Hakka Related Material.
Hakka Areas
Guangdong, Fujian, JiangXi, GuangXi, Hunan, Sichuan, GuiZhou and Taiwan.
Hakka Phoneticisation
The sounds of Hakka, in IPA, and ASCII IPA, Zhuyin and alphanumerics.
Official Meixian Romanisation
This romanisation was published on the 9th June 1960 and designed for the Meizhou (aka Meixian ) dialect. It was one of the four dialects (Guangzhou, Chaozhou, Meixian and Hainan [as reported in Hashimoto's "The Hakka Dialect", p.29]) which had romanisations designed for them, apart from Mandarin Putonghua.
Aspects of the Meixian Dialect
This is my translation of pages 16-22 of the Meixian Dialect Dictionary's interesting article (written in traditional Chinese characters) on the phonology and grammar of that dialect of Hakka. I've kept as much of the linguistic terms in as possible, but as I am self taught in Chinese, my translation may be a little laboured at times. Some background in phonology is required and also traditional Chinese philology especially the She rhymes and initials.
Hakka Tones I
Shatoujiao Hakka forms the basis of discussion for readings of characters of the same tone, the total number of percieved tones, and tone sandhi, with Real Audio sound clip samples.
Hakka Tones II
Tone Contours for Hakka as reported by many researchers (derived from Hashimoto and other sources), listed by area.
Longchuan Sidu Dialect
A description of my wife's home dialect of Hakka.
Hakka Dialogues
These are a set of 20 dialogues in the Hakka dialect of Vong PinFa, the informant of the late Mantaro J. Hashimoto. It is a basic set of dialogues which may help the learner to acquire a basic knowledge of Hakga. I have added some comments I see which be useful for anyone encountering a dialect of Hakka which is similar, but has some pronunciation differences. It is all romanised.
Hakka Kin Terms
Hakka Kin terms can be derived from three main kin relationships, paternal, maternal and grandmaternal.
Dylan's Hakka Homepage
Traditional Chinese Primers with Hakka sounds
Okay, okay, I know. I've not presented anything consistent as regards to a single romanisation in this site. However, I've tried to be very strict in thie following links containing traditional Chinese primers of Chinese characters. Ideally, you should have a working knowledge of the Chinese language to understand the passages. However, this site aims only to provide you a means for reading the characters in Hakka.
These primers were once used with a teacher who would get the class to recite the work, and then explain the meanings. I shall not provide any translations. It is for the readers themselves to find out the meanings of the characters.
Pronunciation
Based on Hakka from Hong Kong, and used throughout the following pages :
Chinese Character Primers
- 百 家 姓 Bak5 Ga1 Siang4
This collection of over 500 family surnames dates back to the Sung4 Dynasty. Running text containing 568 characters, of these, there are 503 different characters (ratio = 1.13).
- 千 字 文 Cien1 Su4 Vun2
The Cien1 Su4 Vun2 contains 1000 characters in four character couplets. No character is repeated (ratio is 1.00).
- 三 字 經 Sam1 Su1 Gin1
The only classic which is not found in the Tung1 Su1. Running text containing 1434 characters composed of a repetoire of 754 different characters (ratio is 1.90).
- 增 廣 Zen4 Gong3
The Zen4 Gong3 is a collection of couplets and short poems which illustrate observations in life. Running text containing 3836 characters composed from a repetoire of 922 different characters (ratio is 4.16).
Phonology and International Phonetic Alphabet :
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© Dylan W.H. Sung 2000
This page was created on Monday 17th January 2000.
It was recently revised on Tuesday 21st August 2001.