Raoping Hakka (;
Taiwanese Hakka Romanization System: ), also known as Shangrao Hakka (), is a dialect of
Hakka Chinese
Hakka ( zh, c=, p=Kèjiāhuà; '' Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: '', zh, c=, p=Kèjiāyǔ; '' Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: '') forms a language group of varieties of Chinese, spoken natively by the Hakka people in parts of Southern China, Taiwan, some diaspora areas ...
spoken in
Raoping,
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 ...
, as well as
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
.
Distribution
In Raoping County, Hakka is spoken in the north, including the towns of Shangshan, Shangrao, Raoyang, Jiucun, Jianrao, and Xinfeng, as well as some villages in Hanjiang Forest Farm. As of 2005, there are 190,000 Hakka speakers in Raoping County (19% of the county's population).
The distribution of Raoping Hakka in Taiwan is scattered. It is mainly spoken in
Taoyuan City
Taoyuan () is a special municipality located in northwestern Taiwan, neighboring New Taipei City to the north-east, Yilan County to the south-east, and Hsinchu County to the south-west. Taoyuan District is the seat of the municipal gove ...
(
Zhongli,
Pingzhen,
Xinwu,
Guanyin
Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...
,
Bade),
Hsinchu County
Hsinchu is a County (Taiwan), county in Regions of Taiwan, north-western Taiwan. The population of the county is mainly Hakka people, Hakka; with a Taiwanese aboriginal minority in the southeastern part of the county. Zhubei is the county seat ...
(
Zhubei
Zhubei ( Wade-Giles: ''Chupei''; Hakka PFS: ''Chuk-pet''; Hokkien POJ: ''Tek-pak'') is a city in Hsinchu County, Taiwan. It is one of the island's fastest-growing settlements, with a population gain of 51,000 between 2010 and 2019, the highes ...
,
Qionglin),
Miaoli County
Miaoli is a county (Taiwan), county in western Taiwan. Miaoli is bordered by Hsinchu County and Hsinchu City to the north, Taichung to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the west. Miaoli is Regions of Taiwan, classified as "central Taiwan" by t ...
(
Zhuolan), and
Taichung City
Taichung (, Wade–Giles: '), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality in central Taiwan. Taichung is Taiwan's second-largest city, with more than 2.85 million residents, making it the largest city in Central Taiwan. It serves as th ...
(
Dongshi). In 2013, only 1.6% of Hakka people in Taiwan were reported to be able to communicate in the Raoping dialect.
Contact with surrounding varieties
Raoping Hakka has some phonological and lexical features that appear to come from contact with
Teochew. Some nasalized vowels come from Teochew, such as 'nose' (Teochew ), 'to like' (Teochew ). Some characters that were pronounced with a initial () in
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...
but with or in the
Meixian dialect
The Meixian dialect (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Mòi-yan-fa; IPA: ), also known as Moiyan dialect, as well as Meizhou dialect (), or Jiaying dialect and Gayin dialect, Kayin dialect is the prestige dialect of Hakka Chinese. It is named after Meixian Dis ...
are pronounced with , just like in Teochew, such as 'bitter' (Meixian , Teochew ), 'to go' (Meixian , Teochew ). There is also many shared lexical items with Teochew:
In Taiwan, Raoping Hakka is in contact with other varieties of Hakka, notably
Sixian and
Hailu dialects. There are some phonological and morphological features that appear to originate in these surrounding varieties. For example, in Taoyuan near Sixian-speaking areas, the diminutive suffix is pronounced as it is pronounced in Sixian, while in Hailu-dominant Hsinchu, the suffix is pronounced as the Hailu .
See also
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Taiwanese Hakka
Taiwanese Hakka is a language group consisting of Hakka dialects spoken in Taiwan, and mainly used by people of Hakka ancestry. Taiwanese Hakka is divided into five main dialects: Sixian, Hailu, Dabu, Raoping, and Zhao'an. The most widel ...
Notes
References
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Hakka Chinese
Languages of Taiwan
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