Mandarin hardest to master. Chaozhou has lost the alveolar nasal ending [-n] and so the people often replace the sound in Mandarin with the velar nasal [-ŋ]. None of the southern Min dialects has a front rounded vowel, therefore a typical Chaozhou accent supplants the unrounded counterpart [i] for [y]. Chaozhou, like its ancient ancestor, lacks labio-dentals; people therefore substitute [h] or [hu] for [f] when they speak Mandarin. Chaozhou does not have any of the retroflex consonants in the northern dialects, so they say [ts], [tsʰ], [s], and [z] instead of [tʂ], [tʂʰ], [ʂ] and [ʐ].

Hakka

Since Chao'an, Raoping and Jieyang border the Hakka-speaking region in the north, some people in these regions speak Hakka, though they can usually speak Chaozhou as well. Chaozhou people have historically had a great deal of contact with the Hakka people, but, interestingly, the Hakka language has had little, if any, influence on Chaozhou. Similarly, in Dabu and Fengshun, where the Chaozhou- and Hakka-speaking regions meet, Chaozhou is also spoken although Hakka remains the primary language there.

Cantonese

Because of influences from Hong Kong soap operas and Guangdong provincial tele programmes, many young Chaoshan people can understand quite a lot of Standard Cantonese even if they cannot speak it.

Other languages

In the mountainous area of Fenghuang (鳳凰/凤凰), a non-Sinitic language, the She language, is spoken by a few hundred aboriginal She people (畲). It belongs to the Hmong-Mien language family.

Phonetics and phonology

Consonants

Teochew (and other southern Min languages) is one of the few Sinitic languages which have voiced obstruents (stops, fricatives and affricates); however, unlike the Wu and Xiang languages, the Teochew voiced stops and fricatives did not evolve from the Middle Chinese voiced obstruents, instead, they were from the Middle Chinese nasals. Therefore, the voiced stops [b] and [ɡ] are in fact prenasalised as [mb] and [ŋɡ] respectively. The voiced alveolar affricate [dz] was originally a fricative sound [z] in earlier Teochew and still is in some varieties of Teochew. Southern Min languages are typified by a lack of labio-dentals, as illustrated below:

Consonants of the Teochew dialect
  Bilabial Alveolar Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ  
Plosive aspirated pʰ tʰ kʰ  
voiceless p t k ʔ
voiced b   ɡ  
Affricate aspirated   tsʰ    
voiceless   ts    
voiced   dz    
Fricative   s   h
Approximant   l    

Oral Vowels

Nasalised Vowels

Syllable

Syllables in Teochew contain an onset consonant, a medial glide, a nucleus, usually in the form of a vowel, but can also be occupied by a syllabic consonant like [ŋ], and a final consonant. All the elements of the syllable except for the nucleus are optional, which means a vowel or a syllabic consonant alone can stand as a fully-fledged syllable.

Onsets

All the consonants except for the glottal stop ʔ shown in the consonants chart above can act as the onset of a syllable; however, the onset position is not obligatorily occupied.

Rimes

Nucleus

The nucleus is the only obligatory and therefore the most important element of a syllable. It can be occupied by a vowel, a nasalised vowel or a syllabic consonant in Teochew.

Coda

The coda position is usually fulfilled by a stop or nasal consonant (which, technically speaking, is also a stop sound because the soft palate is lowered to allow air to flow through the nasal cavity) but is nevertheless optional.

Tones

Citation tones

Teochew, like other Chinese languages, is a tonal language. It has six tones (reduced to two in stopped syllables) and extensive tone sandhi.

Teochew tones
Tone
number		 Tone name Pitch
contour		 Description Sandhi
1 yin level (陰平/阴平) ˧˧ (33) mid 1
2 yin rising (陰上/阴上) ˥˨ (52) falling 6
3 yin departing (陰去/阴去) ˨˩˧ (213) low rising 2 or 5
4 yin entering (陰入/阴入) ˨ʔ (2) low checked 8
5 yang level (陽平/阳平) ˥˥ (55) high 7
6 yang rising (陽上/阳上) ˧˥ (35) high rising 7
7 yang departing (陽去/阳去) ˩˩ (11) low 7
8 yang entering (陽入/阳入) ˦ʔ (4) high checked 4

As with sandhi in other Min Nan dialects, the checked tones interchange. The yang tones all become low.

