Singaporean Hokkien
| Singapore Hokkien | |
|---|---|
| 新加坡福建话 (Sin-ka-pho Hok-kiàn ōe) | |
| Native to | Singapore |
| Region | Singapore |
Native speakers | 1,824,741 |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Singaporean Hokkien (Chinese: 新加坡福建话; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Sin-ka-pho Hok-kiàn-ōe) is a local variant of the Hokkien dialect spoken in Singapore. It is closely related to the Southern Malaysian Hokkien (南马福建话) spoken in Southern Malaysia as well as Riau Hokkien (廖内福建话) spoken in the Indonesian province of Riau. It also bears close resemblance with Amoy (厦门话) spoken in Xiamen of China and Taiwanese (台湾话) spoken in Taiwan.
Hokkien, is the Minnan pronunciation for Fujian (province of China) and is generally the term used by the Chinese in South-East Asia to refer to the Minnan dialect (闽南语). Singaporean Hokkien generally holds Amoy dialect as its own standard, and its accent is predominantly based on a mixture of Quanzhou speech (泉州话) and Zhangzhou speech (漳州话), but with a greater inclination towards Quanzhou accent.
Like many spoken languages in Singapore, Singaporean Hokkien is also subjected to influence from various languages or dialects spoken in Singapore. For instance, Singaporean Hokkien is influenced to a certain degree by Teochew, and is sometimes regarded as a combined Hokkien-Teochew speech (福潮话). In addition, it has also borrowed many loanwords from Malay and English.
Nevertheless, the grammar and tones of Singaporean Hokkien are still largely based on Minnan. When compared to Taiwanese's prestige accent, Singaporean Hokkien has a greater inclination towards Quanzhou accent and is also closer to Taipei and Amoy accent and less close to the Tainan accent.
A Singaporean would likely not have trouble conversing with Taiwanese speakers in Singaporean Hokkien. Similarly, Singaporean Hokkien is understood by Taiwanese speakers, with the exception of some Malay and English loanwords.
History
From 19th until the early half of the 20th century, there was a large influx of Chinese migrants from southern China into Singapore. This led to Chinese constituting almost 75% of Singapore's population. Out of these Chinese, many originated from the regions of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou in Fujian province. They brought Min Nan to Singapore, which was then propagated around the region of Singapore and Malaysia. As there was no formal Chinese name for Min Nan in the early 20th century, these migrants began to use their place of origin as the name of their speech, and thus called the dialect "Hokkien 福建" (which means "Fujian" province).
During the 19th century, many old-style private Chinese schools in Singapore (known as "su-sio̍k-á 私塾仔") generally used Hokkien to teach Chinese classics and Classical Chinese. But by the early 20th century, Mandarin began to replace Hokkien as the medium of instructions in Chinese schools after the founding of many Mandarin-medium schools.
The large influx of Hokkien speakers from southern Fujian province in the first half of 20th century led to the widespread use of Hokkien in Singapore. During the 1950s and 1960s, many political speeches in Singapore had to be done entirely in Hokkien in order to reach out to the Chinese community in Singapore. There was also a thriving Hokkien cultural scene such as Hokkien story-telling, Hokkien opera and media in Singapore. Nevertheless, Hokkien has never become widespread among other Chinese dialect groups in Singapore, unlike how Cantonese in Malaysia has great influence among Chinese Malaysians.
However, after 1979, the Singapore government began to push for the use of Mandarin in Singapore, spearheaded by the Speak Mandarin Campaign. Following this, the Singapore government also began to employ a more stringent censorship or ban on Hokkien media in the Singaporean Chinese media. Consequently, all dialect media in Singapore had to be dubbed in Mandarin before being allowed to stream on national TV. In addition, the 1980s also saw the replacement of Chinese-medium education with that of English, causing English to emerge as the most widely used language in Singapore. The emergence of the English language, coupled with heavy promotion of Mandarin, generally led Hokkien to decline in Singapore after 1979.
Current status
Today, the lingua franca of the Chinese Community in Singapore is Mandarin. Although Hokkien is still spoken in Singapore today (particularly by the elderly Chinese population), it is not as widespread as before.
There is also variation in the speech abilities amongst the different age groups of the Hokkien Singaporeans. The elderly generation of Hokkien Singaporeans are generally able to communicate effectively in Hokkien. On the other hand, the middle and younger generations of Hokkien Singaporeans have generally lost the ability to communicate as fluently. With the "Mandarin campaign" from the government, the Hokkien speaking population is declining, and the trend is continuing.
