Hakka (linguistics)
Hakka is one language in the family of languages known as Chinese.
The majority of its speakers are known Hakka people.
Hak 客 (Mandarin: kè) means "guest", and ka 家 (Mandarin: jia) means "family".
Amongst themselves, Hakka people variously called their language Hak-ka-fa/-va 客家語, Hak-fa/-va, 客語, Tu-gong-dung-fa/-va 土廣東話, Ngai-fa/-va "亻厓"話.
The Hakka language has numerous dialects, spoken in Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Guizhou provinces, including Hainan island and Taiwan.
Amongst the dialects of Hakka, the Moi-yen/Moi-yan 梅縣 (Mandarin: MéiXìan) dialect has been used most as a prime example of the Hakka language. Moiyen is located in the north eastern region of Guangdong province.
Hakka Phonology
Moiyen Dialect Initials
There are no voiced plosives stops (b d g) in Hakka, but it exhibits two sets of stops, one unaspirated (p t k), and the other aspirated (pʰ tʰ kʰ).
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| IPA/Rom
| Labials
| Dentals/Apicals
| Silibants
| Palatals
| Velars
| Laryngeals
|
| Voiceless Unaspirated Stops
| IPA
| p
| t
| ʦ
|
| k
| (ʔ)
|
| Rom
| b
| d
| z
|
| g
|
|
| Voiceless Aspirated Stops
| IPA
| pʰ
| tʰ
| ʦʰ
|
| kʰ
|
|
| Rom
| p
| t
|
|
| k
|
|
| Nasals
| IPA
| m
| n
|
| ɲ
| ŋ
|
|
| Rom
| m
| n
|
| ngi
| ng
|
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| Fricatives
| IPA
| f
|
| s
|
|
| h
|
| Rom
| f
|
| s
|
|
| h
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| Liquids
| IPA
| ʋ
| l
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| (j)
|
|
|
| Rom
| v
| l
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| (y)
|
|
|
When the initials z c s (ʦ ʦʰ s) and ng [ŋ] is followed by a palatised medial, they become j q x (ʨ ʨʰ ɕ) and ngi (ɲ) respectively.
Moiyan Rimes
Moiyan Hakka has six vowels ( i ɿ ɛ a ə ɔ u ) are romanised as i, i, ê a, e, o and u respectively. The palatisation medial (j) is represented by i and the labialisation medial (w) is represented as u in the following table corresponding to i and u in the romanisation.
Moreover, Hakka rimes exhibits the final stops found in Middle Chinese, namely ( m, n, ŋ p t k ) these are romanised as m, n, ng, b, d, and g respectively in the official Moiyan romanisation.
| vowel
| medial
+
vowel
| -i
| -u
| -m
| -n
| -ŋ
| -p
| -t
| -k
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| Syllabics
|
|
|
| m
|
| ŋ
|
|
|
|
| a
|
| ai
| au
| am
| an
| aŋ
| ap
| at
| ak
|
|
| ia
| iai
| iau
| iam
| ian
| iaŋ
| iap
| iat
| iak
|
|
| ua
| uai
|
|
| uan
| uaŋ
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| uat
| uak
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| ɛ
|
|
| ɛu
| ɛm
| ɛn
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| ɛp
| ɛt
|
|
|
| iɛ
|
|
|
| iɛn
|
|
| iɛt
|
|
|
| uɛ
|
|
|
| uɛn
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|
| uɛt
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| i
|
|
| iu
| im
| in
|
| ip
| it
|
|
| ɔ
|
| ɔi
|
|
| ɔn
| ɔŋ
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| ɔt
| ɔk
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| iɔ
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|
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| iɔn
| iɔŋ
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|
| iɔk
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| uɔ
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|
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| uɔn
| uɔŋ
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|
| uɔk
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| u
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| ui
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| un
| uŋ
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| ut
| uk
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|
|
| iui
|
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| iun
| iuŋ
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| iut
| iuk
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| ɿ
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|
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| əm
| ən
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| əp
| ət
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Moiyen Tones
The Middle Chinese fully voiced initial characters have become aspirated unvoiced initial characters in Hakka. The four Middle Chinese tones Ping, Shang, Qu, Ru have developed in the Moiyan dialect to exhibit a yin-yang splitting in the Ping tone, and a yin-yang splitting in the Ru tone, giving it six tones.
These so called yin-yang tonal splittings developed mainly as a consequence of the type of initial a Chinese character had during the Middle Chinese stage in the development of Chinese languages, with unvoiced initial characters (p- t- k-) tending to become of the yin type, and the voiced initial characters (b- d- g-) developing into the yang type. In modern Meixian Hakka however, part of the Yin Ping tone characters have sonorant initials (m n ŋ l) originally from the Middle Chinese Shang tone characters and fully voiced Middle Chinese Qu tone characters, so the voiced/unvoiced distinction should be taken only as a rule of thumb.
External Links
Referenced By
Cantonese (linguistics) | Cantonese Chinese | Cantonese Language | Cantonese dialect | Chinese dialect | Chinese dialects | Chinese languages | Chinese spoken language | Demographics of Hong Kong | Federation of Malaysia | Formosan language | Hakka | Hoklo | Holo | Hong Kong/People | ISO 3166-1:MY | Kejia | Language dispute | List of China-related topics 123-L | List of Chinese dialects | List of countries where language is a political issue | Malaysia | Malaysian | Taiwanese (linguistics) | Taiwanese dialect | Taiwanese language | Taiwanese languages | Yue Chinese | Yue Chinese language | Yue dialect | Yue language
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