Everything about Chaozhou Dialect totally explained
The
Chaozhou language, also called
Teochew,
Teochiu,
Tiuchiu,
Tiochiu, or
Diojiu, is a
dialect of the
Chinese spoken variant of
Min Nan (閩南/闽南), spoken in the
Chaoshan (潮汕) region of eastern
Guangdong (廣東/广东). It has low intelligibility with other Min Nan dialects, having fewer words in common than German has with English.
Classification
Chaozhou 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 Chaozhou should be treated as a
language or a dialect. However, apart from the political perspective of this, from a purely linguistic point of view, Chaozhou (or Min Nan at large) should be a language in its own right since it's mutually unintelligible with other "dialect groups" of China. According to
Glossika
, Chaozhou has an overal 50.4% of mutual intelligibility with the Xiamen dialect, 44.3% with
Mandarin and 43.5% with
Cantonese.
Nevertheless, Chaozhou is mutually intelligible with some other
Min Nan languages, notably the dialects of
Zhangzhou (漳州) and
Quanzhou (泉州) probably because of their proximity. Even within the Chaozhou varieties, there's substantial variation in
phonology between different regions of Chaoshan and between different Chaozhou communities overseas.
The Chaozhou languages, in terms of their closeness, can be roughly divided into 3 sub-groups:
1) Shantou sub-group, including
Shantou (汕頭),
Chaozhou (潮州),
Jieyang (揭陽/揭阳),
Chenghai (澄海),
Nanao (南澳/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) Luhai (陸海/陆海) sub-group, including
Shanwei (汕尾),
Lufeng (陸豐/陆丰) and
Haifeng (海豐/海丰)
History and geography
Modern Chaozhou evolved from the more archaic Min Nan . Between the 9th and the 15th century, a group of Min people migrated south from Fujian to the coastal region of eastern
Guangdong 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, Chaozhou evolved into a separate dialect.
As seen from 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. Parts of the
Hakka-speaking region, like Jiexi,
Dabu (大埔) and
Fengshun (豐順/丰顺) are also Chaozhou-speaking.
Chaoshan 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. As a result, Chaozhou is now spoken in many regions outside of
Chaoshan.
In particular, the Chaozhou people settled in significant numbers in
Thailand and
Cambodia, 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). Chaozhou 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 the native speakers. In
Singapore, due to common culture, and influences from the media
and government,
Singaporean Chinese youths whose native language is Chaozhou are either converting to
English,
Standard Mandarin or
Hokkien (with which it shares a certain degree of mutual intelligibility). Chaozhou remains the native language of many Chinese people in Singapore - Chaozhou people are the second largest Chinese group in Singapore, after the
Hokkien - although Mandarin is gradually
supplanting Chaozhou as their mother tongue, especially among the younger generations.
Languages in contact
Putonghua
Chaozhou children are introduced to
Putonghua as early as in kindergarten; however, Chaozhou remains the primary medium of instruction. In the early years of primary education, Putonghua then becomes the sole language of instruction, although students typically continue to talk one another in Chaozhou. Putonghua is widely understood, however minimally, by most younger Chaozhou speakers, but the elderly usually don't speak Putonghua since, in their times, teaching was done in the local vernacular.
Chaozhou accent in Putonghua
Native Chaozhou speakers find the neutral tone in Putonghua hardest to master. Chaozhou has lost the
alveolar nasal ending [-n] and so the people often replace the sound in Putonghua 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] for [f] when they speak Putonghua. Chaozhou doesn't 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 influence from Hong Kong soap operas and the importance of Guangzhou in Guangdong province, many young Chaozhou people can understand quite a lot of
Cantonese even if they can't speak it.
Non-Chinese language
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
Chaozhou (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 Chaozhou voiced
stops and
fricatives didn't evolve from the
Middle Chinese voiced obstruents, instead, they were from the Middle Chinese
nasals. Therefore, the voiced stops [b] and [g] are in fact
prenasalised as [
mb] and [
ŋg] respectively. The voiced alveolar affricate [dz] was originally a fricative sound [z] in earlier Chaozhou and still is in some Chaoshan dialects. Southern Min languages are typified by a lack of
labio-dentals, as illustrated below:
Consonants of the Chaozhou dialect>
| |
Bilabial |
Alveolar |
Velar |
Glottal |
| Nasal | [[bilabialnasal |
[[alveolar nasal |
[[velar nasal |
|
| Plosive |
aspirated | [[voiceless bilabial plosive |
[[voiceless alveolar plosive |
[[voiceless velar plosive |
| |
voiceless | [[voiceless bilabial plosive |
[[voiceless alveolar plosive |
[[voiceless velar plosive |
[[voiceless glottal plosive | |
voiced | [[voiced bilabial plosive |
|
[[voiced velar plosive |
| |
| Fricative | |
[[voiceless alveolar fricative |
|
[[Voiceless glottal fricative
|
| Affricate |
aspirated | |
[[voiceless alveolar affricate |
|
| |
voiceless | |
[[voiceless alveolar affricate |
|
| |
voiced | |
[[voiced alveolar affricate |
|
| |
| Lateral | |
[[alveolar lateral approximant |
|
|
Oral Vowels
Nasalised Vowels Syllable
Syllables in Chaozhou 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 isn't 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 chaozhou.
