The Chaozhou language, also called Teochew, Teochiu, Tiuchiu, or Diojiu, is a dialect of the Chinese spoken variant of Min Nan (閩南/闽南), spoken in the Chaoshan (潮汕) region of eastern Guangdong (廣東/广东). It has low intelligibility with other Min Nan dialects, having fewer words in common than German has with English. Traditional Chinese characters refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of the contemporary Chinese written language. ... Map of eastern China and Taiwan, showing the historic distribution of Mandarin Chinese in light brown. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Min (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; POJ: Bân hong-giân; BUC: Mìng huŏng-ngiòng) is a general term for a group of dialects of the Chinese language spoken in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian as well as by migrants from this province in Guangdong (around Chaozhou-Swatou... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... 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. ... Guangdong Romanization refers to the four romanization schemes published by the Guangdong Provincial Education Department in 1960 for transliterating the Standard Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka, and Hainanese spoken varieties of Chinese. ... This article is about all of the Cantonese (Yue) dialects. ... Jyutping (sometimes spelled Jyutpin) is a romanization system for Standard Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK) in 1993. ... For dialects of programming languages, see Programming language dialect. ... Spoken Chinese The Chinese spoken language(s) comprise(s) many regional variants. ... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... The southeast coast of Guangdong Province is home to the Cháoshàn (潮汕) Teochiu linguistic and cultural region. ... Not to be confused with the former Kwantung Leased Territory in north-eastern China. ...

Motto: (traditional) In God We Trust (official, 1956–present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at the federal level; English de facto Government Federal Republic  - President George W. Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence - Declared - Recognized... Not to be confused with the former Kwantung Leased Territory in north-eastern China. ... Chaozhou (Chinese: 潮州 lit. ... Geographic coordinates: 116º14 - 117º19 E, 23º02 - 23º38 N Area: 234 km² Shantou (also known as Swatow or Suátao) is a city of 1. ... Jieyang (揭阳) is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Chaoyang (simplified Chinese: 朝阳; pinyin: Cháoyáng) is a prefecture-level city in Liaoning province of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Chaozhou (Chinese: ; Pinyin: Cháozhōu; Wade-Giles: Chao²-chou¹; usually spelled Chiu Chow in the US and Hong Kong), also widely known by its Postal map spelling Teochew, is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guangdong province, Peoples Republic of China. ... Raoping is a county in eastern Guangdong Province, to the west of Fujian Province, near South China Sea. ... Huilai (惠来) is a country of Jieyang prefecture-level city, in Guangdong province, southern China. ... Shanwei (Simplified Chinese: 汕尾; Pinyin: ) is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong province, Peoples Republic of China. ... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use. ... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common proto-language. ... The Sino-Tibetan languages form a putative language family composed of Chinese and the Tibeto-Burman languages, including some 250 languages of East Asia. ... Min (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; POJ: Bân hong-giân; BUC: Mìng huŏng-ngiòng) is a general term for a group of dialects of the Chinese language spoken in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian as well as by migrants from this province in Guangdong (around Chaozhou-Swatou... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. ... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... The Unicode Standard, Version 5. ...

Classification

Chaozhou is a member of the Southern Min or Min Nan dialect group, which in turn constitutes one of the seven major dialect groups of the Sinitic language family. Like other varieties of Chinese, people have not yet agreed on whether Chaozhou should be treated as a language or a dialect. However, apart from the political perspective of this, from a purely linguistic point of view, Chaozhou (or Min Nan at large) should be a language in its own right since it is mutually unintelligible with other "dialect groups" of China. According to Glossika, Chaozhou has an overal 50.4% of mutual intelligibility with the Xiamen dialect, 44.3% with Mandarin and 43.5% with Cantonese. A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common proto-language. ... Map of eastern China and Taiwan, showing the historic distribution of Mandarin Chinese in light brown. ... Standard Cantonese is a variant, and is generally considered the prestige dialect of Cantonese Chinese. ...

Nevertheless, Chaozhou is mutually intelligible with some other Min Nan languages, notably the dialects of Zhangzhou (漳州) and Quanzhou (泉州) probably because of their proximity. Even within the Chaozhou varieties, there is substantial variation in phonology between different regions of Chaoshan and between different Chaozhou communities overseas. Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... Zhangzhou (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is a prefecture-level city in southern Fujian province, Peoples Republic of China. ... The characters 泉州 are also used for SenshÅ«, an alternate name for the former Japanese province of Izumi. ... Phonology (Greek phonÄ“ = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ...

