Hakka Languages
Hakka languages are one of the seven major Chinese language groups (the others groups are Mandarin, Wu, Yue, Gan, Min, and Xiang). Although linguists class these as independent Chinese languages, traditionally they have been regarded as dialects, as they will be in this discussion. Native speakers of Hakka are found in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Xiangxi, Hunan, and Sichuan provinces on the mainland, as well as on Taiwan. Outside of China, Hakka speakers are found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. The estimated population of the native Hakka dialect speakers in 1988 was 37 million. In some places, Hakka dialects are also called Aihua, Majiehua, Xinminhua, or Tuguangdonghua.
The term Hakka is of Cantonese origin, hak meaning "guest", ka meaning "family/people." According to Chinese migration history, there were five major migration waves of the Hakka-speaking people, from the central plains of China to the south, beginning during the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420) and in response to various non-Chinese invasions, civil wars, and other clashes with local peoples. The term Hakka itself, however, did not appear in any Chinese historical documents until the Song dynasty (960–1279). When Hakka-speaking people migrated to the northeastern part of Guangdong Province during the late Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and early Qing dynasty (1644–1912), the local people referred to the new immigrants, with whom they clashed over farmland as Hakka. From 1850 to 1920, the Hakka and the indigenous population clashed, which contributed to the development of the well-known strong sense of ethnic and linguistic identity of the Hakka. The famous family precept of the Hakka, "One would rather to sell one's ancestor's land than to forget one's ancestors' speech," shows this strong loyalty to their mother tongue.
Due to the different destinations of the various waves of Hakka migration, currently several Hakka dialects exist. Among them the Mexian subdialect, spoken in the northeastern part of Guangdong Province, is considered the standard. Chinese uses tone, the musical pitch of the voice, as a distinguishing mark of morphemes (characters or syllables). Traditionally, since Middle Chinese (seventh century CE), Chinese characters have been classified into four tonal categories: ping tone (even tone), shang tone (rising tone), qu tone (going tone), and ru tone (entering tone). Each tonal category may have undergone tonal split into two subcategories, yin and yang. But each tonal category has evolved into different tonal values (different types of pitches) as reflected in modern dialects. Mexian Hakka has six tones: yin ping tone (high level), yang ping tone (low level), shang tone (low falling), qu tone (high falling), yin ru tone (short low level), and yang ru tone (short high level). It has seventeen consonants, the primary of which are: p, p', m, f, v, t, t', n, l, ts, ts', s, ñ, ng, h; six nuclear (main) vowels: i, ï, u, e, a, o; and three pairs of consonant endings: -m/-p, -n/-t, and -ng/-k. The bilabial and velar nasal, m and ng, may occur alone and form syllabic syllables.
Distinctive Characteristics of Hakka Dialects
The Hakka dialects are set apart from the other major Chinese dialects by unique phonological, lexical, and syntactic characteristics. Phonological characteristics that are typical in Hakka dialects include (1) the fact that Middle Chinese (from around the seventh century CE) voiced obstruent (obstruents are stops and spirants, such as b, d, g, v, and z) initials are pronounced as voiceless aspirated consonants; (2) Middle Chinese shang (rising) tone syllables with nasal, liquid, or glide initials are merged with Middle Chinese ping (level) tone syllables with a voiceless initial consonant; and (3) most of the velar fricatives (sounds like voiced h) of Middle Chinese are pronounced as f. Because the Hakka dialects share some common phonological features and lexical items with Gan, Yue, and Min (to a lesser degree), some scholars have argued that the Hakka dialect should be grouped with Gan to form a major Gan-Hakka group, while others prefer to assign the Hakka dialects to a different group. Some even suggest that the Hakka dialects should be considered subdialects of the Gan-Yue dialect group. Historically, Min dialects are known to preserve several Old Chinese (c. 1000 BCE) characteristics, which distinguish them from other dialects. Therefore, no scholar has ever tried to group Min and Hakka together. Currently, the most popular view is to treat Hakka as a separate group.
Further Reading
Hashimoto, Mantaro J. (1973) The Hakka Dialect: A Linguistic Study of Its Phonology, Syntax, and Lexicon. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
——. (1992) "Hakka in Wellentheorie Perspective." Journal of Chinese Linguistics 20, 1: 1–49.
Li Rulong and Zhang Shuangqing, eds. (1992) Ken-Gan Fangyan Diaocha Baogao (Report on a Survey of the Ke-Gan Dialects). Xiamen, China: Xiamen Daxue Chubanshe.
Li Fang-kuei. (1973) "Languages and Dialects." Journal of Chinese Linguistics 1, 1:1–13.
Luo Zhaojin. (1990) Taiwan de Kejiahua (The Hakka Dialects in Taiwan). Taipei, Taiwan: Taiyuan Chubanshe.
Norman, Jerry. (1988) Chinese. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Ramsey, S. Robert. (1987) The Languages of China. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Sagart, Laurent. (1998) "On Distinguishing Hakka and Non-Hakka Dialects." Journal of Chinese Linguistics 26, 2: 281–301.
Wang, William S.-Y., ed. (1991) Languages and Dialects of China. Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series, no. 3. Berkeley, CA: Journal of Chinese Linguistics, University of California.
Yuan Jiahua et al. (1960) Hanyu Fangyan Gaiyao (An Outline of the Chinese Dialects). Beijing: Wenzi Gaige Chubanshe.
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