Penang Hokkien

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A Penang Hokkien speaker, recorded in Malaysia.

Penang Hokkien (traditional Chinese: 檳城福建話; simplified Chinese: 槟城福建话; Tâi-lô: Pin-siânn Hok-kiàn-uā; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Pin-siâⁿ Hok-kiàn-ōa, [pin˦ɕã˨˦ hoʔ˦kiɛn˧˩ua˧]) is a local variant of Hokkien spoken in Penang, Malaysia. It is spoken as a mother tongue by 63.9% of Penang's Chinese community,^[1] and also by some Penangite Indians and Penangite Malays.^[2]

It was once the lingua franca among the majority Chinese population in Penang, Kedah, Perlis and northern Perak. However, since the 1980s, many young speakers have shifted towards Malaysian Mandarin, under the in Chinese-medium schools in Malaysia, even though Mandarin was not previously spoken in these regions.^{[3][4][5][2][6]} Mandarin has been adopted as the only language of instruction in Chinese schools and, from the 1980s to mid-2010s, the schools had rules to penalize students and teachers for using non-Mandarin varieties of Chinese.^[7]

Penang Hokkien is a subdialect of Zhangzhou (漳州; Hokkien: Tsiang-tsiu) Chinese, with widespread use of Malay and English loanwords. Compared to dialects in Fujian province, it most closely resembles the variety spoken in the district of Haicang (海滄) in Longhai (龍海; Hokkien: Liông-hái) county and in the districts of Jiaomei (角美) and (杏林) in neighbouring Xiamen prefecture.^{[citation needed]} In Southeast Asia, similar dialects are spoken in the states bordering Penang (Kedah, Perlis and northern Perak), as well as in Medan and North Sumatra, Indonesia. It is markedly distinct from Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien and Taiwanese Hokkien.

Orthography[]

Penang Hokkien is largely a spoken language: it is rarely written in Chinese characters, and there is no official standard romanisation. In recent years, there has been a growing body of romanised Penang Hokkien material; however, topics are mostly limited to the language itself such as dictionaries and learning materials. This is linked to efforts to preserve, revitalise and promote the language as part of Penang's cultural heritage, due to increasing awareness of the loss of Penang Hokkien usage among younger generations in favour of Mandarin and English. The standard romanisation systems commonly used in these materials are based on Tâi-lô and Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ), with varying modifications to suit Penang Hokkien phonology.

A Char Koay Teow stall. An example of how a Penangite writes Penang Hokkien using ad hoc methods.

The Hokkien Language Association of Penang (Persatuan Bahasa Hokkien Pulau Pinang; 庇能福建話協會) is one such organisation which promotes the language's usage and revitalisation. Through their Speak Hokkien Campaign they promote a Tâi-lô based system modified to suit the phonology of Penang Hokkien and its loanwords. This system is used throughout this article and its features are detailed below.

The Speak Hokkien Campaign also promotes the use of traditional Chinese characters derived from recommended character lists for written Hokkien published by Taiwan's Ministry of Education.

Most native-speakers are not aware of these standardised systems and resort to ad hoc methods of romanisation based on English, Malay and Pinyin spelling rules. These methods are in common use for many proper names and food items, e.g. Char Kway Teow (炒粿條 Tshá-kúe-tiâu). These spellings are often inconsistent and highly variable with several alternate spellings being well established, e.g. Char Koay Teow. These methods, which are more intuitive to the average native-speaker, are the basis of non-standard romanisation systems used in some written material.

Phonology[]

Consonants[]

• Unlike other dialects of Hokkien, coronal affricates and fricatives remain the same and do not become alveolo-palatal before /i/, e.g. 時 [si].
• The consonants ⟨f⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨r⟩ and ⟨sh⟩ are only used in loanwords.