The Chaozhou languages, in terms of their closeness, can be roughly divided into 3 sub-groups:

1) Shantou sub-group, including Shantou (汕頭), Chaozhou (潮州), Jieyang (揭陽/揭阳), Chenghai (澄海), Nanao (南澳/南澳) and Raoping (饒平/饶平), Geographic coordinates: 116º14 - 117º19 E, 23º02 - 23º38 N Area: 234 km² Shantou (also known as Swatow or Suátao) is a city of 1. ... Chaozhou (Chinese: 潮州 lit. ... Jieyang (揭阳) is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Chenghai (澄海, Hanyu Pinyin: Chénghǎi) is a city in Guangdong, China. ... Nanao is the name of several places in Asia. ... Raoping is a county in eastern Guangdong Province, to the west of Fujian Province, near South China Sea. ...

2) Chaopu sub-group, including Chaoyang (潮陽/潮阳), Puning (普寧/普宁), Huilai (惠來/惠来), and Chaoyang (simplified Chinese: 朝阳; pinyin: Cháoyáng) is a prefecture-level city in Liaoning province of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Huilai (惠来) is a country of Jieyang prefecture-level city, in Guangdong province, southern China. ...

3) Luhai (陸海/陆海) sub-group, including Shanwei (汕尾), Lufeng (陸豐/陆丰) and Haifeng (海豐/海丰) Shanwei (Simplified Chinese: 汕尾; Pinyin: ) is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong province, Peoples Republic of China. ... Lufeng (陸豐)is a county-level city of Shanwei in the Southern province of Guangdong of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Haifeng (海豐) is a city in southeastern China, located northeast of Hong Kong. ...

History and geography

Modern Chaozhou 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 (潮汕). This migration was most likely due in part to over-population in Fujian (福建). Not to be confused with the former Kwantung Leased Territory in north-eastern China. ... The southeast coast of Guangdong Province is home to the Cháoshàn (潮汕) Teochiu linguistic and cultural region. ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal map spelling: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kiàn) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Due to geographical isolation from Fujian, Chaozhou evolved into a separate dialect.   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal map spelling: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kiàn) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

As seen from above, the Chaoshan region where Chaozhou is spoken includes the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou, which are jointly the source of the name, as well as Jieyang, Chaoyang, Puning, Chao'an, Raoping, Huilai, Chenghai, Nanao, Lufeng, Haifeng, Shanwei and Huidong. Parts of the Hakka-speaking region, like Jiexi, Dabu (大埔) and Fengshun (豐順/丰顺) are also Chaozhou-speaking. The southeast coast of Guangdong Province is home to the Cháoshàn (潮汕) Teochiu linguistic and cultural region. ... Chaozhou (Chinese: ; Pinyin: Cháozhōu; Wade-Giles: Chao²-chou¹; usually spelled Chiu Chow in the US and Hong Kong), also widely known by its Postal map spelling Teochew, is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guangdong province, Peoples Republic of China. ... Hakka (Simplified Chinese: 客家话, Traditional Chinese: 客家話, Pronunciation in Hakka: Hak-ka-fa/-va, Pinyin: Kèjiāhuà) is a spoken variation of the Chinese language spoken predominantly in southern China by the Hakka ethnic group and descendants in diaspora throughout East and Southeast Asia and around the world. ... Dabu is a common saying by the Warcraft Orc peons. ... Map of Fengshun (丰顺县), Meizhou. ...

Chaoshan was one of the major sources of Chinese emigration to Southeast Asia during the 18th–20th centuries, forming one of the larger dialect groups among the Overseas Chinese. As a result, Chaozhou is now spoken in many regions outside of Chaoshan. Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ... Languages various Religions Predominantly Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism, traditional Chinese religions, and atheism. ... The southeast coast of Guangdong Province is home to the Cháoshàn (潮汕) Teochiu linguistic and cultural region. ...

In particular, the Chaozhou 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, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia (especially in Riau, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, and West Kalimantan, in Pontianak and Ketapang). Chaozhou 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. Map of Indonesia showing Riau province Riau is a province of Indonesia, located in the center of Sumatra island along the Strait of Malacca. ... Map of North Sumatra province within Indonesia North Sumatra (Indonesian: Sumatera Utara) is one of the provinces of Indonesia. ... Map of South Sumatra province in Indonesia South Sumatra or Sumatera Selatan is one of the provinces of Indonesia. ... West Kalimantan (Indonesian: Kalimantan Barat often abbreviated to Kalbar) is a province of Indonesia. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... North American redirects here. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... The southeast coast of Guangdong Province is home to the Cháoshàn (潮汕) Teochiu linguistic and cultural region. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ...

