Haifeng Dialect
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Haklau, or Hai Lok Hong, is a variety of
Southern Min Southern Min (), Minnan ( Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Chinese languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian (especially the Minnan region), most of Taiwa ...
spoken in
Shanwei Shanwei ( zh, c= ), or Swabue, or also commonly known as Hailufeng ( zh, c= , portmanteau of Haifeng and Lufeng) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. It borders Jieyang to the east, Meizhou and ...
,
Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
province,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. While it is related to Teochew and
Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...
, its exact classification in relation to them is disputed.


Etymology

The word ''Haklau'' ( ''Ha̍k-láu'', also written as ) is the
Southern Min Southern Min (), Minnan ( Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Chinese languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian (especially the Minnan region), most of Taiwa ...
pronuciation of ''Hoklo'', originally a Hakka
exonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
for the Southern Min speakers, including Hoklo and
Teochew people The Teochew (), Teo-Swa, or Chaoshanese are an ethnic group historically native to the Chaoshan region in south China who speak the Teochew language. Today, most ethnic Teochew people live throughout Chaoshan and Hong Kong, and also outside ...
. Although originally it was perceived as a derogatory term, the Southern Min speakers in
Shanwei Shanwei ( zh, c= ), or Swabue, or also commonly known as Hailufeng ( zh, c= , portmanteau of Haifeng and Lufeng) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. It borders Jieyang to the east, Meizhou and ...
self-identify as ''Haklau'' and distinguish themselves from Teochew people and Hokkien people. Overseas Hai Lok Hong people still do not like this appellation. Historically, the Hai Lok Hong region was not a part of Teochew prefecture (, the region currently known as ''Teo-Swa'' or ''Chaoshan''), but was included in the primarily
Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...
-speaking Huizhou prefecture (). Modern
Huizhou Huizhou ( zh, c= ) is a city in east-central Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, Hey ...
city (particularly the Huidong County) also has a Haklau-speaking minority. The word ''Hai Lok Hong'' ( ''Hái-lio̍k-hong'') is a
portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.
of ''Hai Hong'' (, Mandarin ''Haifeng'') and ''Lok Hong'' (, Mandarin ''Lufeng''), where it is mainly spoken. The character has multiple pronunciations in Southern Min: the reading ''le̍k'' is vernacular, it is common in Teochew, but rarely used in Hokkien and Haklau itself; the reading ''lio̍k'' (Hokkien, Haklau) or ''lo̍k'' (Teochew) is literary and commonly used in Hokkien and Haklau, but not Teochew, yet its Teochew rendering is the source of English ''Hai Lok Hong''.


Classification

The ''Language Atlas of China'' classifies Hai Lok Hong as part of Teochew. Other classifications pinpoint the phonological features of Hai Lok Hong that are not found in Teochew, but instead are typical for Chiangchew Hokkien. These features include: * the final /-i/ in characters like ''hî'' 'fish', ''gí'' 'language', and the final /-u/ in ''chū'' 'self', ''sū'' 'matter', as in Chiangchew Hokkien. Northern Teochew has /-ɯ/ in these words, while Southern Teochew (the Teoyeo dialect) has them with /-u/. * the final /-uĩ/ in words like ''mûi'' 'door; gate', ''kuiⁿ'' 'light'. Teochew has them with /-ɯŋ/ or /-uŋ/. * the finals /-e/ ( ''chě'' 'to sit', ''té'' 'short'), /-eʔ/ ( ''cheh'' 'festival', ''che̍h'' 'to cut') and /-ei/ ( ''kei'' 'chicken', ''kei'' 'street'), as in rural southern dialects of Hokkien (such as
Zhangpu Zhangpu County () is a county of Zhangzhou prefecture-level city in far southern Fujian province, People's Republic of China with 847,535 (2020 census). The county seat is located in the town of Sui'an (). Zhangpu is bordered by the Longhai Cit ...
,
Yunxiao Yunxiao County () is a county of Zhangzhou prefecture level city, in the south of Fujian province, People's Republic of China. The county had a population of 411,558 according to the 2020 Census. The county spans an area of . The county postcode ...
, or Chawan), corresponding to Teochew /-o/, /-oiʔ/ and /-oi/. Conservative Northern Hokkien dialects have these words with /-ə/, /-əeʔ/, and /-əe/ respectively. * the preservation of the codas /-n/ and /-t/ (as in ''mîn'' 'people; nation' and ''kut'' 'bone'), which are merged with /-ŋ/ and /-k/ in most dialects of Teochew. Still, Hai Lok Hong also has features typical for Teochew, but not Hokkien, such as: * the preservation of 8 tones, pronounced similarly to Northern Teochew. Most dialects of Hokkien only have 7 citation tones. * the final /-uaŋ/ in ''khuàng'' 'situation', ''buâng'' 'to perish', which has merged with /-oŋ/ in Hokkien. * less extensive denasalization: Hai Lok Hong and Teochew differentiate between ''nge̍k'' 'to go against' and ''ge̍k'' 'jade' , or ''ngî'' 'suitable' and ''gî'' 'doubt', while in Hokkien, these pairs are merged (''ge̍k'' and ''gî'' respectively). Lexically, Hai Lok Hong also shares some traits with Teochew: ''kâi'' '(possessive particle)', ''àiⁿ'' 'to want', ''théi'' 'to see' — compare Hokkien ''--ê'', ''beh'' and ''khòaⁿ''.


Notes


References

{{Guangdong topics Hokkien-language dialects Shanwei Southern Min