Wuhua
五華話 / 五华话
Native toSouthern China, Taiwan
RegionWuhua
Native speakers
6,260,000
Sino-Tibetan
Language codes
ISO 639-3
GlottologNone
Wuhua dialect
Traditional Chinese五華話
Simplified Chinese五华话

The Wuhua dialect (simplified Chinese: 五华话; traditional Chinese: 五華話; pinyin: Wǔhuáhuà, Hakka: ŋ̍˧˩ fa˧˥ fa˥˩) is a major dialect of Hakka Chinese spoken in Wuhua County, Jiexi County, Shenzhen, eastern Dongguan, Northern Guangdong around Shaoguan, Sichuan Province, and Tonggu County in Jiangxi Province.

Overall, the Wuhua dialect is very similar to the prestige dialect of Hakka, the Meixian dialect.

Characteristics

The Wuhua dialect is characterized by the pronunciation of several voiced Middle Chinese qu-sheng (fourth tone) syllables of Moiyen dialect in the Shang-sheng (third tone). The tone-level of the yang-ping is a rising /13/, /35/ or /24/ instead of the low-level /11/ usually found in Meixian. In Wuhua-concentrated areas of Northern Bao'an and Eastern Dongguan, the same Meixian dialect tone level of the yang-ping is found. Two sets of fricatives and affricates (z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, s / ts’ / s, [ts], [tsh], [s] and [ts], [tsh], [s] and [tʃ ], [tʃh], [ ʃ ]) appear, similar to Mandarin Chinese. The distinctive "y" final is found in the Yuebei (Northern Guangdong) Hakka group and Sichuan group. Retroflexed initials in (Zhi series) “Knowledge”, 曉/晓 (Xiao group) “Dawn”, and part of (Xi) “Brook”, and poor usage of medials in Grade III and closed finals. Wuhua dialect exhibits “latter-word” tone sandhi. Phonologically, Wuhua showcases a north–south separation while lexically depicting an east- and middle-Guangdong separation, showing similarities to inland and coastal Hakka dialects. Lexically it shows east–west separation in Wuhua, which is quite different from the phonological point of view. Outwardly, lexicons in Wuhua show that the Wuhua dialect is on the diglossia that separates east and middle Guangdong. This way, the lexicons distinguish coast-side dialects from inland ones. The Wuhua dialect is transitional, no matter how it is seen historically or geographically. Overall, the Wuhua Hakka dialect is very similar to the prestige of the Moiyen (Meixian) Hakka dialect.

In the Wuhua Hakka dialect group, Qusheng consists of only QingQu syllables, Shangsheng is a combination of Qingshang and Zhuoqu Characters.

The rounded vowel [y] is common in Yuebei and Sichuan.

According to the Hakka classification of Hashimoto Mantaro, the Wuhua accent falls into Hakka dialects with a high rising staccato and high level tone, a falling tone contour for tone 4 and a rising feature for tone 2.

Background

Most varieties of Jiaying subdialect (Yue-Tai) belong to the Meixian patois[clarification needed], but those in northern Guangdong and Sichuan and some dialects in western Guangdong belong to the Wuhua patois[clarification needed], the Wuhua patoi merges Yangqu with the Shang tone instead, so that voiced characters of MC departing tones have the Shang tone, not Qu. Besides, the Meixian group has a Yingping tone value of 11, but Wuhua has the value of 35 or 24.

Location

Wuhua County is located in the upper reaches of the Han River. The southeast border of the county is adjacent to Fengshun, Jiexi, and Lufeng. Heyuan and Zijin are located on the southwest borders. The northwest border is connected to Longchuan and the northeast to Xingning. Due to the resulting language contact, Wuhua is affected by the dialectal assimilation of the surrounding areas.

The Wuhua dialect can be found in Wuhua County, Jiexi County, Northern Bao'An (formerly Xin'An (Sin-On), presently called Shenzhen), and Eastern Dongguan, in Guangdong Province, It can also be observed in Yuebei or Northern Guangdong around Shaoguan, as well as in Sichuan Province, and Tonggu County in Jiangxi Province.