However, as the world globalises, the language is losing popularity among the native speakers. In Singapore, due to common culture, and influences from the media and government, Singaporean Chinese youths whose native language is Chaozhou are either converting to English, Standard Mandarin or Hokkien (with which it shares a certain degree of mutual intelligibility). Chaozhou remains the native language of many Chinese people in Singapore - Chaozhou people are the second largest Chinese group in Singapore, after the Hokkien - although Mandarin is gradually supplanting Chaozhou as their mother tongue, especially among the younger generations. The Chinese constitute more than three-quarters of the countrys population. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Map of eastern China and Taiwan, showing the historic distribution of Mandarin Chinese in light brown. ... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... Hoklo (pronounced Holo; Chinese ; Mandarin pronunciation--pinyin: Fulao) can refer to an ethnic-cultural group originating in Fujian province, China. ... Language shift is the process whereby an entire speech community of a language shifts to speaking another language. ...

Languages in contact

Putonghua

Chaozhou children are introduced to Putonghua as early as in kindergarten; however, Chaozhou remains the primary medium of instruction. In the early years of primary education, Putonghua then becomes the sole language of instruction, although students typically continue to talk one another in Chaozhou. Putonghua is widely understood, however minimally, by most younger Chaozhou speakers, but the elderly usually do not speak Putonghua since, in their times, teaching was done in the local vernacular. Map of eastern China and Taiwan, showing the historic distribution of Mandarin Chinese in light brown. ...

Chaozhou accent in Putonghua

Native Chaozhou speakers find the neutral tone in Putonghua hardest to master. Chaozhou has lost the alveolar nasal ending [-n] and so the people often replace the sound in Putonghua with the velar nasal [-ŋ]. None of the southern Min dialects has a front rounded vowel, therefore a typical Chaozhou accent supplants the unrounded counterpart [i] for [y]. Chaozhou, like its ancient ancestor, lacks labio-dentals; people therefore substitute [h] for [f] when they speak Putonghua. Chaozhou does not have any of the retroflex consonants in the northern dialects, so they say [ts], [tsʰ], [s], and [z] instead of [tʂ], [tʂʰ], [ʂ] and [ʐ]. The alveolar nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. ... The velar nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ...

Hakka

Since Chao'an, Raoping and Jieyang border the Hakka-speaking region in the north, some people in these regions speak Hakka, though they can usually speak Chaozhou as well. Chaozhou people have historically had a great deal of contact with the Hakka people, but, interestingly, the Hakka language has had little, if any, influence on Chaozhou. Similarly, in Dabu and Fengshun, where the Chaozhou- and Hakka-speaking regions meet, Chaozhou is also spoken although Hakka remains the primary language there.

Cantonese

Because of influence from Hong Kong soap operas and the importance of Guangzhou in Guangdong province, many young Chaozhou people can understand quite a lot of Cantonese even if they cannot speak it. This article is about all of the Cantonese (Yue) dialects. ...

Non-Chinese language

In the mountainous area of Fenghuang (鳳凰/凤凰), a non-Sinitic language, the She language, is spoken by a few hundred aboriginal She people (畲). It belongs to the Hmong-Mien language family. Chinese (written) language (pinyin: zhōngw n) written in Chinese characters The Chinese language (汉语/漢語, 华语/華語, or 中文; Pinyin: H nyǔ, Hu yǔ, or Zhōngw n) is a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. ... The She (畲) people are an ethnic group. ... The Peoples Republic of China officially describes itself as a multinational unitary state and as such officially recognizes 56 nationalities or Mínzú (民族), within China: the Han being the majority (>92%), and the remaining 55 nationalities being the national minorities. ... The She (畲) people are an ethnic group. ... The Hmong-Mien or Miao-Yao languages are a language family of southern China and Southeast Asia. ...