Numerals
The following list shows the colloquial readings of the numerals used to count objects.
| Pronunciation (Pe̍h-ōe-jī) | Normal | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| lêng | 〇 | 0 | 〇 is an informal way to represent zero also 空 [khòng] |
| chi̍t | 一 | 1 | also [it] also 么(T) or 幺(S) [io] when used in phone numbers etc. |
| nn̄g | 兩 | 2 | also [lī]/[jī] (二) |
| saⁿ | 三 | 3 | |
| sì | 四 | 4 | |
| gō | 五 | 5 | |
| la̍k | 六 | 6 | |
| chhit | 七 | 7 | |
| poeh | 八 | 8 | |
| káu | 九 | 9 | |
| cha̍p | 十 | 10 |
Most ordinal numbers are formed by adding 第 [tē] in front of a cardinal number. In some cases, the literary reading of the number must then be used. For example, 第一 = tē-it, 第二 = tē-jī. See: Literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters.
Differences from Taiwanese Hokkien
There are differences between Singaporean Hokkien and Taiwanese Hokkien in terms of vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar.
Unique vocabulary
Although Singaporean Hokkien is basically similar to Min Nan, there exist certain uniquely Singaporean Hokkien words, which are different from the Taiwanese Hokkien.
| Singaporean Hokkien (Hanji) | POJ | Definition | Compare Taiwanese Hokkien |
|---|---|---|---|
| 死景 | sí-kéng | Museum | 博物館 (phok-bu̍t-kóan) |
| 活景 | o̍ah-kéng | Zoo | 動物園 (tōng-bu̍t-hn̂g) |
| 掠無球 | lia̍h-bô-kiû | Completely do not understand (literally "catch no balls") | 毋捌 (m̄ bat) |
| 假勥 | kê-khiàng | Act "smart" (overdo it) | 假𠢕 (ké-gâu) |
| 俏母 | chhiò bú | Pretty girl | 帅查某 (súi cha-bó͘) |
Same meaning, different words
| Singaporean Hokkien | Definition | Compare Taiwanese Hokkien | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 爱 (ai) | Want | 欲 (beh) | 爱(ài) in Taiwanese Hokkien means "love" or "must". "欲" in Singaporean Hokkien can be classified as an auxiliary verb denoting volition of the following verb. |
| 汝 (lé or lú) | You | 你 (lí) | "你 (lí)" is also used in Singaporean Hokkien |
| 恁侬 or 恁人 (lín lâng) | You-all | 恁 (lín) | |
| 我侬 or 我人 (góa lâng) | We | 阮 (gún) or 咱 (lán) | "阮侬 or 阮人 gún lâng" and "咱/咱侬 lán/lán lâng" are also used in Singaporean Hokkien |
| 伊侬 (i lâng) | They | (亻因) (in) | |
| 错 chhò | Wrong | 毋着 m̄-tio̍h | The Malay word "salah" is actually more commonly used to mean 'wrong' in Singaporean Hokkien. "毋着" (m̀-tio̍h) is also used in Singaporean Hokkien |
| 食饱未? chia̍h-páh bē | Hello！ | 你好！ lí-hó | "食饱未? chia̍h-páh bē" is also used in Taiwan, but generally means "have you eaten already?" |
| 佗落 to lo̍h | Where? | 佗位 tó-uī | E.g. 去佗落? khì to lo̍h, "Where are you going?" |
| 徛 khiā | Live | 蹛 tòa | E.g. 徛佗落? khiā to lo̍h',' "Where do you live?" |
| 旧早 kū-chá | In the past | 永摆 (éng-pái) or 以前 í-chêng | All variants are used in Singapore Hokkien |
| 斗跤手 tàu-kha-chhiú | Help | 斗相共 tàu-saⁿ-kāng | "斗跤手 (tàu-kha-chhiú)" is also used in Taiwan |
| 这兜 chit-tau | This place | 这爿 chit-pêng or 遮 chia | 这爿 chit-pêng is also commonly used in Singapore, 遮 chia less so |
| 按呢款 án-ne-khóan | In this way, so | 按呢 án-ne | 款 khóan is not generally appended in Taiwan |
| 几镭 (kui-lui) or 几箍 kui kho | How much? | 偌齐钱 jōa-chōe chîⁿ | The word "lui" is a Malay loan. |
| 转厝 tńg-chhū (pron. tn̂g-chhū) | Go home | 转去 tńg—khì | 转去 tńg—khì is used in Singapore as well, but with a more general meaning of "going back", not specifically home. |
