Sixian dialect explained

Sixian dialect
Pronunciation:pronounced as /ɕi˥ i̯en˥ kʰi̯oŋ˨˦/
pronounced as /ɕi˥ i̯an˥ kʰi̯oŋ˨˦/
States:Taiwan
Region:Miaoli County
Taoyuan; Kaohsiung; Pingtung County; Huatung Valley
Ethnicity:Taiwanese Hakka
Familycolor:Sino-Tibetan
Fam2:Sinitic
Fam3:Chinese
Fam4:Hakka–Gan?
Fam5:Hakka–She?
Fam6:Hakka
Fam7:Yue-Tai
Fam8:Meihui
Dia1:Northern Sixian
Dia2:Southern Sixian
Script:Pha̍k-fa-sṳ
Hakka Romanization System
Glotto2:sanh1239
Glotto3:liud1234
Glotto4:taoy1234
Glottoname2:Sixian
Glottoname3:Liudui-Pingtung
Glottoname4:Taoyuan-Miaoli
Agency:Hakka Affairs Council
Isoexception:dialect
T:四縣話
S:四县话
P:Sìxiànhuà
Phfs:Si-yen-fa
Alt:Sixian accent
T2:四縣腔
S2:四县腔
P2:Sìxiànqiāng
Phfs2:Si-yen-khiông

The Sixian dialect, also known as the Sixian accent (; Sixian Hakka Romanization System: Xi ien kiongˊ / Xi ian kiongˊ;[1] Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Si-yen-khiông / Si-yan-khiông[1]), is a dialect of Hakka used by Taiwanese Hakkas, and it is the most spoken dialect of Taiwanese Hakka, being used in Hakka broadcasting in many public occasions. The Sixian dialect is generally spoken in northern and southern Taiwan, with main representative regions being Taoyuan and Miaoli in the north, as well as the Liudui Region in Kaohsiung and Pingtung in the south.

Taiwanese Hakka is often called Si Hai Yong Le Da Ping An, referring to the Sixian, Hailu, Yongding, Changle, Dabu, Raoping and Zhao'an dialects. Among these, the Sixian and Changle dialects originate in Jiaying Prefecture, Guangdong, established in 1733 during the Qing dynasty under the rule of Yongzheng Emperor. Historically, the Jiaying Prefecture governed five counties. The Sixian dialect comes from the four counties of Chengxiang (now Meixian), Zhengping (now Jiaoling), Xingning and Pingyuan, giving it the name Sixian (four counties); the Changle dialect originates in its eponym, the county of Changle (now Wuhua). Currently, speakers of the Yongding and Changle dialects have basically left their own accent families, so only the Sixian, Hailu, Dabu, Raoping and Zhao'an dialects remain in use in Taiwan. In Taiwan, the only widely used Hakka dialects are Sixian and Hailu.

The Sixian dialect of Taiwan is slightly different from the Meixian dialect of mainland China since the majority of immigrants from Jiaying Prefecture are from Zhenping County, which is present-day Jiaoling County, so the Sixian dialect is closer to the Jiaoling dialect of mainland China. There are also differences in vocabulary and phonology between the Sixian dialect spoken in northern Taiwan (called Northern Sixian or Miaoli dialect) and in Liudui of southern Taiwan (called Southern Sixian).[2] [3] Because of the differences between the two varieties of Sixian, the recitation contests in the National Language Competition separate the contest into the two accents of (Northern) Sixian and Southern Sixian. Alternatively, Sixian may include Xingning and Changle, but because these two counties were formerly a part of Huizhou fu, they may be closer to the Hailu dialect.

Phonology

Consonants

LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/[4] pronounced as /link/
Plosivepronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Affricatepronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Fricativepronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Approximantpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ (S)[5]

Rhymes

According to the Handbook for Using the Hakka Romanization System published by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education, the rhymes can be split into three categories: yin rhymes, yang rhymes, and checked rhymes .

Yin rhymes

Yin rhymes are rhymes with a pure vowel or a complex vowel.

Pure vowels
FrontCentralBack
Closepronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/[6] pronounced as /link/
Midpronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Openpronounced as /link/
Complex vowels
a-ai̯ au̯
e-eu̯
i-i̯a i̯ai̯ (S) i̯au̯ i̯e i̯eu̯ i̯o i̯oi̯ i̯u i̯ui̯
o-oi̯
u-u̯a u̯ai u̯e u̯i

Yang rhymes

Yang rhymes end in a nasal consonant. They can be syllabic nasals or nuclei (pure or complex vowel) with nasal codas.

Syllabic nasals
ŋ̍
Nuclei with nasal codas
-mam em ɨm im i̯am i̯em
-nan en ɨn in i̯an (S)[7] i̯en i̯on i̯un on un u̯an u̯en
i̯aŋ i̯oŋ i̯uŋ u̯aŋ

Checked rhymes

Checked rhymes end with a stop consonant (/p̚/,/t̚/,/k̚/) and a short vowel before it.