Phonetics and Phonology

Consonants

Chaozhou (and other southern Min languages) is one of the few Sinitic languages which have voiced obstruents (stops, fricatives and affricates); however, unlike the Wu and Xiang languages, the Chaozhou voiced stops and fricatives did not evolve from the Middle Chinese voiced obstruents, instead, they were from the Middle Chinese nasals. Therefore, the voiced stops [b] and [g] are in fact prenasalised as [^mb] and [^ŋg] respectively. The voiced alveolar affricate [dz] was originally a fricative sound [z] in earlier Chaozhou and still is in some Chaoshan dialects. Southern Min languages are typified by a lack of labio-dentals, as illustrated below: In phonetics, phonation is the use of the laryngeal system to generate an audible source of acoustic energy, i. ... In phonetics, articulation may be divided into two large classes, obstruents and sonorants. ... Wu (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is one of the major divisions of the Chinese language. ... Xiang (湘語/湘语), also Hunan, Hunanese, or Hsiang, is a subdivision of spoken Chinese. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... Middle Chinese (Traditional Chinese: 中古漢語; Pinyin: zhōnggÇ” HànyÇ”), or Ancient Chinese as used by linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken during Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties (6th century - 10th century). ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Prenasalized stops are phonetic sequences of nasal plus plosive that behave phonologically like single consonant. ... In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth. ...

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. ... In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... The bilabial nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. ... The alveolar nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. ... The velar nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. ... The voiceless bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. ... The voiceless alveolar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. ... The voiceless velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. ... In phonetics, a voiceless consonant is a consonant that does not have voicing. ... The voiceless bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. ... The voiceless alveolar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. ... The voiceless velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. ... The glottal stop or voiceless glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in many spoken languages. ... A voiced consonant is a sound made as the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to a voiceless consonant, where the vocal cords are relaxed. ... The voiced bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The voiced velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... The voiceless alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. ... The voiceless glottal transition, commonly called a fricative, is a type of sound used in some spoken languages which often behaves like a consonant, but sometimes behaves more like a vowel, or is indeterminate in its behavior. ... Affricate consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or ) but release as a fricative (such as or or, in a couple of languages, into a fricative trill) rather than directly into the following vowel. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. ... The voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... In phonetics, a voiceless consonant is a consonant that does not have voicing. ... The voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... A voiced consonant is a sound made as the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to a voiceless consonant, where the vocal cords are relaxed. ... The voiced alveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... Laterals are L-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue. ... The alveolar lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. ...

Oral Vowels

Nasalised Vowels

Syllable

Syllables in Chaozhou contain an onset consonant, a medial glide, a nucleus, usually in the form of a vowel, but can also be occupied by a syllabic consonant like [ŋ], and a final consonant. All the elements of the syllable except for the nucleus are optional, which means a vowel or a syllabic consonant alone can stand as a fully-fledged syllable. For the computer operating system, see Syllable (operating system). ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... A syllabic consonant is a consonant which either forms a syllable of its own, or is the nucleus of a syllable. ... In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. ...

Onsets

All the consonants except for the glottal stop ʔ shown in the consonants chart above can act as the onset of a syllable; however, the onset position is not obligatorily occupied.

Rimes

Nucleus

The nucleus is the only obligatory and therefore the most important element of a syllable. It can be occupied by a vowel, a nasalised vowel or a syllabic consonant in chaozhou.

Coda

The coda position is usually fulfilled by a stop or nasal consonant (which, technically speaking, is also a stop sound because the soft palate is lowered to allow air to flow through the nasal cavity) but is nevertheless optional.

Tones

Citation Tones

Chaozhou, like other Chinese languages, is a tonal language. It has six tones (reduced to two in stopped syllables) and extensive tone sandhi. A Tonal language is a language that uses tone to distinguish words. ... Some web browsers may not be able to view this correctly; you may see transcriptions in parentheses after the character, like this: () instead of on top of the character as intended. ... Tone sandhi (Sandhi is from Sanskrit meaning, putting together) refers to the pitch change in tones when different tones come together. ...

Teochew tones

Tone number	Tone name	Pitch contour	Description	Sandhi
1	yin level (陰平/阴平)	˧ (33)	mid	(none)
2	yin rising (陰上/阴上)	˥˨ (52)	falling	6
3	yin departing (陰去/阴去)	˩˨ (12)	low rising	2
4	yin entering (陰入/阴入)	˩ʔ (1)	low checked	8
5	yang level (陽平/阳平)	˥ (55)	high	7
6	yang rising (陽上/阳上)	˧˥ (35)	high rising	7
7	yang departing (陽去/阳去)	˩ (11)	low	(none)
8	yang entering (陽入/阳入)	˥ʔ (5)	high checked	4

As with sandhi in other Min Nan dialects, the checked tones interchange. The yang tones all become low.