| ‘今仔’日 kiaⁿ-ji̍t | Today | 今仔日 kin-á-ji̍t | Singapore ‘今仔’日 kiaⁿ-ji̍t is a concatenation of Taiwan 今仔日 kin-á-ji̍t. Also heard in Singapore is 今日 (kin-ji̍t). |
| 当今 tong-kim | Nowadays | 现此时 hián-chú-sî (pron. hiān-chū-sî) | Both Singapore and Taiwan more commonly use 这阵 chit-chūn to encompass the meaning of "nowadays" |
| 这阵 chit-chūn | Now | 这马 chit-má or 这站 chit-chām | 这阵 chit-chūn is also used in Taiwan |
| 四散 sì-sōaⁿ (pron. sí-sóaⁿ) | anyhow/casual/random | 乌白 (o͘-pe̍h) | E.g. 伊四散讲 i sì-sōaⁿ kóng - He speaks casually (or nonsense). 四散 (sì-sōaⁿ) is sometimes also used in Taiwan. |
| 定着 tiāⁿ-tio̍h | surely | 一定 it-tīng or 绝对 cho̍at-tùi (pron. chòat-tùi) | 定着 tiāⁿ-tio̍h is sometimes also used in Taiwan. 一定 it-tīng is a loan from Mandarin. |
| 攑 gia̍h or giâ | Take | 提 thêh | 攑 gia̍h is also used in Taiwan, while 提 thêh in Singapore has the specific meaning of "carry". |
| 惊输 kiaⁿ-su | Fear of losing out/failure - kiasu | 惊失败 (kiaⁿ sit-pāi) | |
| 公司 kong-si | Share | 分 pun or 公家 kong-ke | 公司 kong-si means "company" in Taiwanese |
| 正 chiā | Very | 真 chin, 诚 chiâⁿ or 足 chiok | |
| 伤 siong | Very tough or difficult | 艰难 kan-lân | "伤 siong" literally means "injurious", but has become slang in Singapore for "tough" or "difficult" |
| 幸 heng | Luckily, fortunately | 好佳在 hó-ka-chài | In Taiwanese Hokkien, "幸运 hīng-ūn" is also used. |
| 相‘相同’ sioⁿ-siâng | same | 仝款 kāng-khóan | |
| 食风 chia̍h-hong | To go on holiday, or more generally to live in luxury | 𨑨迌 thit-thô | In Taiwanese Hokkien, "食风 (chia̍h-hong)" is also used but means "facing the wind". In Singapore, 𨑨迌 thit-thô means simply "to play" (as in children playing). |
Same word, different pronunciation
There are some words used in Singaporean Hokkien, which are the same in Taiwanese Hokkien, but are pronounced differently.
| Hokkien Words | Definition | Singaporean Hokkien | Taiwanese Hokkien | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 咖啡 | Coffee | ko-pi | ka-pi | |
| 按怎 | How | án-chóaⁿ | án-nuá | "án-chóaⁿ" is also commonly used in Taiwan |
| 啥物 | What | sí-mi̍h | siáⁿ-mi̍h | "sí-mi̍h" is based on Quanzhou speech |
Loanwords from other Chinese dialects
There are some words used in Singaporean Hokkien, which originated from some other Chinese dialects spoken in Singapore.
| Singaporean Hokkien | Definition | Taiwanese Hokkien | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 平 (phiⁿ) | Cheap | 俗 (sio̍k) | Originated from Teochew |
| 死爸 (sî-bēh) | Very | 真 (chin) or 足 (chiok) | Originated from Teochew. The word 死爸(sí-pēh) in original Hokkien is a vulgar word that means "to the extent that your/my father dies". |
| 山龟 (soāⁿ-ku) | Country-bumpkin | 土包仔 (thó͘-pau-á) | Originated from Teochew, lit. "mountain tortoise" |
| 无便 (bô-piàn) | There is no way (nothing can be done) | 无法度 (bô-hoat-tō) | Originated from Teochew |
| 做儛 (chò-bú), 做阵(chò-tīn) | together | 做伙 (chò-hóe), 同齐(tâng-chê) or 斗阵 (tàu-tīn) | Originated from Teochew |
| 紧张 (gan tʂiong) | Nervous | 紧张 (kín-tiuⁿ) | Originated from Cantonese |
Malay loanwords
The following are the common Malay loanwords used in Singaporean Hokkien. The large mix of Malay loanwords in Singaporean Hokkien makes it quite different from Amoy or Taiwanese Hokkien.
