Hokkien in Penang STRUGGLES OF A MINOR LANGUAGE Carmen Lim, Lynsey Wolter, Department of English

WHERE IS PENANG, MALAYSIA? TONES IN HOKKIEN POSSIBLE SOLUTION

Penang is an island state in Malaysia located at the northwest In Hokkien, there are 8 tones. In recent years, tone 6 has merged There are ways to revitalize a dying/dead language. One of the coast. It is one of the most urbanized and economically with tone 7 so technically there are 7 tones. most prominent aspect that came up is orthography. As important states in the country. Penang has a heterogeneous mentioned before, Penang Hokkien does not have a writing population is highly diverse in ethnicity, culture, language and system. However, various writing systems have been developed religion. Tone 1 [tam] [a] Tone 5 [âŋ] [â] in other countries. We can use those to create a writing system 贪 = tam (greed) 红 = ang (red) for Penang Hokkien that is best suited for its community. Tone 2 [tʃá] [á] Tone 6 *merged with tone 7 [sɪ] 木 = cha (wood) 四 = si (four) o International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)= A system currently Tone 3 [lɔ̀] [ɔ̀] Tone 7 [bāaŋ][ā] used by majority of the linguists to transcribe sounds. 下 = lo (go down) 蚊子 = wen zi (mosquito) Tone 4 [kaʔ][ah] Tone 8 [la̍k] [a̍h] o Peh-Oe-Ji (POJ) = A writing system developed by missionaries 腿 = ka (leg) 六 = lak (six) to write Southern Min Chinese.

Penang, Malaysia (Southeast Asia) Beaches in Penang o Modern Literal Taiwanese (MLT) = A writing system based on DYING LANGUAGE the Taiwanese Modern Spelling System. Unfortunately, Hokkien (just like many other minor languages) is HE OMMUNITY AND OKKIEN S ORIGIN T C H ’ facing extinction. The reasons are English Pronunciation POJ MLT Texting Malaysia is a multiracial and multicultural country. Hokkien is translation (IPA) one of the dialects spoken by majority of the Chinese in Penang. o Colonialism – When countries with Hokkien speakers The dialect originated from China and despite being in the same (Malaysia, Taiwan, Mainland China) were colonized/taken 1. Sell 1. [be˨ ˩] 1. [bè] 1. [beix] Beh group as other Chinese dialects, they sound completely different. over (British, Japanese, Republic of China), the colonizers 2. Buy 2. [be˧ ˥] 2. [bê] 2. [beei] Hokkien is spread through South-eastern China and Southeast were hostile to other languages besides their own. 1. Old 1. [laʊ˥] 1. [lau] 1. [lau] Lao Asia when speakers migrate. The term Hokkien is seldom used in 2. Lie 2. [laʊʔ˥] 2. [l 2. [lau] Taiwan or Mainland China; as it is better known as Fujian. a̍u] • Hokkien was banned from mass media and is being eliminated Southeast Asia is where the language is referred to as Hokkien 1. Go 1. [ki˥ ˩] 1. [ki] 1. [ki] Ki through movements like the Speak Mandarin Campaign and more frequently. 2. Up 2. [kiʔ˥] 2. [kí] 2. [ki] National Language Policy. 1. Sea 1. [haɪ˥] 1. [hai] 1. [hafi] Hai 2. To trouble 2. [haɪʔ˥] 2. [ha̍i] 2. [hai] THE LANGUAGE SITUATION IN MALAYSIA o Modernizing nations – Other languages (not Hokkien) were standardized. 1. Ghost 1. [kui˧] 1. [kui] 1. [kui] Gui o English/Malay: Taught in school and used in formal context. 2. Expensive 2. [kui˨ ˩] 2. [kùi] 2. [kuxi] • Schools do not encourage or even punish students for using o Mandarin/Tamil: Learned by members of some ethnic groups. the language. o Minimal pairs = A word with the same spelling but have multiple meanings. o Hokkien/Other local dialects: Learned at home and does not o Language suicide – The community themselves start to refuse possess a writing system due to its low prestige. their own language and culture. Since the language was ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES Name 1 demoted into a dialect, it is considered as an embarrassment. o Peh-Oe-Ji – Diacritic marks are often used to indicate a tone of a Penangites use o Not so fun fact: Of the estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the word, making the word a speaker is referring to clearer. world today, nearly half are in danger of extinction and are multiple Name 1 People who do not study linguistics will not be able to likely to disappear within the century. About one language understand the diacritic marks. languages in a Name 2 “dies” every two weeks. sentence! o Modern Literal Taiwanese – Easier to type since alphabets are used to differentiate the minimal pairs. Using alphabets as tone markers can make the spelling of a word look really bizarre. English o Texting – Very flexible. Speakers can spell a word according to Depends on race and their own understanding. Speakers are spelling the words however they want, so the Mandarin what country an individual is from. content can easily be misinterpreted.

Dialects – Hokkien Saving the language – Using the strengths of each writing system, a new structure for Penang Hokkien can be developed! Example texts Example of a language hierarchy

Citations: Daniel Nettle and Suzanne Romaine, 2000, Vanishing Voices -The Extinction of the World's Languages This project was supported by StudentWe Blugold thank theCommitment Office of Research Differential and Tuition Sponsored funds Programs through forthe supporting University thisof Wisconsin research, -andEau LearningClaire Student/Faculty & Technology ServicesResearch for Collaboration printing this program.poster. Ding, Picus Sizhi, 2015, Southern Min (Hokkien) as a Migrating Language We thank Learning & Technology Services for printing this poster.