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
Chaozhou, like other Chinese languages, is a
tonal language. It has six
tones (reduced to two in stopped syllables) and extensive
tone sandhi.
»
As with sandhi in other Min Nan dialects, the checked tones interchange. The
yang tones all become low.
Intonation
Grammar
The
grammar of Chaozhou is similar to 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 Chaozhou, like in other Sinitic languages, don't show case marking, therefore 我 [ua] means both
I and
me and 伊人 [inaŋ] means
they and
them. The southern Min dialects, like some northern dialects, have the 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]. None of the other southern dialects like Cantonese or Hakka has this distinction.
Possessive Pronouns
The Chaozhou language doesn't 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:
| | 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 |
your / yours |
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
[puŋ2tsɤ1 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
[ua2tiou5 kuŋ5]
my skirt
Demonstrative Pronouns
Chaozhou has the typical two-way distinction between the demonstratives, namely the proximals and the distals, as summarised in the following chart:
| | Proximal |
Distal |
| General |
Singular | 只個 |
this |
許個 |
that
|
| Plural | 只撮 |
these |
許撮 |
those
|
| Spatial | 只塊 |
here |
許塊 |
there
|
| 只內 |
inside |
許內 |
inside |
| 只口 |
outside |
許口 |
outside |
| Temporal | 只陣 / 當 |
now; recently |
許陣 / 當 |
then
|
| Adverbial | 這生 |
like this |
向生 |
like that
|
| Degree | 醬 |
this |
向 |
that
|
| Type | 者個 |
this kind |
向個 |
that kind
|
Interrogative Pronouns
| / | (底)珍 [titieŋ]
|
| 底人 [tinaŋ] |
| | 乜個 [miʔkai]
|
| 底個 [tikai] |
| | 乜 + N [miʔ]
|
| | 底 + NUM + CL + (N) [ti]
|
| | 底塊 [tiko]
|
| | 珍時 [tieŋsi]
|
| |
manner | 做呢 [tsoni]
|
| state | 在些(樣) [tsaisẽ ĩẽ]
|
| 乜些樣 [miʔsẽ ĩẽ] |
| 什乜樣 [simiʔ ĩẽ] |
| | 幾 + CL + N [kui]
|
| 若多 + (CL) + (N) [dzieʔtsoi] |
| | 若多 [dzieʔtsoi]
|
| | 做呢 [tsoni]
|
Numerals
The cardinal number system works in pretty much the same way as the
Mandarin one.
| Pronunciation |
Financial |
Normal |
Value |
Notes |
| liŋ5 |
|
|
0 (number) |
〇 is an informal way to represent zero, but 零 is more commonly used, especially in schools.
also 空 [kang3] |
| tsek8 |
|
|
1 |
also [tsek8] (original character)
also 弌 (obsolete)
also [ik4] as the last digit of a 2-or-more-digit number for example 二十一 [dzi6tsap8 ik4]
or days of a month for example 一號 [ik4ho7]
or as an ordinal number for example 第一 [tõĩ6ik4]
also 么(T) or 幺(S) [iou1] when used in phone numbers etc. |
| no6 |
(T) or
两(S) |
|
2 |
also 弍 (obsolete)
also (T) or 贰(S)
also [dzi6] as the last digit of a 2-or-more-digit number for example 三十二 [sã1tsap8 dzi6]
or days of a month for example 二號 [dzi6ho7]
or as an ordinal number for example 第二 [tõĩ6dzi6]. |
| sã1 |
(T) or
叁(S) |
|
3 |
also 弎 (obsolete)
also 參(T) or 参(S) [sã1]. |
| si3 |
|
|
4 |
|
| ŋou6 |
|
|
5 |
|
| lak8 |
|
|
6 |
|
| tsʰik4 |
|
|
7 |
|
| poiʔ4 |
|
|
8 |
|
| kao2 |
|
|
9 |
|
| tsap8 |
|
|
10 |
Although some people use 什, It isn't 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.
Classifiers
Syntax
The Noun Phrase
Reduplication Nominalisation Modification of the NP The Verb Phrase
Auxiliary Verbs
Tense Aspect Transitivity Voice
In Chaozhou 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's 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.
Remember that while in Putonghua we can have the agent introducer 被 bèi or 給 gěi alone without the agent itself, it's
not grammatical to say
* 個杯
分敲掉
[kai5pue1 puŋ1 kʰa1 tiau7]
the cup was broken.
(cf. Putonghua: 杯子給打破了
bēizi gěi dǎ pò le)
Instead, we've to say:
個杯分人敲掉
[kai5pue1 puŋ1 naŋ5 kʰa1 tiau7]
Even though this 人 [naŋ5] is unknown.
Note also that the agent phrase 分人 [puŋ1naŋ5] 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 (for example
German,
Dutch)
Modality
Sentence Final Particles Adverbs Coverbs Negation Interrogation Comparison
The comparative construction with two or more nouns
Chaozhou 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:
伊雅過你
[i1ŋia2 kue3 lɤ2]
She is more beautiful than you.