| Malay loanwords in Singaporean Hokkien | Hanzi | Definition | Compare Taiwanese Hokkien | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Su-ka (soeka) | 舒合 (su-kah) | Like | 合意 (kah-ì) | |
| Sabun | 雪文 (sap-bûn) | Soap | 茶箍 (tê-kho͘) | 雪文 (sap-bûn) is also used in Taiwan |
| Kah-win (kawin) | 交寅 (kau-ín) | Marry | 結婚 (kiat-hun) | |
| Ka-cau | Disturb | 攪擾 (kiáu-liáu) | ||
| Ba-Lu (Baru） | Recently | 最近 (chòe-kīn) | ||
| Pa-sak (Pasar) | 巴刹 （pa-sat) | Market | 市場 (chhī-tiûⁿ) or 菜市仔 (chhài-chhī-á) | |
| Ma-ta (Mata Mata) | Police | 警察 (kéng-chha) | ||
| Ga-duh | Quarrel | 冤家 (oan-ke) | ||
| Si-nang (Senang) | Easy | 簡單 (kán-tan) | ||
| Lui (Duit) | 镭 (lui) | Money | 錢 (chîⁿ) | |
| To-long | Help | 拜托 (pài-thok)，幫忙 (pang-bâng) or 鬥相共 (tàu-saⁿ-kāng) | ||
| Sa-lah | Offence, Wrong | 犯法 (hōan-hoat) | ||
| Ta-pi (Tetapi) | But | 但是 (tān-sī)， 毋過 （m̄-koh） or 猶毋過(iáu m̄-koh) | ||
| Loti | Bread | 麵包 (mī-pau) or 'phang' (Japanese loanwords) | ||
| Pun | 本(pun) | Also | 嘛是 (mā sī) or 也是 (iā-sī) | E.g. 伊本是真帅 (i pun-sī chin suí) - She is also very pretty |
| Saman | summons (fine) | 罰款 (ho̍at-khóan) | ||
| Agak Agak | Guess/Estimate | 臆 (ioh) | ||
| Kentang | Potato | 馬鈴薯 (má-lêng-chû) | ||
| Guli | Marble | 大理石 (tāi-lí-chio̍h) | ||
| Botak | Bald | 光頭 (kng-thâu) or 禿頭 (thut-thâu) | ||
| Pakat | 巴结 (pá-kat) | Conspire | 串通 (chhòan-thong) | |
| Buaya | 磨仔 (buá à) | Crocodile | 鱷魚 (kho̍k-hî) | |
| Beh Ta-han | 袂ta-han | Cannot tolerate | 擋袂牢 (tòng bē tiâu) | Formed by Hokkien word "beh 袂" and Malay word "tahan" |
| Mana Eh Sai | Mana 會使 | How can this be? | 敢會使 (kam ē-sái） | Formed by Malay word "mana" and Hokkien word "e-sai 會使" |
English loanwords
There are also many English loanwords used in Singaporean Hokkien. They are usually used when the speaker does not know what the equivalent of the Hokkien word for a certain term is. Some of these English terms are related to working and living in Singapore
| English loanwords in Singaporean Hokkien | Compare Taiwanese Hokkien |
|---|---|
| Shopping | 踅街 （se̍h-koe） |
| MRT | 捷運 （chia̍t ūn） or 地下鐵 (tē-hā-thih) |
Grammar
There are some differences in the sentence structure used by Singaporean Hokkien and Taiwanese Hokkien.
For instance, when asking a question for "do you want to..?", Singaporean Hokkien typically uses the sentence structure "愛(ai)...莫(mài)?", whereas Taiwanese Hokkien uses the structure "欲(beh)..無(bô)".