Intonation

Grammar

The grammar of Teochew is similar to other southern Chinese dialects, especially with Hakka and Cantonese. The sequence 'subject verb object' is typical, like Mandarin, although 'subject object verb' is also possible using particles.

Morphology

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

The personal pronouns in Teochew, like in other Sinitic languages, do not show case marking, therefore 我 [ua] means both I and me and 伊人 [i naŋ] means they and them. The southern Min dialects, like some northern dialects, have a distinction between an inclusive and exclusive we, meaning that when the addressee is being included, the inclusive pronoun 俺 [naŋ] would be used, otherwise 阮 [ŋ]. No other southern Chinese language, such as Cantonese or Hakka, has this distinction.

Personal Pronouns in Teochew
  Singular Plural
1st person 我 ua2 I / me Inclusive 俺 naŋ2 we / us
Exclusive 阮 ŋ2 we / us
2nd person 汝 lɤ2 thou / thee 恁 niŋ2 you (all)
3rd person 伊 i1 he/she/it/him/her 伊人 i1 naŋ5 they/them
Possessive pronouns

The Teochew language does not distinguish the possessive pronouns from the possessive adjectives. As a general rule, the possessive pronouns or adjectives are formed by adding the genitive or possessive marker 個/个 [kai7] to their respective personal pronouns, as summarised below:

Possessive Pronouns in Teochew
  Singular Plural
1st person 我個/我个 ua2 kai7 my / mine Inclusive 俺個/俺个 naŋ2 kai7 our / ours
Exclusive 阮個/阮个 ŋ2 kai7 ours / ours
2nd person 汝個/汝个 lɤ2 kai7 thine / 恁個/恁个 niŋ2 kai7 your / yours
3rd person 伊個/伊个 i1 kai7 his / his; her / hers; its / its 伊人個/伊人个 i1 naŋ5 kai7 their / theirs

本書是我個/本书是我个 [puŋ2 tsɤ1 si6 ua2 kai7] The book is mine.

However, there are instances in which 個/个 [kai7] can be dropped, such as when followed by a measure word, as in:

我條裙/我条裙 [ua2 tiou5 kuŋ5] my skirt

Demonstrative pronouns

Teochew has the typical two-way distinction between the demonstratives, namely the proximals and the distals, as summarised in the following chart:

The Teochew Demonstratives
  Proximal Distal
General Singular 只個 [tsi2 kai7] this 許個 [hɤ2 kai7] that
Plural 只撮 [tsi2 tsʰoʔ4] these 許撮 [hɤ2 tsʰoʔ4] those
Spatial 只塊 [tsi2 ko3] here 許塊 [hɤ2 ko3] there
只內 [tsi2 lai6] inside 許內 [hɤ2 lai6] inside
只口 [tsi2 kʰao7] outside 許口 [hɤ2 kʰao7] outside
Temporal 只陣 / 當 [tsi2 tsuŋ5 / tɤŋ3] now; recently 許陣 / 當 [hɤ2 tsuŋ5 / tɤŋ3] then
Adverbial 這生 [tse2 sẽ1] like this 向生 [hia2 sẽ1] like that
Degree 醬 [tsĩẽ3] this 向 [hĩẽ3] that
Type 者個 [tsia2 kai7] this kind 向個 [hia2 kai7] that kind
Interrogative pronouns
The Teochew Interrogative Pronouns
who / whom (底)珍 [ti tieŋ]
底人 [ti naŋ]
what 乜個 [miʔ kai]
what (kind of) + noun 乜 + N [miʔ]
which 底 + NUM + CL + (N) [ti]
底個 [ti kai]
where 底塊 [ti ko]
when 珍時 [tieŋ si]
how manner 做呢 [tso ni]
state 在些(樣) [tsai sẽ ĩẽ]
乜些樣 [miʔ sẽ ĩẽ]
什乜樣 [si miʔ ĩẽ]
how many 幾 + CL + N [kui]
若多 + (CL) + (N) [dzieʔ tsoi]
how much 若多 [dzieʔ tsoi]
why 做呢 [tso ni]