Intonation

Grammar

The grammar of Chaozhou is similar to southern Chinese dialects, especially with Hakka and Cantonese. The sequence 'subject verb object' is typical, like Mandarin, although 'subject object verb' is also possible using particles. For the rules of English grammar, see English grammar and Disputes in English grammar. ... Spoken Chinese The Chinese spoken language(s) comprise(s) many regional variants. ... Hakka (Simplified Chinese: 客家话, Traditional Chinese: 客家話, Pronunciation in Hakka: Hak-ka-fa/-va, Pinyin: Kèjiāhuà) is a spoken variation of the Chinese language spoken predominantly in southern China by the Hakka ethnic group and descendants in diaspora throughout East and Southeast Asia and around the world. ... This article is about all of the Cantonese (Yue) dialects. ... In linguistic typology, subject-verb-object (SVO) is the sequence subject verb object in neutral expressions: Sam ate oranges. ... This article is on all of the Northern Chinese dialects. ... In linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb (SOV) is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence appear (usually) in that order. ...

Morphology

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

The personal pronouns in Chaozhou, like in other Sinitic languages, do not show case marking, therefore 我 [ua] means both I and me and 伊人 [i naŋ] means they and them. The southern Min dialects, like some northern dialects, have the distinction between an inclusive and exclusive we, meaning that when the addressee is being included, the inclusive pronoun 俺 [naŋ] would be used, otherwise 阮 [ŋ]. None of the other southern dialects like Cantonese or Hakka has this distinction.

For other uses of number, see number (disambiguation). ... Look up plural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Point of view (literature). ...

Possessive Pronouns

The Chaozhou language does not distinguish the possessive pronouns from the possessive adjectives. As a general rule, the possessive pronouns or adjectives are formed by adding the genitive or possessive marker 個/个 [kai7] to their respective personal pronouns, as summarised below: The genitive case is a grammatical case that indicates a relationship, primarily one of possession, between the noun in the genitive case and another noun. ...

本書是我個/本书是我个 [puŋ2 tsɤ1 si6 ua2 kai7] The book is mine. For other uses of number, see number (disambiguation). ... Look up plural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Point of view (literature). ...

However, there are instances in which 個/个 [kai7] can be dropped, such as when followed by a measure word, as in: In the Chinese languages, measure words or classifiers (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Cantonese (Yale): leung4 chi4) are used along with numerals to define the quantity of a given object or objects, or with this/that to identify specific objects. ...

我條裙/我条裙 [ua2 tiou5 kuŋ5] my skirt

Demonstrative Pronouns

Chaozhou has the typical two-way distinction between the demonstratives, namely the proximals and the distals, as summarised in the following chart:

Interrogative Pronouns

In linguistics, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members combine with other grammatical kinds of expressions. ... A numeral is a symbol or group of symbols that represents a number. ... A classifier, in linguistics, is a word or morpheme used in some languages in certain contexts to indicate the word class of a noun. ...

Numerals

The cardinal number system works in pretty much the same way as the Mandarin one. Chinese numerals are characters for writing numbers in Chinese. ...

Note: (T): Traditional characters; (S): Simplified characters. Zero redirects here. ... This article is about the number one. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the number. ... This article discusses the number Four. ... Look up five in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up six in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Seven Days of Creation - 1765 book, title page 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. ... Look up eight in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the number. ... This article is about the number 10. ...

Ordinal numbers are formed by adding 第 [tõĩ6] in front of a cardinal number.

Classifiers

Syntax

The Noun Phrase

Reduplication

Nominalisation

Modification of the NP

The Verb Phrase

Auxiliary Verbs

Tense

Aspect

Transitivity

Voice

In Chaozhou passive construction, the agent phrase by somebody always has to be present, and is introduced by either 乞 [kʰoiʔ4]* or 分 [puŋ1], even though it is in fact a zero or indefinite agent as in: In linguistics, a grammatical agent is an entity that carries out an action. ... Look up phrase in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

伊分人刣掉

[i1 puŋ1 naŋ5 tʰai5 tiau7]

s/he was killed (by someone)

*Some speakers use [kʰɤʔ] or [kʰiɤʔ] instead.

Remember that while in Putonghua we can have the agent introducer 被 bèi or 給 gěi alone without the agent itself, it is not grammatical to say

* 個杯分敲掉

[kai5 pue1 puŋ1 kʰa1 tiau7]

the cup was broken.

(cf. Putonghua: 杯子給打破了 bēizi gěi dǎ pò le)

Instead, we have to say:

個杯分人敲掉

[kai5 pue1 puŋ1 naŋ5 kʰa1 tiau7]

Even though this 人 [naŋ5] is unknown.

