The Hakka dialect in Singapore

Hakka is one of the five major Chinese dialects in Singapore. The local Hakka community comes mainly from Meizhou, Dabu, and Fengshun in Guangdong province, as well as Longyan and Yongding in Fujian. According to the Singapore Population Census in 1881, local Hakkas accounted for 7.1% of the total Chinese population. In 1931, they made up 4.6% of the total Chinese population, and as of 2020, they constituted 8.6%, or approximately 259,000 people. The Hakka population in Singapore is smaller than the Hokkien dialect group, Teochew dialect group and Cantonese dialect group, but larger than the Hainan dialect group.¹

The Hakka dialect exhibits distinctive features in terms of phonetics, vocabulary, and syntax. These are closely linked to the development, settlement, and interactions of the local Hakka community in Singapore.

Phonology

The Hakka dialect has some unique phonetic features:

• Initial consonants in some characters with archaic sounds are pronounced as aspirated sounds in Hakka. For example, bìng 病 (illness) is pronounced[p^hia ŋ] in Hakka; jiàn 件 (item) is pronounced[k^hi ɛ n], and zuò 坐 (sit) is [ts^ho].
• In Mandarin Chinese, vowels are classified into four shapes of the mouth and strength of aspirated sounds, a system known as Si Hu 四呼. They are the “open mouth”, “even teeth”, “closed mouth”, and “pursed mouth” vowels. Hakka only has three vowel categories, lacking the “pursed mouth” type. Whenever there is a “pursed mouth” vowel in Mandarin, Hakka speakers pronounce it as an “even teeth” vowel. For example, xū is pronounced as xī, yú as yí, yuán as yán, qún as qín.
• Hakka retains the nasal endings -m -n -ŋ and entering tone endings -p -t -k from ancient phonetics.
• Hakka has six tones and preserves the entering tone class from ancient times. The dialect retains a significant number of archaic sounds, carrying a distinctive charm when used to recite classical poetry, lyrics, musical compositions, and literary works.

Vocabulary

There are notable differences between Hakka and Mandarin vocabulary:

• Personal pronouns in Mandarin wǒ (I/me), nǐ (you), tā, (he/she) correspond to 𠊎 [ŋai], 你/尔/汝 [n], and 佢 [ki] in Hakka. As the use of the first-person pronoun [ŋai] is unique to the Hakka dialect and not found in other dialects, Hakka is also colloquially referred to as 𠊎话、哎话 “[ŋai] dialect”.
• In Mandarin, the terms differentiating gender are gong (male) and mǔ (female), as well as xióng (male) and cí (female). However, Hakka has its own expressions for gender differentiation. The term for the male gender is expressed as 公gōng and 牯 gǔ. For example, in 阿公(grandfather), 鸡公(rooster), 贼牯(male thief), and 牛牯(bull). The terms for the female gender are 婆pó and 嫲má, For example, in 阿婆(grandmother), 鸡嫲 (hen), 贼嫲(female thief), and 牛嫲(cow).
• Hakka contains some loan words from other languages. Their pronunciation is adapted based on the phonetics of the Hakka dialect. For example, sit loh di refers to the act of eating bread or biscuits (loh ti is derived from the Malay word roti). Another example would be dōh lóng, meaning to help or assist, borrowed from Malay tolong. Although these borrowed vocabularies are also found in other local dialects, the respective pronunciations reflect each dialect’s unique tonal patterns.

Syntax

In terms of syntax, there are some differences between Hakka and Mandarin, especially in the use of 过guò in comparative sentences:

• In Mandarin, 比bǐ is commonly used for making comparisons, while in Hakka, 过guò is used as the comparative marker. For example:
  • Mandarin: Gǒu bǐ māo dà (dogs are larger than cats)
    Hakka: 狗比猫过大 [keu pi miau kɔ tʰai]

• • Mandarin: Wǒ bǐ tā pang (I weighed more than him)
    Hakka: 𠊎比佢过肥 [ŋai pi ki kɔ fui/p^hui].

• The positions of direct and indirect objects in a double-object sentence are relatively flexible in Hakka. For example, 佢分钱𠊎 [Ki fun ts^hien ŋai ] (He gives money to me) or 佢分𠊎钱 [Ki fun ŋai ts^hien] (He gives me money) both works.
• Passive constructions in Hakka rarely use the prepositions 被bei or 给 gei as in Mandain. Instead, the verb 分fen (pronounced “buun” in Hakka) is employed. For example:
  • 𠊎分狗咬欸 [ŋai fun keu ŋau hoi]: I was bitten by a dog.
  • 碗公分佢打烂欸 [uan koŋ fun ki ta lan hoi]: The bowl was broken by him.

Development of the Hakka dialect

Within the Hakka community, there are several differences in how the dialect is spoken. For example, the pronunciation of the character 客ke varies. Hakka speakers from Fengshun, Yongding, and Dabu pronounce it with an aspirated initial [ k^hak], while those from Meizhou pronounce it with an affricate initial [hak]. Despite these differences, Hakka speakers from various regions can still communicate and understand each other. This can be attributed to the strong sense of unity among Hakka people, who adhere to the ancient principle of “Better to sell ancestral land than to sell ancestral language”, steadfastly preserving Hakka dialect and culture.²

The development of the Hakka dialect is closely tied to the migration history of the Hakka people. According to scholars such as Lo Hsiang-lin (1906–1978), from the turmoil of the Yongjia Rebellion (311) in the Jin dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), there were five significant migration waves of Central Plains Han Chinese. This led to the concentration of Hakka people in the border areas of Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi provinces, and their dispersal to regions like Guangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and parts of Southeast Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Hakka people who settled in Singapore formed communities based on dialects, locality, and occupational ties. For example, there was a significant Hakka population living in places such as Beach Road, Bukit Panjang Ten Miles (shi yingli), West Hill Estate in Sembawang, the foot of Bukit Timah Hill, Shuang Long Shan, Lorong 3 Geylang, and Pulau Tekong. Internally, these Hakka community organisations commonly use Hakka dialect as a communication tool.³

In the 1970s, most of the Chinese people who lived on Pulau Tekong were Hakka. Later on, however, several factors contributed to a decline in the use of the Hakka dialect: urban policies which resulted in the Hakkas living alongside people from other ethnic and Chinese dialect groups, bilingual education in English and Mandarin Chinese, and the conversion of Pulau Tekong for military use. As a result, the use of Hakka dialect was restricted to smaller circles, such as families and clans.

In order to preserve the endangered Hakka dialect in Singapore, local Hakka organisations such as the Nanyang Hakka Federation, Ying Fo Fui Kun, Char Yong (Dabu) Association, Char Yong (Dabu) Lee Chee Association, and Foong Shoon Fui Kuan regularly organise events such as Hakka folk song singing sessions and competitions, aiming to retain the Hakka dialect and pass down Hakka culture.