Numerals

Teochew numeral system
Pronunciation Financial Normal Value Notes
liŋ5 零 〇 0 〇 is an informal way to represent zero, but 零 is more commonly used, especially in schools.
also 空 [kang3]
tsek8 壹 一 1 also 蜀 [tsek8] (original character)
also 弌 (obsolete)
also [ik4] as the last digit of a 2-or-more-digit number e.g. 二十一 [dzi6 tsap8 ik4]
or days of a month e.g. 一號 [ik4 ho7]
or as an ordinal number e.g. 第一 [tõĩ6 ik4]
also 么(T) or 幺(S) [iou1] when used in phone numbers etc.
no6 兩(T) or
两(S)		 二 2 also 弍 (obsolete)
also 貳(T) or 贰(S)
also [dzi6] as the last digit of a 2-or-more-digit number e.g. 三十二 [sã1 tsap8 dzi6]
or days of a month e.g. 二號 [dzi6 ho7]
or as an ordinal number e.g. 第二 [tõĩ6 dzi6].
sã1 叄(T) or
叁(S)		 三 3 also 弎 (obsolete)
also 參(T) or 参(S) [sã1].
si3 肆 四 4  
ŋou6 伍 五 5  
lak8 陸 六 6  
tsʰik4 柒 七 7  
poiʔ4 捌 八 8  
kao2 玖 九 9  
tsap8 拾 十 10 Although some people use 什, It is not acceptable because it can be written over into 伍.

Note: (T): Traditional characters; (S): Simplified characters.

Ordinal numbers are formed by adding 第 [tõĩ6] in front of a cardinal number.

Voice

In Teochew passive construction, the agent phrase by somebody always has to be present, and is introduced by either 乞 [kʰoiʔ4]* or 分 [puŋ1], even though it is in fact a zero or indefinite agent as in:

伊分人刣掉

[i1 puŋ1 naŋ5 tʰai5 tiau7]

s/he was killed (by someone)

*Some speakers use [kʰɤʔ] or [kʰiɤʔ] instead.

While in Mandarin we can have the agent introducer 被 bèi or 給 gěi alone without the agent itself, it is not grammatical to say

* 個杯分敲掉

[kai5 pue1 puŋ1 kʰa1 tiau7]

the cup was broken.

(cf. Mandarin: 杯子給打破了 bēizi gěi dǎ pòle)

Instead, we have to say:

個杯分人敲掉

[kai5 pue1 puŋ1 naŋ5 kʰa1 tiau7]

Even though this 人 [naŋ5] is unknown.

Note also that the agent phrase 分人 [puŋ1 naŋ5] always comes immediately after the subject, not at the end of the sentence or between the auxiliary and the past participle like in some European languages (e.g. German, Dutch)

Comparison

The comparative construction with two or more nouns

Teochew uses the construction "X ADJ 過 [kue3] Y", which is believed to have evolved from the Ancient Chinese "X ADJ 于 (yú) Y" structure, to express the idea of comparison:

伊雅過汝

[i1 ŋia2 kue3 lɤ2]

She is more beautiful than you.

Cantonese uses the same construction:

cf. 佢靚過你 [kʰœy5 leŋ3 kʷɔ3 nei5]

However, due to influences from Mandarin, the Mandarin structure "X 比 Y ADJ" has also gained popularity over the years. Therefore, the same sentence can be re-structured and becomes:

伊比汝雅。

[i1 pi2 lɤ2 ŋia2]

cf. Mandarin 她比你漂亮 (tā bǐ nǐ piàoliang)

The comparative construction with only one noun

Note: the 過- or 比-construction must involve two or more nouns to be compared; an ill-formed sentence will be yielded when only one is being mentioned:

* 伊雅過 (?)

This is different from English since the second noun being compared can be left out:

cf. Tatyana is more beautiful (than Lisa).

In this case, the 夭-construction has to be used instead:

伊夭雅

[i1 iou6 ŋia2]

She is more beautiful.

The same holds true for Mandarin and Cantonese in that another structure needs to be used when only one of the nouns being compared is mentioned. Note also that Teochew and Mandarin both use a pre-modifier (before the adjective) while Cantonese uses a post-modifier (after the adjective).

cf. Mandarin 她比較漂亮 (tā bǐjiào piàoliang) & Cantonese 佢靚啲 [kʰœy5 leŋ3 ti1]

There are two words which are intrinsically comparative in meaning, i.e. 贏 [ĩã5] "better" and 輸 [su1] "worse". They can be used alone or in conjunction with the 過-structure:

只領裙輸(過)許領

[tsi2 nĩã2 kuŋ5 su1 kue3 hɤ2 nĩã2]

This skirt is not as good as that one.