Note also that the agent phrase 分人 [puŋ1 naŋ5] always comes immediately after the subject, not at the end of the sentence or between the auxiliary and the past participle like in some European languages (e.g. German, Dutch) In linguistics, an auxiliary (also called helping verb, auxiliary verb, or verbal auxiliary) is a verb functioning to give further semantic or syntactic information about the main or full verb following it. ... In linguistics, a participle is a non-finite verb form that can be used in compound tenses or voices, or it can be used as a modifier. ...

Modality

Sentence Final Particles

Adverbs

Coverbs

Negation

Interrogation

Comparison

The comparative construction with two or more nouns

Chaozhou uses the construction "X ADJ 過 [kue3] Y", which is believed to have evolved from the Ancient Chinese "X ADJ 于 (yú) Y" structure, to express the idea of comparison: Middle Chinese (中古漢語, pinyin: zhōnggǔ Hànyǔ), or Ancient Chinese as used by linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken during Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties (6th century - 10th century). ...

伊雅過你

[i1 ŋia2 kue3 lɤ2]

She is more beautiful than you.

Cantonese uses the same construction:

cf. 佢靚過你 [kʰœy5 leŋ3 kʷɔ3 nei5]

However, due to influences from Mandarin Chinese, the Mandarin structure "X 比 Y ADJ" has also gained popularity over the years. Therefore, the same sentence can be re-structured and becomes:

伊比汝雅。

[i1 pi2 lɤ2 ŋia2]

cf. Mandarin 她比你漂亮 (tā bǐ nǐ piào liang)

The comparative construction with only one noun

Note: the 過- or 比-construction must involve two or more nouns to be compared; an ill-formed sentence will be yielded when only one is being mentioned:

* 伊雅過 (?)

This is different from English since the second noun being compared can be left out:

cf. Tatyana is more beautiful (than Lisa).

In this case, the 夭-construction has to be used instead:

伊夭雅

[i1 iou6 ŋia2]

She is more beautiful.

The same holds true for Mandarin and Cantonese in that another structure needs to be used when only one of the nouns being compared is mentioned. Note also that Chaozhou and Mandarin both use a pre-modifier (before the adjective) while Cantonese uses a post-modifier (after the adjective).

cf. Mandarin 她比較漂亮 (tā bǐ jiào piào liang) & Cantonese 佢靚啲 [kʰœy5 leŋ3 ti1]

There are two words which are intrinsically comparative in meaning, i.e. 贏 [ĩã5] "better" and 輸 [su1] "worse". They can be used alone or in conjunction with the 過-structure:

只領裙輸(過)許領

[tsi2 nĩã2 kuŋ5 su1 kue3 hɤ2 nĩã2]

This skirt is not as good as that one.

我內個電腦贏伊個好多

[ua2 lai6 kai7 tieŋ6 nao2 ĩã5 i1 kai7 hoʔ2 tsoi7]

My computer (at home) is far better than his.

Note the use of the adverbial 好多 [hoʔ2 tsoi7] at the end of the sentence to express a higher degree.

The equal construction

In Chaozhou, the idea of equality is expressed with the word 平 [pẽ5] or 平樣 [pẽ5 ĩẽ7]:

只本書佮許本平重。

[tsi2 puŋ2 tsɤ1 kaʔ4 hɤ2 puŋ2 pẽ5 taŋ6]

This book is as heavy as that one.

伊兩人平平樣。

[i1 no6 naŋ5 pẽ5 pẽ5 ĩẽ7]

They are the same. (They look the same./They're as good as each other./They're as bad as each other.)

The superlative construction

To express the superlative, Chaozhou uses the adverb 上 [siaŋ5] or 上頂 [siaŋ5 teŋ2]. However, it should be noted that 上頂 is usually used with a complimentary connotation.

只間物上頂好食。

[tsi2 kõĩ1 mueʔ8 siaŋ5 teŋ2 ho2 tsiaʔ8]

This (restaurant) is (absolutely) the most delicious.

伊人對我上好。

[i1 naŋ5 tui3 ua2 siaŋ5 ho2]

They treat me best.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary of Chaozhou shares a lot of similarities with Cantonese owing to their continuous contact with each other. Like Cantonese, Chaozhou has a great deal of monosyllabic words, which to a certain extent reflects the age of the Chaozhou language since monosyllabic words were prevalent in Ancient Chinese. However, ever since the standardisation of Modern Chinese, Chaozhou has absorbed a lot of Putonghua vocabulary, which is predominantly polysyllabic. In addition, due to the migration to Southeast Asia, Chaozhou has also borrowed extensively from Malay. For the computer operating system, see Syllable (operating system). ... Middle Chinese (Traditional Chinese: 中古漢語; Pinyin: zhōnggǔ Hànyǔ), or Ancient Chinese as used by linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken during Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties (6th century - 10th century). ... Map of eastern China and Taiwan, showing the historic distribution of Mandarin Chinese in light brown. ... Not to be confused with the Malayalam language, spoken in India. ...