Taiwan is also home to the Wuhua Hakka people who migrated from South Wuhua County during the Qing dynasty. Taiwanese Wuhua has observed many changes in its initials, finals, and lexicons. As a result, it shares characteristics with the neighboring Sixian (四縣) and Hailu (海陸) Dialects. The tones remained the same. Minority languages tend to assimilate with their superiors as observed in the Wuhua dialect of Taiwan. The Changle dialect originates in its eponym, the county of Changle (now Wuhua). Currently, speakers of the Yongding and Changle dialects have left their own families. Due to this, there are fewer dialects that are used in present-day Taiwan, including but not limited to prominent Sixian and Hailu dialects.

Internal variation and related dialects

The internal variation within Wuhua County is minimal and is mostly seen in the phonology.[1] The Wuhua dialect spoken in Wuhua County is traditionally categorized into three subgroups:[2]

In more detailed analysis:

Meizhou: Fengshun,

Qingyuan: Yingde, Qingxing, Qingcheng, Lianzhou, Lianshan and Liannan,

Guangzhou: Conghua, and other places on the Pearl River Delta,

Guangxi: Hezhou (贺州), in Liantang (莲塘), Shatian (沙田), Gonghui (公会), Guiling (桂岭), Huangtian (黄田)

Phonology

Consonant inventory

Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive tenuis p t k
aspirated
Affricate ts
Aspirated affricate tsʰ tʂʰ
Fricative f v s ʂ h
Approximant l

Finals

Most finals are the same with Meixian / Moiyen dialect, except for:

Moiyen Wuhua
uon on
ian an
ien
i ui
in un
uan has lost the "u" medial, example: "kan"
uai
uon
ien en

Vowel inventory

Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

Tones

Wuhua tones
Tone number Tone name Hanzi Tone letters number English
1 yin ping 陰平 ˦ 44 high
2 yang ping 陽平 ˩ 34 low
3 shang ˧˩ 21 low falling
4 qu ˥˧ 42 high falling
5 yin ru 陰入 ˩ 21 low checked
6 yang ru 陽入 ˥ 44 high checked

In Wuhua, Shaoguan (and most dialects around it), and Sichuan, the Yangping is usually 35 instead of 11.

Wuhua Romanization and IPA

Romanization IPA
b [p]
p [pʰ]
m [m]
f [f]
v [v]
d [t]
t [tʰ]
n [n]
l [l]
g [k]
k [kʰ]
ng [ŋ]
h [h]
j [ts](i)
q [tsʰ](i)
x [s](i)
z* [ts]
c* [tsʰ]
s* [s]
zh* [tʂ]
ch* [tʂʰ]
sh* [ʂ]
a [a]
o [ɔ]
i [i]
u [u]
ê [ɛ]
e [ɨ]

Romanization with an asterisk (*) always precedes an [i].[clarification needed]

Notes

  1. ^ Zhu 2010, p. 2.
  2. ^ Zhu 2010, p. 2–3.
  3. ^ Hsu 2010, p. 18.
  4. ^ Zijin Xian Difangzhi Bianzuan Weiyuanhui 2013, vol. 27, ch. 3, sec. 1.

References

  • Hsu, Fan-ping 徐汎平 (2010). Guǎngdōng Wǔhuá Kèjiāhuà bǐjiào yánjiū 廣東五華客家話比較研究 [Comparative Study of a Hakka Dialect in Wuhua, Guangdong] (Master's thesis) (in Chinese). Guoli zhongyang daxue.
  • Zhu, Bingyu 朱炳玉 (2010). Wǔhuá Kèjiāhuà yánjiū 五华客家话研究 [A Study of Wuhua Hakka] (in Chinese). Guangzhou: Huanan ligong daxue chubanshe. ISBN 978-7-5623-3299-2.
  • Zijin Xian Difangzhi Bianzuan Weiyuanhui 紫金县地方志编纂委员会编, ed. (2013). Zǐjīn xiànzhì (1979-2004) 紫金县志(1979~2004) (in Chinese). Guangzhou: Guangdong renmin chubanshe. ISBN 978-7-218-09238-6.