Cantonese uses the same construction:
cf. 佢靚過你 [kʰœy5leŋ3 kʷɔ3 nei5]
However, due to influences from Mandarin Chinese, 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。
[i1pi2 lɤ2 ŋia2]
cf. Mandarin 她比你漂亮 (tā bǐ nǐ piào liang)
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
[i1iou6 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 Chaozhou 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 bǐ jiào piào liang) & Cantonese 佢靚
啲 [kʰœy5leŋ3 ti1]
There are two words which are intrinsically comparative in meaning, for example 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
[tsi2nĩã2 kuŋ5 su1 kue3 hɤ2 nĩã2]
This skirt isn't as good as that one.
我內個電腦贏伊個好多
[ua2lai6 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 [hoʔ2tsoi7] at the end of the sentence to express a higher degree.
The equal construction
In Chaozhou, the idea of equality is expressed with the word 平 [pẽ5] or 平樣 [pẽ5ĩẽ7]:
只本書佮許本平重。
[tsi2puŋ2 tsɤ1 kaʔ4 hɤ2 puŋ2 pẽ5 taŋ6]
This book is as heavy as that one.
伊兩人平平樣。
[i1no6 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, Chaozhou uses the adverb 上 [siaŋ5] or 上頂 [siaŋ5teŋ2]. However, it should be noted that 上頂 is usually used with a complimentary connotation.
只間物上頂好食。
[tsi2kõĩ1 mueʔ8 siaŋ5 teŋ2 ho2 tsiaʔ8]
This (restaurant) is (absolutely) the most delicious.
伊人對我上好。
[i1naŋ5 tui3 ua2 siaŋ5 ho2]
They treat me best.
Vocabulary
The vocabulary of Chaozhou shares a lot of similarities with Cantonese owing to their continuous contact with each other. Like Cantonese, Chaozhou has a great deal of
monosyllabic words, which to a certain extent reflects the age of the Chaozhou language since monosyllabic words were prevalent in
Ancient Chinese. However, ever since the standardisation of
Modern Chinese, Chaozhou has absorbed a lot of Putonghua vocabulary, which is predominantly polysyllabic. In addition, due to the migration to Southeast Asia, Chaozhou has also borrowed extensively from
Malay.
Archaic vocabulary
Chaozhou and other Min Nan dialects such as
Taiwanese preserve a good deal of Ancient Chinese vocabulary. Examples include words such as [mak]
eye (cf. Putonghua: 眼睛 yǎnjīng; Taiwanese: 目 ba̍k), [ta]
dry (cf. Putonghua: 乾 gān; Taiwanese: 焦 ta), and [kʰɤŋ]
hide (cf. Putonghua: 藏 cáng; Taiwanese: 囥 khǹg).
Onomatopoeia
Script and orthographies
The majority of Chaozhou words can be written with the
Chinese characters; however, a small amount of the native vocabulary doesn't have a standard character yet, partly because the Chaozhou vocabulary is usually more archaic and thus not commonly used in the modern standard Chinese language and partly because the studies on dialectal writing in China have not flourished like other areas in traditional Chinese philology, and of course there's also the possibility of some locally invented words which actually don't have a Chinese character.
Romanisation
The Chaozhou language 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's 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 Chaozhou community.
Initials
Initial consonants of Chaozhou, 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:
- B - bag (北 north)
- Bh- bhê (馬/马 horse)
- C - cên (青 green)
- C - cǔi (嘴 mouth)
- C - cêng (槍/枪 gun)
- D - dio (潮 tide)
- G - gio (橋/桥 bridge)
- GH- gho (鵝/鹅 goose)
- H - hung (雲/云 cloud)
- K - ke (走 to go)
- L - lag (六 six)
- M - mêng (明 bright)
- N - nang (人 person)
- NG - ngou (五 five)
- P - peng (平 peace)
- R - riêg/ruah (熱/热 hot)
- S - sên (生 to be born)
- T - tin (天 heaven)
- Z - ziu (州 region/state)
Rimes
Vowels
Vowels and
vowel combinations in the Chaozhou dialect include: A, E, Ê, I, O, U, AI, AO, IA, IO, IU, OI, OU, UA, UAI, UE, and UI.
Examples:
A - ma (媽/妈 mother)
E - de (箸 chopsticks)
Ê - sên (生 to be born)
I - bhi (味 smell/taste)
O - to (桃 peach)
U - ghu (牛 cow)
Many words in Chaozhou are nasalized. This is represented by the letter "n" in the Guangdong Pengim system.
Example (nasalized):
suan (山 mountain)
cên (青 green)
Ending
Ending consonants in Chaozhou include M and NG as well as the stops discussed below.
Examples:
M - iam (鹽/盐 salt)
NG - bhuang (萬/万 ten thousand)
Chaozhou retains many consonant stops lost in Mandarin. These stops include a labial stop: "b"; velar stop: "g"; and glottal stop: "h".
Examples:
B - zab (十 ten)
G - hog (福 happiness)
H - tih (鐵/铁 iron)Further Information
Get more info on 'Chaozhou Dialect'.
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