我內個電腦贏伊個好多

[ua2 lai6 kai7 tieŋ6 nao2 ĩã5 i1 kai7 hoʔ2 tsoi7]

My computer (at home) is far better than his.

Note the use of the adverbial 好多 [hoʔ2 tsoi7] at the end of the sentence to express a higher degree.

The equal construction

In Teochew, the idea of equality is expressed with the word 平 [pẽ5] or 平樣 [pẽ5 ĩẽ7]:

只本書佮許本平重。

[tsi2 puŋ2 tsɤ1 kaʔ4 hɤ2 puŋ2 pẽ5 taŋ6]

This book is as heavy as that one.

伊兩人平平樣。

[i1 no6 naŋ5 pẽ5 pẽ5 ĩẽ7]

They are the same. (They look the same./They're as good as each other./They're as bad as each other.)

The superlative construction

To express the superlative, Teochew uses the adverb 上 [siaŋ5] or 上頂 [siaŋ5 teŋ2]. However, it should be noted that 上頂 is usually used with a complimentary connotation.

只間物上頂好食。

[tsi2 kõĩ1 mueʔ8 siaŋ5 teŋ2 ho2 tsiaʔ8]

This (restaurant) is (absolutely) the most delicious.

伊人對我上好。

[i1 naŋ5 tui3 ua2 siaŋ5 ho2]

They treat me best.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary of Teochew shares a lot of similarities with Cantonese owing to their continuous contact with each other. Like Cantonese, Teochew has a great deal of monosyllabic words, which to a certain extent reflects the age of the Teochew language since monosyllabic words were prevalent in Ancient Chinese. However, ever since the standardisation of Modern Chinese, Teochew has absorbed a lot of Putonghua vocabulary, which is predominantly polysyllabic. In addition, due to the migration to Southeast Asia, Teochew has also borrowed extensively from Malay.

Archaic vocabulary

Teochew and other Min Nan dialects such as Taiwanese preserve a good deal of Ancient Chinese vocabulary. Examples include words such as 目 [mak] eye (cf. Putonghua: 眼睛 yǎnjīng; Taiwanese: 目 ba̍k), 灱 [ta] dry (cf. Putonghua: 乾 gān; Taiwanese: 焦 ta), and 囥 [kʰɤŋ] hide (cf. Putonghua: 藏 cáng; Taiwanese: 囥 khǹg).

Onomatopoeia

Romanisation

Teochew has been romanised by the Guangdong provincial government to aid linguistic studies and the publication of dictionaries, although the Taiwanese Pe̍h-oē-jī could also be used because the Christian missionaries invented it in a way that is also suitable for the transcription of other Min Nan dialects.

A modified version of the Guangdong romanization system called Peng'im is also used in an online Teochew community.

Initials

Initial consonants of Teochew, are represented in the Guangdong Peng'im system as: B, BH, C, D, G, GH, H, K, L, M, N, NG, P, R, S, T, and Z.

Examples:

Rimes

Vowels

Vowels and vowel combinations in the Teochew dialect include: A, E, Ê, I, O, U, AI, AO, IA, IO, IU, OI, OU, UA, UAI, UE, and UI.

Examples:

Many words in Teochew are nasalized. This is represented by the letter "n" in the Guangdong Pengim system.

Example (nasalized):

Ending

Ending consonants in Teochew include M and NG as well as the stops discussed below.

Examples:

Teochew retains many consonant stops lost to Mandarin. These stops include a labial stop: "b"; velar stop: "g"; and glottal stop: "h".

Examples:

See also

External links

References

Southern Min languages
Hokkien (Min - Tai Division)
Amoy Min  • Quanzhou dialect  • Zhangzhou dialect  • Taiwanese Minnan  • Singaporean Hokkien  • Lan-nang Hokkien  • Penang Hokkien  • Southern Malaysian Hokkien  • Northern Malaysian Hokkien  • Medan Hokkien  • Riau Hokkien
Teochew (Chaoshan Division)
Chaozhou Min  • Shantou dialect  • Chaoyang dialect  • Puning dialect  • Hailufeng dialect  • Bangkok Teochew  • Cambodia Teochew  • Riau Teochew
Qiongwen Division
Hainanese Min
Leizhou Min Division
Leizhou Min  • Zhanjiang dialect
Longyan Min Division
Longyan Min