Also, unlike Taiwanese Hokkien which typically uses the word "敢 kám" (meaning "whether or not 是否") when asking a question, Singaporean Hokkien does not use the word "敢 kám". Instead, it simply adds the word "無(bô)" at the back of the sentence to indicate that it's a question (similar to Mandarin's 嗎）.
| Singaporean Hokkien | Taiwanese Hokkien | English |
|---|---|---|
| 愛食飯莫? (ai chia̍h-pn̄g mài?） | 欲食飯無? (beh chia̍h-pn̄g bô?) | Do you want to eat? |
| 汝有睏飽無? (lé ū khùn-pá bô?) | 你敢有睏飽? (lí kám ū khùn-pá?) | Did you have enough sleep? |
Literature, folk adage and ballad
Some of the Buddhist temples in Singapore continue to have Buddhist sutra being recited in Hokkien. The sutra contains Singapore-style Hokkien romanization to help in the recitation. Some of the Chinese Christian Churches in Singapore also have services conducted in Singaporean Hokkien.
There existed some Hokkien writings, folk adage and ballad in Singapore. Amongst the various Hokkien folk ballad in Singapore, a few outstanding writings include the history and hardship of early Chinese immigrants to Singapore. For instance, 《雪梅思君》 (Soat-m̂-su-kun) (Snow and plum thinking of a gentlemen) is a folk ballad written about the loyalty and chastity of love.
Another Singapore Hokkien Love Poetry is 《針線情》 (Chiam-sòaⁿ-chiâⁿ） (The emotions of needle and thread) has the following beautiful Hokkien writing:
你是針，我是線，针线永远黏相倚。
lí sī chiam ， góa sī sòaⁿ ，chiam-sòaⁿ éng-óan liâm siòng óa
人講針補針針也著綫，為何放阮咧孤單。
lâng kóng chiam pó͘ chiam hiam tio̍h sòaⁿ， ūi-hô pàng gún leh ko͘-toaⁿ
啊！你我本是同被單，怎樣來拆散？
Ah, lí góa pún sī tâng phōe-toaⁿ, chóaⁿ-iūⁿ lâi thiah-sòaⁿ
有針無綫叫阮要按怎，思念心情無帶看。
ū chiam bô sòaⁿ kiò gún ài an-chóaⁿ， su-liām sim-chiâⁿ bô-tè khòaⁿ
There is another 18 sections in the poetry ballad 《行船歌》 (Hâng-chûn-koa) (Songs of traveling on boat), which talks about how early immigrants migrated to Singapore.
There is also another ballad called 《砰嘭水中流》 (Pin-pong-chúi-tiong-lâu) (Flow in the midst of water):
乞涸木為舟，
kih kok bo̍k ūi tsiu
砰嘭水中流，
pin pong chúi tiong lâu
門雙劃槳，
mn̂g-siang u̍ih-hiúⁿ
噝刷到泉州。
si suit kàu chôan-chiu
Further reading
- Chua, B. H. (2000). Taiwan's present/Singapore's past mediated by Hokkien language. Singapore: Dept. of Sociology, National University of Singapore. ISBN 9813033436
- The Rev. Carstairs Douglas, Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, with the Principal Variations of the Chang-chew and Chin-chew Dialects, 2nd corrected ed., London, Publishing Office of the Presbyterian Church of England, 1899 (first published 1873), bound with the Supplement by Thomas Barclay [Shanghai, 1923]), ISBN 1-86210-068-3
- 周長揖、周清海（著），《新加坡閩南話詞典》 ，中國社會科學出版社， 2002年，ISBN 9787500435303 (Zhou Changyi,Zhou Qinghai (2002), "Singaporean Hokkien Dictionary", China Social Science Pub.)
- 周長揖（著），《新加坡閩南話概説》 ，廈門大學出版社， 2000年，ISBN 9787561516924(Zhou Changyi (2000), "An Overview over Singaporean Hokkien", Xiamen University Pub.)
- 周長揖（著），《新加坡閩南話俗語歌謠選》 ，廈門大學出版社， 2003年，ISBN 7561521588(Zhou Changyi (2003), "Collection of Singaporean Hokkien Folk Adage and Ballad", Xiamen University Pub.)
See also
External links
- Holopedia - Wikipedia in Peh-oe-ji (Wikipedia in Hokkien)
- Online Hokkien Forum (in English)
- 闽江茶座——周长楫教授谈闽南话在新加坡 (Professor Zhou Changyi discusses about Singaporean Hokkien)
- Malaysian/Singaporean Hokkien
- Is "Hokkien" my mother tongue?
- Teochew and Singaporean Hokkien Words
- 闽南人 The Hokkiens——新加坡国家图书馆馆藏选介