Archaic vocabulary

Chaozhou and other Min Nan dialects such as Taiwanese preserve a good deal of Ancient Chinese vocabulary. Examples include words such as 目 [mak] eye (cf. Putonghua: 眼睛 yǎnjīng; Taiwanese: 目 ba̍k), 灱 [ta] dry (cf. Putonghua: 乾 gān; Taiwanese: 焦 ta), and 囥 [kʰɤŋ] hide (cf. Putonghua: 藏 cáng; Taiwanese: 囥 khǹg). For other uses, see Formosan languages, Taiwanese Mandarin, and Languages of Taiwan. ...

Foreign borrowings

Chaozhou has absorbed a number of words from both Malay and English.

Malay:

• 嗎淡/吗淡 [matã] mata-mata police
• 巴薩/巴萨 [pasak] pasar market
• 咕哩 [kuli] kuli coolies
• mana (Malay: where, which)

e.g. mana 有車/有车 (mana wu chia)? - How is there any car?

English:

• 目頭/目头 [mak tʰau] make
• 基羅/基罗 [ki lo] kilogramme
• 巴仙 [pa sieŋ] percent

Onomatopoeia

Script and orthographies

The majority of Chaozhou words can be written with the Chinese characters; however, a small amount of the native vocabulary does not have a standard character yet, partly because the Chaozhou vocabulary is usually more archaic and thus not commonly used in the modern standard Chinese language and partly because the studies on dialectal writing in China have not flourished like other areas in traditional Chinese philology, and of course there is also the possibility of some locally invented words which actually do not have a Chinese character. Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ...

Romanisation

The Chaozhou language has been romanised by the Guangdong provincial government to aid linguistic studies and the publication of dictionaries, although the Taiwanese Pe̍h-oē-jī could also be used because the Christian missionaries invented it in a way that is also suitable for the transcription of other Min Nan dialects. Not to be confused with the former Kwantung Leased Territory in north-eastern China. ... Pe̍h-oÄ“-jÄ« (POJ) (Chinese: 白話字; pinyin: ) is an orthography in the Latin alphabet created and introduced to Taiwan by Presbyterian missionaries in the 19th century. ... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ...

A modified version of the Guangdong romanization system called Peng'im is also used in an online Chaozhou community. Guangdong Romanization refers to the four romanization schemes published by the Guangdong Provincial Education Department in 1960 for transliterating the Standard Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka, and Hainanese spoken varieties of Chinese. ...

Initials

Initial consonants of Chaozhou, 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. See also consonance in music. ... Guangdong Romanization refers to the four romanization schemes published by the Guangdong Provincial Education Department in 1960 for transliterating the Standard Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka, and Hainanese spoken varieties of Chinese. ...

Examples:

• B - bag (北 north)
• Bh- bhê (馬/马 horse)
• C - cên (青 green)
• C - cǔi (嘴 mouth)
• C - cêng (槍/枪 gun)
• D - dio (潮 tide)
• G - gio (橋/桥 bridge)
• GH- gho (鵝/鹅 goose)
• H - hung (雲/云 cloud)
• K - ke (走 to go)
• L - lag (六 six)
• M - mêng (明 bright)
• N - nang (人 person)
• NG - ngou (五 five)
• P - peng (平 peace)
• R - riêg/ruah (熱/热 hot)
• S - sên (生 to be born)
• T - tin (天 heaven)
• Z - ziu (州 region/state)

Rimes

Vowels

Vowels and vowel combinations in the Chaozhou dialect include: A, E, Ê, I, O, U, AI, AO, IA, IO, IU, OI, OU, UA, UAI, UE, and UI. Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

Examples:

• A - ma (媽/妈 mother)
• E - de (箸 chopsticks)
• Ê - sên (生 to be born)
• I - bhi (味 smell/taste)
• O - to (桃 peach)
• U - ghu (牛 cow)

Many words in Chaozhou are nasalized. This is represented by the letter "n" in the Guangdong Pengim system.