Vowels[]

• In the Tâi-lô system for Penang Hokkien, nasal vowels are indicated using final ⟨-nn⟩, while POJ uses superscript ⟨◌ⁿ⟩. Vowel nasalisation also occurs in words that have nasal initials (⟨m-⟩, ⟨n-⟩, ⟨ng-⟩), however, this is not indicated, e.g. 卵 nūi (/nuĩ/).
  For most speakers who are not aware of POJ or Tâi-lô, nasalisation is commonly indicated by putting an ⟨n⟩ after the initial consonant of a word. This is commonly seen for the popular Penang delicacy Tau Sar Pneah (豆沙餅 Tāu-sa-piánn). In other instances, nasalisation may not be indicated at all, such as in Popiah (薄餅 po̍h-piánn), or as in the common last name Ooi (黃 Uînn).
• The rime ⟨ionn⟩ is a variant pronunciation of ⟨iaunn⟩. The two may be used interchangeably in Penang Hokkien, e.g. 張 tiaunn/tionn, 羊 iâunn/iônn.
• When ⟨ia⟩ is followed by final ⟨-n⟩ or ⟨-t⟩, it is pronounced [iɛ], with ⟨ian⟩ and ⟨iat⟩ being pronounced as [iɛn] and [iɛt̚] respectively.
  In speech, these sounds are often reduced to [ɛn] and [ɛt̚], e.g. 免 mián/mén.
• When ⟨i⟩ is followed by final ⟨-k⟩ or ⟨-ng⟩, it is pronounced as /ek̚/ and /eŋ/ respectively rather than other dialects which will pronounced as [iɪk̚] and [iɪŋ] respectively. e.g. 色 sik /sek̚/.
• ⟨ioo⟩ is a variant of ⟨io⟩ which is only found with the initial ⟨n-⟩, e.g. 娘 niôo.
• Diphthongs <ua> and <au> often romanised as <wa> and <aw> respectively. e.g. 我 wá/uá /u̯a/, 够 kàw/kàu /kaʊ/.
• Loanwords with diphthongs <ia> often romanised as <ya>. e.g. 捎央 sa-yang /sa-iaŋ/.

Rhymes[]

• * Used in loanwords, variants and onomatopoeia

Tones[]

In Penang Hokkien, the two Departing tones (3rd & 7th) are virtually identical, and may not be distinguished except in their sandhi forms. Most native speakers of Penang Hokkien are therefore only aware of four tones in unchecked syllables (high, low, rising, high falling), and two Entering tones (high and low) in checked syllables. In most systems of romanisation, this is accounted as seven tones altogether. The tones are:

The names of the tones no longer bear any relation to the tone contours. The (upper) Rising (2nd) tone has two variants in Penang Hokkien, a high falling tone [˥˧] (53) and a high rising tone [˦˦˥] (445). The high falling tone [˥˧] (53) is more common among the older generations while in the younger generations there has been a shift towards the use of the high rising tone [˦˦˥] (445). When the 3rd tone is sandhied to the 2nd tone, the high falling variant [˥˧] (53) is used, however some speakers may sandhi the 3rd tone to the 1st tone [˦] (44).^[8] As in Amoy and Zhangzhou, there is no lower Rising (6th) tone.

Tone sandhi[]

Like in other Minnan dialects, the tone of a syllable in Penang Hokkien depends on where in a phrase or sentence the relevant syllable is placed. For example, the word 牛 gû in isolation is pronounced with an ascending tone, [˨˧] (23), but when it combines with a following syllable, as in 牛肉 gû-bah, it is pronounced with a low tone, [˨˩] (21).

The rules which apply when a syllable is placed in front of a connected syllable in standard Minnan, simply put, are as follows:

• 1st becomes 7th
• 7th becomes 3rd
• 3rd becomes 2nd (often sounds like 1st in Penang Hokkien)
• 2nd becomes 1st
• 5th becomes 7th

Checked syllables (-h):

• 4th becomes 2nd (often sounds like 1st in Penang Hokkien)
• 8th becomes 3rd

Checked syllables (-p,-t,-k):

• 4th becomes 8th
• 8th becomes 4th

Although the two departing tones (3rd & 7th) are virtually identical in Penang Hokkien, in their sandhi forms they become [˥˧] (53) and [˨˩] (21) and are thus easily distinguishable.

