[galvatron prime]

‘Pass on Penang Hokkien to children’



http://thestar.com.m...=...840568&sec=

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Hokkien is no longer “pure” as the younger generation is mixing it with English, Mandarin and Cantonese to sound more sophisticated.

Penang Hokkien podcast pioneer John Ong said parents need to be good examples to promote the dialect among children.

“Other languages are being used to ‘class it up’ so Penang Hokkien is no longer pure. If we feel embarrassed about our own dialect, our children will feel the same. We have to be proud of our own dialect which is part of our heritage and culture.

“It was not until I left my hometown in Penang that I realised how rich my own Penang Hokkien dialect is and how unique and witty it is,” said US-based Ong who is better known as “Miku (red buns in Hokkien) John” on his penanghokkien.com podcast site.

On Tuesday, author Tan Choon Hoe who has written two books on Penang Hokkien, warned that the dialect might become extinct if no effort was made to preserve and encourage the young to speak the dialect.

Composer Lucy Loo said her pop-gospel band Sand (Saved For A New Destiny) released their first Hokkien album, Hee Bang (Hope) in January.

“I noticed that my friend’s children could not even order hawker food in Hokkien. I started writing Hokkien gospel songs because I believe that music is the most effective way of promoting the dialect among children and young adults,” said the 42-year-old classical pianist.

“It is so frustrating when foreigners are so keen on learning our dialect but we are not even encouraging our kids to speak it.”

Khoo Kongsi president Datuk Seri Khoo Keat Siew said as long as the Chinese clanhouses were around, local dialect would never become extinct.

“It is part of our roots so as long as the main Hokkien clan houses are around, the dialect will always be part of Penang,” he said.

The Khoo, together with Cheah, Yeoh, Lim and Tan Kongsi, were known as the Five Big Clans (Goh Tai Seh) that formed the backbone of the Hokkien community in early Penang.

History and Chinese culture enthusiast Chang Yong-Mee advised “educated” parents not to look down on local dialects.

“Languages and dialects are powerful tools in life – people should not look down on anything that helps one communicate. It is true that English and Chinese-educated parents nowadays tend to look down on their local dialects which is very silly.”

Seberang Jaya assemblyman Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah said regardless of whether one is Chinese, Malay or Indian, community dialects must be preserved.

“Dialects are part of who we are. For example, within the Malay community, the language is spoken differently in different communities like Minagkabau, Kelantan, Terengganu and Penang – these are all very special.

“That is why Chinese dialects like Hokkien must be preserved. My two kids are studying in Chinese schools and unlike during my time when both Mandarin and Hokkien were widely spoken, they only don’t have the opportunity to pick up the dialect. Now, only Mandarin is used,” said Arif Shah, who speaks fluent Hokkien and Mandarin.

Penang Hokkien Association chairman Loh Nam Hooi said although it was important for children to master languages, emphasis must also be given to dialects.

“There must be a mix. Speak to children in different languages and dialects and they will pick it up. If we don’t keep Hokkien alive, who will?” he said, adding that since Astro begin showing Hokkien drama serials, the dialect has been gaining popularity.

“No doubt that is Taiwanese Hokkien but it encourages people to take an interest in Penang Hokkien too. We are now looking at offering classes for those who are interested to learn the dialect because it is part of our living heritage,” he said.

Comment:Penang Hokkien are no longer Pure ,Are Singapore Hokkien more Pure Than Penang Hokkien or face the same problem ?

This post has been edited by galvatron: 19 July 2008 - 01:10 AM

[calibre2001]

Truthfully speaking, spoken languages in Malaysia and Singapore often borrow alot from different languages. That's a definitive persona of languages in those places. I personally don't see the dilution of penang hokkien as a threat since in the first place it is already somewhat creolised from the 'original' xiamen hokkien. It's more important to ensure it is passed on to the next generation.

Not to worry- the renewed interest in Hokkien thanks to Taiwan's hokkien media can stem this hokkien decline!

[General_Zhaoyun]

There are many languages in Malaysia or Singapore. That's why it will influence the dialect to some degree. Also, the dialects are not taught in the 'proper' way (as in correct pronunciation). That's why it will will be corrupted to some degree.

[Mark Yong]

One of the reasons why the Penang Hokkien dialect is not being well-preserved is because people are no longer taught to read using the dialectal pronunciation. The Penang Hokkien dialect is based primarily on the Hokkien sub-dialect of Chiang Chew 漳州, not Amoy 廈門. A common misconception is that the pronunciation of certain words being different from Amoy 廈門 Hokkien (e.g. pnui instead of png for 飯, ke instead of kue for 雞) is due to corruption by other languages - in fact, the -ui (as opposed to -ng) and -e (as opposed to -ue) endings are a characteristic of the Chiang Chew 漳州 sub-dialect. Of course, there are some peripheral intrusions from Teochew 潮州 infuence, e.g. 豬 is pronounced 'tu'.

