The Development of Hakka Dialect —— Taking West Fujian as an Example

Summary: Hakka dialect is the most typical dialect formed by immigrants, which has certain similarities and obvious differences in different places. This paper attempts to analyze the causes of Hakka dialect differences and the factors of decline from the perspective of language development and communication channels, and draws the conclusion that "the influence of national languages is expanding day by day, and the role of dialects is decreasing day by day", reminding people to collect, sort out and preserve dialects before they disappear.

Keywords: * * * Hakka dialect differences dilute national homophones.

Dialect is a social variant of a language and the result of language differentiation. There are many reasons for language differentiation to form dialects, but generally speaking, the change of social politics and economy is the fundamental reason for language differentiation to form dialects. Modern Chinese in China is divided into seven major dialect areas (3). Most of the major dialect areas are named according to the areas where dialects are popular, such as northern dialects popular in northern China, Hunan dialects popular in Hunan (Hunan for short) and so on, while Hakka dialects are not named according to geographical areas. Hakka dialect, represented by Meixian dialect in Guangdong, is the most typical dialect formed by large-scale immigrants.

"Hakka" is relative to "local" and "Hakka" is foreign. According to historical records, Hakkas were originally Han Chinese in the Central Plains. Due to the war, since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, a large number of people from the Central Plains moved south, reaching Jiangxi near and Fujian and Guangdong far away (2). During the great migration, Hakka dialects were widely spread in the border areas of Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi. In addition, there are some Hakka islands in Hunan, Sichuan and other provinces, some Han people in Taiwan Province Province also speak Hakka, and Hakka is also widely used in Malaysian, Indonesian and other Chinese communities.

Although Hakka dialects are widely distributed in this area, there are still many phonetic similarities. These features can be roughly summarized as follows: (1) All voiced sounds are pronounced with aspirated sounds (the same as Gan dialect); (2) Some sub-voiced words (such as horse and lazy) and all-voiced words (such as companion and light) are pronounced in a flat tone; (3) Most of them are different from Sharp Group, with M/P (Cantonese and Minnan are the same); (4) In the Middle Ages, the initial consonants of larynx became lip sounds F and V, which were the same as those of some Gan dialects in Cantonese; (5) The dialects in most areas lack the initial consonants of rolling tongue and pinching mouth; (6) There are generally six tones; (7) It has certain linguistic features, such as what is the "mother knot", which means that the animal gender suffix is "Gui".

However, Hakkas are a very special ethnic group. First of all, the formation of Hakka dialect is the result of several large immigrants, which will definitely lead to obvious differences within Hakka dialect. Secondly, according to reliable data, "Hakka" is not a long-standing term, nor is it a widely accepted ethnic symbol. Probably because of the immigration tide in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties (Liu, Zhou 1996), it was named. Therefore, when we define "Hakka" from the perspective of linguistics, some people who speak "Hakka" do not consider themselves "Hakka" because they have never been to other places to be "guests". In other words, Hakka dialect is a very broad category, and there must be many differences (4). In addition, the formation of Hakka dialect is a long-term historical evolution process, and the power of dialects scattered all over the country is bound to be weaker than that of a centralized language.

Therefore, from our daily language habits, it is not difficult to find that the scope of Hakka dialect is shrinking step by step. In many urban and rural areas of Guangdong, Hakka dialect is approaching the more popular languages-Cantonese and Mandarin. The reason for this is the following：

(1) Political factors. For example, due to the opening of the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, especially because the Guangdong provincial government once moved to Shaoguan during the Anti-Japanese War, in the past half century, the urban area of Shaoguan and counties (cities) such as Qujiang, Lechang and Renhua have gradually adopted Cantonese dialect, and the popularity of one language will inevitably impact the original single language. For another example, in order to realize the national common language, our country is vigorously promoting Putonghua, and the influence of the official language is very strong, which provides conditions for the desalination of local dialects.

(2) Economic factors. Economic growth has narrowed the distance between urban and rural areas. Because of the need of communication, it is necessary to speak the same language. For Guangdong, after all, Cantonese is the main advantage, and it is inevitable that Hakka dialect will be diluted.

(3) the flow of population. With the process of reform and opening up, the peasant army has entered the city. When they go home, they not only bring back advanced living facilities, but also bring back the popular language of urbanites. The more important influence is children. Many people go out with their children. These children, born and raised, have basically forgotten how to speak Hakka.

(four) the influence of television, radio and other media. With the development of science and technology and the improvement of people's living standards, television and radio have brought popular languages in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Young people are very sensitive to fashion and have a strong ability to accept new things. The recognition of Hong Kong and Taiwan languages will definitely weaken the power of Hakka.

In addition, some parents deliberately let their children get rid of the local dialect in order to let them speak Mandarin well, some people deliberately abandon Hakka dialect in order to get rid of the image of farmers for generations, and some people have changed their original language because of the change of environment (5).

In a word, dialect is a historical phenomenon in the process of language development. In the early days of human language, only later appeared different clan languages and dialects. The development and change of language is realized through the gradual increase of new elements and the gradual elimination of old elements in a long period of time. Speaking the same language is our pursuit. With the high degree of social unity, dialects will gradually disappear. At present, the situation of Chinese in our country is: the influence of national language is expanding day by day, and the role of dialect is shrinking day by day.

Is this the case, so we can abandon these dialects? No, as far as Hakka dialect is concerned, it is the carrier of Hakka culture and one of the treasures of China's broad culture. What we have to do is to collect and sort out this language before it disappears, so that it can be preserved completely and witness the history.

Note: (1) The seven major dialect areas are Northern Dialect Area, Wu Dialect Area, Xiang Dialect Area, Guangdong Dialect Area, Min Dialect Area, Hakka Dialect Area and Gan Dialect Area. (2) The academic circles generally accept Mr. Luo Xianglin's history of Hakka migration, which is divided into five periods: the first period is from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties; The second time was between the late Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty. The third time was from the end of Song Dynasty to the beginning of Ming Dynasty; The fourth time was from Kangxi to Qianlong in Qing Dynasty. The fifth time was after Qing Gan's family. (3) With regard to the characteristics of Hakka dialects, although various opinions are slightly different, the summarized arguments are roughly the same. (4) What is said here is that Hakka dialect may be mixed with local accents in the development process, resulting in inconsistency. (5) Many immigrants do as the Romans do, and their descendants will gradually forget the dialects spoken by their ancestors and elders.

Bibliography: Dialectics of Chinese, Southwest Normal University Press, 2003, Series of Chinese Dialects, Huang Jia and other Beijing Language and Culture University Press 1997, Series of Chinese Dialect Studies, Li Rulong, Jinan University Press, 2002, Hakka Dialect Studies, Li Rulong, Zhou Tianjian, 2003, Comparative Studies of Chinese Dialects, Li Rulong, Commercial Press, 2003, Chinese Dialect Vocabulary.