Singapore immigrants in Shantou

There are many people who study Chaoshan dialect, and there are also many monographs, dictionaries and dictionaries about Chaoshan dialect. For Chaoshan people, Chaoshan dialect is a bond to maintain feelings and has great cohesion. Especially in foreign countries. The same accent is better than "one of our own".

Chaoshan dialects in different parts of Chaoshan area are also different, and languages in different cities or regions have their own characteristics.

Many people in Chaoshan dialect prefer to call themselves Chaozhou dialect, especially overseas hipsters, and they are more accustomed to calling themselves chaozhou people. You can refer to Chaozhou dialect entries.

Chaoshan dialect-history and geography

The ancient Chaozhou dialect originated from the ancient Minnan dialect. Chaozhou people's ancestors originally lived in the Central Plains. During the 9th century to15th century, in order to escape the war, some Fujian people migrated to the seaside, arrived in Putian, Fujian, settled for a period of time, and then collectively moved south to the eastern part of Guangdong, which is today's Chaoshan area. The reason for immigration is probably the overpopulation of Fujian.

Due to geographical isolation, Chaozhou dialect has gradually developed into an independent dialect.

Chaozhou dialect originated from Chaozhou prefecture, which is the origin of its name. The ancient Chaozhou mansion includes modern Chaozhou, Shantou, Jieyang, Chaoyang, Puning, Chaoan, Raoping, Huilai and Chenghai. Both Tai Po and Fengshun in Hakka dialect areas have residents who speak Chaozhou dialect. There are also residents who speak Hakka in the main Chaozhou dialect distribution areas such as Raoping, Lufeng and Haifeng.

/kloc-from 0/8 to the 20th century, Chaozhou residents were one of the main ethnic groups of Chinese immigrants to Southeast Asia, so Chaozhou dialect became one of the main dialects of overseas Chinese. Therefore, many people in the Chinese community outside the Chaoshan area speak Chaoshan dialect.

Among them, many chaozhou people have settled in Thailand and Cambodia, becoming the largest Chinese ethnic group there. Chaozhou people has formed important ethnic groups in Hongkong, Viet Nam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia (especially Riau, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, Kundian and Chittagong in West Kalimantan). Some chaozhou people also live in Australia, New Zealand, North America and Europe, some from Chaozhou and some from Southeast Asia.

However, with the popularization of globalization, the number of people who speak Chaozhou dialect as their mother tongue is gradually decreasing. Influenced by the same culture and media, many Chinese-Singaporean teenagers, whose mother tongue was Chaozhou dialect, switched to English, Chinese and Minnan dialect (which has some interoperability with Chaozhou dialect). Chinese has gradually replaced Chaozhou dialect and become the mother tongue of young people. Nevertheless, Chaozhou dialect is still the mother tongue of many Chinese in Singapore, and chaozhou people is the second largest ethnic group of Chinese in Singapore, second only to Minnan people.

Sources and courses

Chaoshan dialect is widely used in Chaoshan area of eastern Guangdong and overseas Chinese. It is an old saying with a high reputation, belonging to the Minnan family, but it is very different from Minnan in Fujian and Taiwan. Grammar, like Fujian and Taiwan films, has a high degree of vocabulary correspondence, but there are obvious differences in pronunciation and intonation, which makes it difficult to communicate with each other. The areas where Chaoshan dialect blends with Fujian and Taiwan have pronunciation characteristics, such as Zhaoan, Fujian. Chaoshan dialect contains a lot of ancient Chinese elements. In ancient times, Chaoshan ancestors first lived in the Central Plains. In order to escape the war, they migrated all the way to the seaside and arrived in Putian, Fujian. After a period of settlement, they collectively moved to today's Chaoshan area. Therefore, Chaoshan dialect is a legacy of ancient Chinese and is also influenced by ethnic minorities in southern Guangdong.

Relationship with other languages

mandarin

Children in Chaoshan area began to learn Mandarin as early as kindergarten. Before entering primary school, Chaozhou dialect was still the main teaching language, and then only Mandarin was used. Although local students still communicate in Chaozhou dialect. Most locals can understand Mandarin, but young people can generally understand it. Older people can't speak Mandarin because Chaozhou dialect was used as the teaching language in schools in the past.

People who speak Chaozhou dialect as their mother tongue think that the light tone of Mandarin is the most difficult to master. In addition, Chaozhou dialect has lost its gingival nasal vowel [-n], so Chaozhou dialect users often pronounce the vowel (initial n) of Mandarin as soft palate nasal [-? ]。

Minnan dialect and its branches are the same as the Middle Ages, and there are no pouting (vowels without front round lips), labial teeth sound and tongue rolling sound. For example, vowel [y] with round lips before closing is misread as vowel without round lips before closing; The pronunciation of [f] with clear lips and teeth in Putonghua is [h] with clear throat; Mandarin initial zh[t? ]、ch[t]、sh[？ ] and r[? ] is pronounced as [ts], [tsh], [s] and [z] respectively.

Hakka

Because Chaoan, Raoping and Jieyang are close to the Hakka dialect area in the north, some people in these areas can speak Hakka besides Chaozhou dialect. Chaoshan people often contact with Hakka people, but it is interesting that Hakka dialect has little influence on Chaozhou dialect. Similarly, both Tai Po and Fengshun are places where Chaozhou dialect and Hakka dialect meet, and some people speak Chaozhou dialect, even though Hakka dialect is still the most important language.

Guangzhou people

Influenced by Hong Kong Opera and Guangzhou's influence on Guangdong Province, many young people in Chaozhou can understand even if they don't know Cantonese.

Non-Chinese language

Chaozhou dialect was influenced by ethnic minorities in southern Guangdong in the early days. Later, many chaozhou people moved to Southeast Asia, so Thai, Khmer, Vietnamese and Malay all influenced the development of Chaozhou dialect in Southeast Asia.

Be distributed

Cities in Chaoshan area: Shantou (including Chaoyang District, Chaonan District, Chenghai District and Nan 'ao County), Chaozhou (including Chaoan County and Raoping County), Jieyang City (including Jiedong County, Jiexi County, Puning City and Huilai County), Shanwei City (including Lufeng City, Haifeng County and Luhe County) and Fengshun County.

The intonation of Chaoshan dialect varies from region to region, but most of them can communicate smoothly and talk to each other.

According to the city can be divided into the following categories:

1. Chaozhou sound;

2. Shantou sound;

3. Cheng Haiyin;

4. Chaoyang sound;

5. Jieyang voice;

6. Shanwei sound.

According to the river basin can be divided into the following categories:

1. Tone of Hanjiang River Basin;

2. The intonation of Lianjiang Valley;

3. The intonation of Rongjiang Valley;

4. The regional intonation of Hai Lufeng.