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The Teochew dialect (Diō-jiu-oē, Chinese:潮州话, Hanyu Pinyin: Cháozhōuhuà, Teochiu or Tiuchiu), is a Chinese language and dialect of Minnan spoken in a region of eastern Guangdong refered to as Chaoshan.
ClassificationTeochew is a member of Southern Min group, one of the divisions of spoken Chinese. Like other varieties of Chinese, there is dispute as to whether Teochew is a language or a dialect. Teochew is mutally intelligible with the other Min-nan languages, notably Xiamen dialect or Taiwanese. There is substantial variations in phonology and vocabulary between different regions of Chaoshan and between different Teochiu communities overseas. History And GeographyModern Teochew evolved from the more archaic Min-Nan. Between the 9th and the 15th century, a group of Min people migrated south from Fujian to the coastal region of eastern Guangdong known as Chaoshan. This migration was most likely due in part to over-population in Fujian. Geographical isolation from Fujian and influences from Cantonese and the later Hakka, Teochew evolved into a separate language. The Chaoshan region where Teochew is spoken, includes the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou, Jieyang, Chaoyang, Puning, Chao'an, Raoping, Huilai and Shanwei. Chaoshan was one of the major sources of Chinese emigration to Southeast Asia during the 18th-20th century forming one of the larger dialect groups among the Overseas Chinese. As a result, Teochew is now spoken in many regions outside of Chaoshan. In particular, the Teochew people settled in significant numbers in Thailand and Cambodia where they form the largest Chinese dialect group. They constitute a significant minority in Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Teochew speakers also live in Australia, New Zealand, North America, and Europe; a result of both direct emigration from Chaoshan to these nations and secondary emigration from Southeast Asia. PhonologySyllables in Teochiu contain an initial consonant, a vowel, and a final consonant. Initial consonants of Teochiu, are represented in the Guangdong Peng'im system as: B, BH, C, D, G, GH, H, K, L, M, N, NG, P, R, S, T, and Z. Examples:
Examples:
Examples:
Examples:
Example (nasalized):
TonesTeochew, like other Chinese languages is a tonal language. It has eight tones and extensive tone sandhi. Tones:
Here, the tones are shown following the traditional tone class categorization above, and are correlated with the tones of Middle Chinese (shown in Han characters, last column below):
VocabularyTeochew was written with proper Chinese characters. About 90% of the words they used are found in Standard Chinese characters, although 10% of the words were coined out by the Teochew themselves. There are even Chinese words that existed and were used in Mandarin but not in Teochew. Like most Min-nan dialects, most Teochew words have cognates with other Chinese dialects, especially with Min-nan dialects. Grammar((Edit)) Script and orthographiesTraditionally, Teochew was written with traditional Chinese characters, although small fraction of the words were coined out by the Teochew themselves. An romanization system exist in Guangdong province to represent Teochew pronounciation for linguistic study and dictionaries, although the Taiwanese Pe̍h-oē-jī could be used, owing to the fact that the Christian missionaries adapt it to be suitably used for all Min-nan dialects (except Qiong Wen). A modified version of this romanization system is used and promoted by the Teochew organization GagiNang (see External links below) for educational purposes and as a writing system for everyday communication in Teochew. (See external links) See alsoExternal links |
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