Example (nasalized):

• suan (山 mountain)
• cên (青 green)

Ending

Ending consonants in Chaozhou include M and NG as well as the stops discussed below. In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. ... The word stop, when used alone, has several possible meanings in the English language. ...

Examples:

• M - iam (鹽/盐 salt)
• NG - bhuang (萬/万 ten thousand)

Chaozhou retains many consonant stops lost in Mandarin. These stops include a labial stop: "b"; velar stop: "g"; and glottal stop: "h". In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. ... This article is on all of the Northern and Southwestern Chinese dialects. ...

Examples:

• B - zab (十 ten)
• G - hog (福 happiness)
• H - tih (鐵/铁 iron)

External links

• Database of Pronunciations of Chinese Dialects (in English, Chinese and Japanese)
• Chaozhou People - Chaozhou dialect (in Chinese)
• Diojiu Bhung Gak
• GagiNang
• Glossika - Chinese Languages and Dialects
• MoGher (in Chinese, English and French)
• Omniglot
• Shantou University Chaozhou Studies Resources (in Chinese)
• Teochew Web (in Chinese and English)
• Tonal harmony and register contour in Chaozhou

References

• Beijing da xue Zhongguo yu yan wen xue xi yu yan xue jiao yan shi. (2003). Han yu fang yin zi hui. (Chinese dialectal vocabulary) Beijing, China : Yu wen chu ban she (北京大學中國語言文學系語言學教研室, 2003. 漢語方音字匯. 北京: 語文出版社) ISBN 7-80184-034-8
• Cai Junming. (1991). Putonghua dui zhao Chaozhou fang yan ci hui. (Chaozhou dialectal vocabulary, contrasted with Mandarin) Hong Kong, China: Wu Duotai Zhongguo yu wen yan jiu zhong xin (蔡俊明, 1991. 普通話對照潮州方言詞匯. 香港: 香港中文大學吳多泰中國語文研究中心) ISBN 962-7330-02-7
• Chappell, Hilary (ed.) (2001). Sinitic grammar : synchronic and diachronic perspectives. Oxford; New York: OUP ISBN 0-19-829977-X
• Chen, Matthew Y. (2000). Tone Sandhi : patterns across Chinese dialects. Cambridge, England: CUP ISBN 0-521-65272-3
• DeFrancis, John. (1984). The Chinese language: fact and fantasy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press ISBN 0-8248-1068-6
• Li, Xin Kui. (1994). Guangdong di fang yan. (Dialects of Guangdong) Guangzhou, China: Guangdong ren min chu ban she (李新魁, 1994. 廣東的方言. 廣州: 廣東 人民出版社) ISBN 7-218-00960-3
• Li, Yongming. (1959). Chaozhou fang yan. (Chaozhou dialect) Beijing, China : Zhonghua. (李永明, 1959. 潮州方言. 北京: 中華)
• Lin, Lun Lun. (1997). Xin bian Chaozhou yin zi dian. (New Chaozhou pronunciation dictionary) Shantou, China : Shantou da xue chu ban she. (林倫倫, 1997. 新編潮州音字典. 汕頭: 汕頭大學出版社) ISBN 7-81036-189-9
• Norman, Jerry. [1988] (2002). Chinese. Cambridge, England: CUP ISBN 0-521-29653-6
• Ramsey, S. Robert (1986). Languages of China. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press ISBN 0-691-06694-9

See also

Teochew (dialect) test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• List of Chinese dialects
• Languages of China
• Min Nan
• Fuzhou dialect
• Taiwanese language
• Tiechiu swadesh list
• Chinese in Singapore

Image File history File links Incubator-notext. ... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ... Incubator logo The Wikimedia Incubator is a wiki run by Wikimedia Foundation. ... Geographic distribution of Sinitic language families within the Peoples Republic of China and the Republic of China The following is a list of Chinese dialects and languages. ... Map of Linguistic Groups (showing areas under effective control of the Peoples Republic of China (including Hong Kong and Macau) and Republic of China combined) Chinas many different ethnic groups speak many different languages, collectively called Zhōngguó YÇ”wén (中国语文), literally speech and writing of China which... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... Alternative Chinese name Traditional Chinese: Simplified Chinese: Fuzhou dialect (福州話), also known as Foochow, Foochow dialect, Fuzhouhua or Foochowese, is considered the standard dialect of Min Dong, which is a branch of Chinese mainly spoken in the eastern part of Fujian Province. ... See alternative meanings for other possible definitions. ... Chinatown was an enclave for the early Chinese immigrants in Singapore in the 19th and early 20th centuries. ...