The reason I am saying this is because, based on my observation from my 6 years working in Penang and extensively studying the dialect by mixing with and conversing with the locals, I found that those with better Hokkien vocabulary tend to be the Chinese-educated speakers. I believe it is because with the Chinese education, they can sub-consciously map most of the words to known characters*. It was by mixing primarily with the Chinese-educated Hokkien native speakers that I picked up most of my vocabulary.

* (The reason I say 'most' is because (1) many words - although of Sinitic origin - have no Chinese character to represent them, e.g. bue (word meaning 'need to', 'imperative', equivalent to 必/需/要) (2) some of the words have now been supplanted by the Mandarin equivalents, and are now no longer known by most of today's speakers (3) the extensive borrowing of non-Chinese words.)

Take Hong Kong for instance. It is probably the only place left where Chinese is still read aloud using non-Mandarin pronunciation as standard (even if the grammar used in writing is Standard Mandarin). And that is the reason why the Cantonese vocabulary is still strong there. True, Hong Kong Cantonese has absorbed a significant number of English and other foreign words, and has coined a few terms alien to mainland Cantonese, but by-and-large, Chinese education using the dialect as a pronunciation base has certainly helped to preserve and even enrich it.

There is a common misconception that the Penang Hokkien dialect lacks the vocabulary for it to function as a mature language capable of communicating complex and abstract ideas. The reason why this is the case among many Penang Hokkien speakers is simply because this vocabulary - once extant when Hokkien was still taught as a literal language up until the early-20th century - is not being passed on to the subsequent generations via proper education. Because of the lack of vocabulary among the speakers, they resort to Mandarin or English words, simply because their vocabulary stockpile from those two languages is obviously bigger due to education. It is sad that many so-called native Penang Hokkien speakers do not even know simple words like "international" (kok-che 國際) and "design" (ch'iat-kae 設計). How many Chinese-educated native Penang Hokkien speakers see a sign in a coffee shop that reads 經濟飯 (economy rice), and intuitively read the three words aloud in Penang Hokkien as kĕng-chē-pnŭi, and not in Mandarin as jing1-ji4-fan4? Little wonder, then, that the dialect is looked down upon as inferior to Mandarin, or even Cantonese, as an effective vehicle of communication!

I believe that in order to truly preserve the full integrity of the Penang Hokkien dialect, it has to be taught as a Chinese language, with as much use of Chinese characters as possible, and not taught as a 'lower-class' or 'colloquial' creole using Romanised alphabet to represent all the words. For this reason, while I highly commend Penangite Tan Choon Hoe's effort in publishing his book "PHD - Penang Hokkien Dialect", I cannot agree with his description "rojak simplicity" of the dialect in the Preface. If the dialect has become rojak and simple, it is due in no small part to lack of formal and proper education.

This post has been edited by Mark Yong: 14 August 2008 - 03:36 AM

[calibre2001]

Taiwan is a good example of where dialect and mandarin can be preserved concurrently. A few months ago, I saw a singing competition and basically there comes a point where contestants have to pick and sing a taiyu song. Despite them admitting that their taiyu is substandard, they can actually sing the song.

This is something places like HK and Singapore can learn from.

[mariusj]

Sorry, but aren't all language evolving?

Who is there to define pure?

The pure diamond is certainly not the refined ones.

[calibre2001]

I think the article was pointing out there that the language is doomed to die if not used. While the mixing of languages is arguably evolution, the level of mixing used here can drive Hokkien possibly to the point of disuse. Why? It's because of lack of knowledge in the dialect/language. It may not die now but it could with future generations simply because the current generation are not very good at language itself.

[mariusj]

calibre2001, on Dec 31 2008, 06:15 AM, said:

I think the article was pointing out there that the language is doomed to die if not used. While the mixing of languages is arguably evolution, the level of mixing used here can drive Hokkien possibly to the point of disuse. Why? It's because of lack of knowledge in the dialect/language. It may not die now but it could with future generations simply because the current generation are not very good at language itself.

Then it serve its purpose in time and if it were to die, then it is its time to go.
Much like we love knights on shinning armours when its purpose is fulfilled in history, it move on no matter what anyone tries to do.

[valiantgeneral]

Linguistics better get on that sh-t fast

[LYY]

http://thechens-farn.../label/Language