Hoisanva (Taishanese) 台山話 – Lesson 1

Preface

Hoisanva 台山話 occupies a unique position in Chinese dialects. According to Professor Horowitz, a visiting professor of Chinese Classics in Columbia University in 1958, it is probably the only dialect that is very close to the dialect that was spoken during the Spring and Autumn period in Chinese history, about 2,500 years ago. Other dialects, such as Mandarin (Beijing) have changed drastically or Cantonese (Guangzhou), which has not changed as much. The final consonants k, p, and t are entirely lost in Mandarin, although they still exist in Cantonese and Hoisanva.

The raison d’être for this site is primarily to preserve the sounds of this language before it is lost forever. It was the lingua franca of all overseas Chinese from the early 1800s to early 1970s.

Hoisanva is a spoken language. Some spoken words do not have corresponding written characters as it does in Mandarin. Hoisanva is the native language of about one million people who live in the Taishan District (now known as Taishan City). It is also spoken by about one million overseas Chinese who emigrated from Taishan or are descendents of these emigrants.

Variations in pronunciation do exist within the Taishan District. The Hoisanva used in this site is spoken by the natives of the capital of Taishan District (Taicheng in Pinyin) or Hoiseng (in Taishanese). The capital is located approximately 63 miles southwest of Guangzhou and 80 miles west of Hong Kong.

Gene Chin has made the audio files for these lessons available for download. By downloading the file(s) you have agreed to the terms and conditions as set out by the author.

All Hoisanva information is copyrighted by Gene M Chin. However, you may use and adapt the information as long as you contribute to the copyright holder and refer to the Romanization as “Gene M Chin Romanization”.

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Lesson 1 – Pronunciation Guide

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The pronunciation of all words is as used by natives in the capital of Hoisan (Hoiseng; Táichéng in pinyin). I refrain from the use of “character” since not all spoken words have an equivalent written character. All Hoisanva words have two phonemes: an initial phoneme and a final phoneme. In addition to the two phonemes, all words have a tone, without which would render the word meaningless.

Initial Phonemes

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All initial phonemes are essentially as indicated by the American English equivalents. The only exception is the initial “x” which sounds like “thl” with tip of tongue touching the inside of upper front teeth with air coming out of both corners of the mouth. The IPA equivalent is the belted l (ɬ). Many scholars may disagree with me on the initial “v” phoneme since transliterations usually use a “w” for this phoneme. However, if you listen carefully to native Hoiseng speakers, you will hear a “v” more than you hear a “w”.

Final Phonemes

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The letters k, p, or t at the end of a word is not exploded as in American English. They are very soft, as spoken in a whisper. The iu sound is similar to the English word you or Spanish ciudad (city). Both haunt (hônt) and gone (gôn) are the preferred pronunciation in the American Heritage Dictionary, not the secondary pronunciation (hänt and gŏn). The ui sound is similar to the French huit (eight) or buoy (bōō’ē not boi). The English long vowel sounds a, e, i, and u are represented by ei, i, ai, and iu respectively. There is no long o sound

* This long o starts like the American English obut ends with the lips together, not open as in American English.

Table of Possible Combinations of Initial and Final Phonemes

Initial phonemes are arranged across the top and bottom rows. Final phonemes are arranged down the left and right columns. Combined initial and final phonemes are in the grid. Blanks indicate no such combination in Hoisanva. The final phonemes “eik” and “eit” are almost indistinguishable since the final k and final t are even softer than the normal final k and final t. I have arbitrarily chosen “eik” over “eit” to represent these sounds.

Tones

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Hoisanva consists not only the initial and final phonemes that make up the word, but also a tone, which is an integral part of the word. There are five distinct tones in Hoisanva. Pitch or tone contour can be divided into a starting pitch and an ending pitch. By using the numbers 1 through 5 to represent the five tones (see table below) in a pentatonic scale (where 1 is low and 5 is high), we could approximate the pitch of words in Hoisanva.

Diacritic marks (see table below) are used to represent the five tones. A macron (ˉ) is used for the first tone. A diaeresis (¨) is used for the second tone. A tilde (˜) is used for the third tone. A grave accent (ˋ) is used for the fourth tone. A circumflex (ˆ) is used for the fifth tone. Diacritic marks are placed over a vowel if there is only one vowel in the word. In the case of diphthongs, diacritic marks are placed over the first vowel, except for “ui” and “iu”, in which case, it is placed over the second vowel.

The character/word “m” does not have a vowel. Thus the diacritical mark follows the M or m.

Sample Tones

+ uncle: a paternal uncle who is older than your father

Tonal Change

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Tonal changes exist for all tones except the first (high even) tone. The second (middle even) and third (low even) tones start with the normal pitch and then half way through the sound rises and ends with a high pitch. The fourth (middle falling) and fifth (low falling) tones start with the normal pitch and half way through the sound dips and rises and ends with a high pitch. All four tonal changes will be marked by a slash (/) after the word. For example “òi/” (a bag, to pocket).

Tonal changes exist when a person’s name is called except if the person’s name is the first tone (high even), in which case, “ä” is added to the name at the end. However, “ä” can be added to any name in any tone. “Ä” can also be added before a person’s name.

Tonal Change Examples

• Xēik is changed to Xēik-ä. [First tone for name by adding "ä" at the end.]
• Mũn is changed to Mũn/. Can also be Mũn/-ä. [Other than first tone for name by changing the tone or adding "ä" at the end.]
• Ä-Mũn/-ä. [Using "Ä" in front of name.]
• Ä-Mā-ä. [Using "Ä" in front of name.]

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Tags: Chinese, Hoisanva, language, Taishanese