-păp̚ ĕp̚ ɨ̆p̚ ĭp̚ i̯ăp̚ i̯ĕp̚
-tăt̚ ĕt̚ ɨ̆t̚ ĭt̚ i̯ăt̚ (S) i̯ĕt̚ i̯ŏt̚ i̯ŭt̚ ŏt̚ ŭt̚ u̯ăt̚ u̯ĕt̚
-kăk̚ i̯ăk̚ i̯ŏk̚ i̯ŭk̚ ŏk̚ ŭk̚ u̯ăk̚

Tones

Using pronounced as /[t͡sʰo]/ and pronounced as /[t͡sʰok]/ as examples:

Tone LevelRising DepartingEntering
Dark/Light DarkLightDarkLight
Tone value24 (N, S)
33 (S)[8]
1131 55 2 5
IPA pronounced as /t͡sʰo˨˦/ / pronounced as /t͡sʰo˧/pronounced as /t͡sʰo˩/pronounced as /t͡sʰo˧˩/pronounced as /t͡sʰo˥/pronounced as /t͡sʰŏk̚˨/pronounced as /t͡sʰŏk̚˥/

Tone sandhi

In compounds, if a dark-level tone is followed by a dark-level, light-entering or departing tone, the dark-level tone (24) changes to the light-level tone (11). In Southern Sixian, if a light-level tone (11) is not in the end of a compound, it is changed to the dark-level tone (33 in Meinong).[9] In the Dalukuan and Guangfu Village accents, there are seven tone sandhi rules: the "low" dark-level and light-level tones mostly become a mid tone (33) or a high rising tone (35); thus, the tones of these two areas sound higher than the other areas in Liudui.

Related Hakka dialects

In China, the Dabu and Fengshun Counties originally belonging to the Chaozhou fu have been combined with the former Jiaying Prefecture, establishing Meizhou. Historically, other than the Sixian and Changle dialects, the Dabu and Fengshun dialects were also brought to Taiwan from areas presently governed by Meizhou in China. The Fengshun dialect mainly originates in Fengshun and Jieyang Counties. However, in Taiwan, speakers of the Dabu and Fengshun dialects are still traditionally considered to be Chaozhou Hakkas. Other than the Dabu and Fengshun dialects, the Raoping dialect is also from Chaozhou, specifically the Raoping and Huilai Counties.

In Taiwan, the Sixian dialect is the most spoken dialect spoken by the Hakkas, and following is the Hailu dialect (Sixian Hakka Romanization System: hoiˋ liug kiongˊ). The Hailu dialect originates in Huizhou fu (present-day Huizhou and Shanwei) in mainland China, so it is also sometimes called the Huizhou dialect. Since there are many Hakka dialects in Taiwan, when Taiwanese Hakkas interact with each other, there may be influences from other dialects, forming a dialect between the Sixian and Hailu dialects called the Si-Hai dialect (or Hai-Si dialect). The Sihai dialect is not a particular accent, but is just formed because of the interaction between different Hakka groups. Taiwanese Hakka can generally be classified under the Yue-Tai dialects, which are also called the Si-Hai dialects.

The Sixian, Hailu, Changle, Dabu and Raoping dialects all come from Guangdong, China, so Taiwanese Hakkas trace back their origins to Guangdong. Even Hakkas from Tingzhou fu, Fujian, consider themselves to be from Yuedong (Guangdong). Therefore, there is a parallel between "Yuedong Hakkas" and "Minnan Hoklos". Taiwanese Hakka dialects from Fujian include the Yongding, Zhao'an and Tingzhou dialects. The Yongding dialect originates in the Yongding, Shanghang and Wuping Counties of Tingzhou fu. Its phonology is close to Yuedong dialects (e.g. Sixian and Dabu dialects). The Tingzhou dialect originates in the Changting, Ninghua, Qingliu, Guihua and Liancheng Counties of Tingzhou fu. The Zhao'an dialect originates in the Zhao'an, Pinghe, Nanjing and Hua'an Counties of Zhangzhou fu. The Zhao'an and Tingzhou dialects are quite different from the Yue-Tai (Si-Hai) dialects, making them unique in Taiwan.

Works cited

Notes and References

  1. Chinese: is pronounced as ien (PFS: yen) in Northern Sixian and as ian (PFS: yan) in Southern Sixian.
  2. For vocabulary differences, see
  3. See
  4. The Handbook for Using the Hakka Romanization System writes it as [ȵ]. It is written as ng(i)- in the Hakka Romanization System.
  5. In some southern accents, syllables beginning with /i-/ are read as /j(i)-/。
  6. The Handbook for Using the Hakka Romanization System uses pronounced as /[ï]/.
  7. Seen in Southern Sixian when the onset is a velar consonant (/k/, /kʰ/, /ŋ/), /t͡ɕ/, /h/, /j/ or a zero consonant.
  8. In some areas speaking Southern Sixian (e.g. Meinong District, Kaohsiung), the tone value is 33.
  9. Book: Zhong, Rongfu 鍾榮富 . Táiwān Kèjiā yǔyīn dǎolùn . 2004 . 9571134759 . 123–124 . 五南圖書出版股份有限公司 . zh . zh:臺灣客家語音導論 . Introduction to Taiwan Hakka Phonetics.