The "tone wheel" concept does not work perfectly for all speakers of Penang Hokkien.^[9]

Minnan and Mandarin tones[]

There is a reasonably reliable correspondence between Hokkien and Mandarin tones:

• Upper Level: Hokkien 1st tone = Mandarin 1st tone, e.g. 雞 ke/jī.
• Lower Level: Hokkien 5th tone = Mandarin 2nd tone, e.g. 龍 lêng/lóng.
• Rising: Hokkien 2nd tone = Mandarin 3rd tone, e.g. 馬 bée/mǎ.
• Departing: Hokkien 3rd/7th tones = Mandarin 4th tone, e.g. 兔 thòo/tù, 象 tshiōnn/xiàng.

Words with Entering tones all end with ⟨-p⟩, ⟨-t⟩, ⟨-k⟩ or ⟨-h⟩ (glottal stop). As Mandarin no longer has any Entering tones, there is no simple corresponding relationship for the Hokkien 4th and 8th tones, e.g. 國 kok/guó, but 發 huat/fā. The tone in Mandarin often depends on what the initial consonant of the syllable is (see the article on Entering tones for details).

Literary and colloquial pronunciations[]

Hokkien has not been taught in schools in Penang since the establishment of the Republic of China in 1911, when Mandarin was made the Chinese national language. As such, few if any people have received any formal instruction in Hokkien, and it is not used for literary purposes. However, as in other variants of Min Nan, most words have both literary and colloquial pronunciations, and the literary pronunciations still appear in limited circumstances, e.g.:

• in given names (but generally not surnames), e.g. 安 an rather than uann, 玉 gio̍k rather than ge̍k, 月 goa̍t rather than goe̍h, 明 bêng rather than mêe;
• in a few surnames, e.g. 葉 ia̍p rather than hio̍h
• in other proper names, e.g. 龍山堂 Liông-san-tông rather than Lêng-soaⁿ-tn̂g
• in certain set phrases, e.g. 差不多 tsha-put-to rather than tshee-m̄-to, 見笑 kiàn-siàu rather than kìnn-tshiò
• in certain names of herbs and spice, e.g. 木瓜 bo̍k-koa rather than ba̍k-koa, 五香 ngó͘-hiong rather than gō͘-hiong
• in certain names of professions, eg. 學生 ha̍k-seng instead of o̍h-seⁿ, 醫生 i-seng rather than i-seⁿ and 老君 ló-kun instead of lāu-kun. An exception is 先生 sin-seⁿ

Unlike in China, Taiwan, and the Philippines, the literary pronunciations of numbers higher than two are not used when giving telephone numbers, etc.; e.g. 二五四 jī-gō͘-sì instead of jī-ngó͘-sù. Literary variants are generally eschewed in favour of colloquial pronunciations, e.g. 大學 tuā-o̍h instead of tāi-ha̍k. Notable exceptions include 學生 ha̍k-seng instead of o̍h-seⁿ and 醫生 i-seng rather than i-seⁿ.

Differences from other Minnan dialects[]

Although Penang Hokkien is based on the Zhangzhou dialect, which in many cases result from the influence of other Minnan dialects.

• The use of Zhangzhou pronunciations such as 糜 muâi (Amoy: bê), 先生 sin-senn (Amoy: sian-sinn), etc.;
• The use of Zhangzhou expressions such as 調羹 thâu-kiong (Amoy: 湯匙 thng-sî)
• The adoption of pronunciations from Teochew: e.g. 我 uá (Zhangzhou: guá), 我儂 uang, 汝儂 luang, 伊儂 iang (Zhangzhou and Amoy: 阮 gún/guán, 恁 lín,