Singaporean Hokkien
Encyclopedia
Singaporean Hokkien is a local variant of the Hokkien
dialect spoken in Singapore. It is closely related to the Southern Malaysian Hokkien (南马福建话) spoken in Southern Malaysia as well as Riau Hokkien (廖内福建话) spoken in the Indonesian province of Riau. It also bears close resemblance with Amoy (厦门话) spoken in Xiamen
of China and Taiwanese (台湾话) spoken in Taiwan
.
Hokkien
, is the Minnan pronunciation for Fujian (province of China) and is generally the term used by the Chinese
in South-East Asia to refer to the Minnan dialect (闽南语). Singaporean Hokkien generally holds Amoy dialect as its own standard, and its accent is predominantly based on a mixture of Quanzhou
speech (泉州话) and Zhangzhou
speech (漳州话), but with a greater inclination towards Quanzhou
accent.
Like many spoken languages in Singapore, Singaporean Hokkien is also subjected to influence from various languages or dialects spoken in Singapore. For instance, Singaporean Hokkien is influenced to a certain degree by Teochew, and is sometimes regarded as a combined Hokkien-Teochew speech (福潮话). In addition, it has also borrowed many loanwords from Malay
and English
.
Nevertheless, the grammar and tones of Singaporean Hokkien are still largely based on Minnan. When compared to Taiwanese's prestige accent, Singaporean Hokkien has a greater inclination towards Quanzhou
accent and is also closer to Taipei
and Amoy
accent and less close to the Tainan
accent.
A Singaporean would likely not have trouble conversing with Taiwanese speakers in Singaporean Hokkien. Similarly, Singaporean Hokkien is understood by Taiwanese speakers, with the exception of some Malay
and English
loanwords.
constituting almost 75% of Singapore's population. Out of these Chinese
, many originated from the regions of Quanzhou
and Zhangzhou
in Fujian
province. They brought Min Nan
to Singapore, which was then propagated around the region of Singapore and Malaysia. As there was no formal Chinese name for Min Nan
in the early 20th century, these migrants began to use their place of origin as the name of their speech, and thus called the dialect "Hokkien
福建" (which means "Fujian
" province).
During the 19th century, many old-style private Chinese schools in Singapore (known as "su-sio̍k-á 私塾仔") generally used Hokkien to teach Chinese classics and Classical Chinese
. But by the early 20th century, Mandarin began to replace Hokkien as the medium of instructions in Chinese schools after the founding of many Mandarin-medium schools.
The large influx of Hokkien
speakers from southern Fujian province in the first half of 20th century led to the widespread use of Hokkien in Singapore. During the 1950s and 1960s, many political speeches in Singapore had to be done entirely in Hokkien in order to reach out to the Chinese community in Singapore. There was also a thriving Hokkien cultural scene such as Hokkien story-telling, Hokkien opera and media in Singapore.
Nevertheless, Hokkien has never become widespread among other Chinese dialect groups in Singapore, unlike how Cantonese in Malaysia has great influence among Chinese Malaysians.
However, after 1979, the Singapore government began to push for the use of Mandarin in Singapore, spearheaded by the Speak Mandarin Campaign
. Following this, the Singapore government also began to employ a more stringent censorship or ban on Hokkien media in the Singaporean Chinese media. Consequently, all dialect media in Singapore had to be dubbed in Mandarin before being allowed to stream on national TV. In addition, the 1980s also saw the replacement of Chinese-medium education with that of English, causing English to emerge as the most widely used language in Singapore. The emergence of the English language, coupled with heavy promotion of Mandarin, generally led Hokkien to decline in Singapore after 1979.
of the Chinese Community in Singapore is Mandarin
. Although Hokkien is still spoken in Singapore today (particularly by the elderly Chinese population), it is not as widespread as before.
There is also variation in the speech abilities amongst the different age groups of the Hokkien Singaporeans. The elderly generation of Hokkien Singaporeans are generally able to communicate effectively in Hokkien. On the other hand, the middle and younger generations of Hokkien Singaporeans have generally lost the ability to communicate as fluently. With the "Mandarin campaign" from the government, the Hokkien speaking population is declining, and the trend is continuing.
Most ordinal numbers are formed by adding 第 [tē] in front of a cardinal number. In some cases, the literary reading of the number must then be used. For example, 第一 = tē-it, 第二 = tē-jī. See: Literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters
.
, there exist certain uniquely Singaporean Hokkien words, which are different from the Taiwanese Hokkien.
For instance, when asking a question for "do you want to..?", Singaporean Hokkien typically uses the sentence structure "愛(ai)...莫(mài)?", whereas Taiwanese Hokkien uses the structure "欲(beh)..無(bô)".
Also, unlike Taiwanese Hokkien which typically uses the word "敢 kám" (meaning "whether or not 是否") when asking a question, Singaporean Hokkien does not use the word "敢 kám". Instead, it simply adds the word "無(bô)" at the back of the sentence to indicate that it's a question (similar to Mandarin's 嗎）.
There existed some Hokkien writings, folk adage and ballad in Singapore. Amongst the various Hokkien folk ballad in Singapore, a few outstanding writings include the history and hardship of early Chinese immigrants to Singapore. For instance, 《雪梅思君》 (Soat-m̂-su-kun) (Snow and plum thinking of a gentlemen) is a folk ballad written about the loyalty and chastity of love.
Another Singapore Hokkien Love Poetry is 《針線情》 (Chiam-sòaⁿ-chiâⁿ） (The emotions of needle and thread) has the following beautiful Hokkien writing:
There is another 18 sections in the poetry ballad 《行船歌》 (Hâng-chûn-koa) (Songs of traveling on boat), which talks about how early immigrants migrated to Singapore.
There is also another ballad called 《砰嘭水中流》 (Pin-pong-chúi-tiong-lâu) (Flow in the midst of water):
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
dialect spoken in Singapore. It is closely related to the Southern Malaysian Hokkien (南马福建话) spoken in Southern Malaysia as well as Riau Hokkien (廖内福建话) spoken in the Indonesian province of Riau. It also bears close resemblance with Amoy (厦门话) spoken in Xiamen
Xiamen
Xiamen , also known as Amoy , is a major city on the southeast coast of the People's Republic of China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city of Fujian province with an area of and population of 3.53 million...
of China and Taiwanese (台湾话) spoken in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
, is the Minnan pronunciation for Fujian (province of China) and is generally the term used by the Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
in South-East Asia to refer to the Minnan dialect (闽南语). Singaporean Hokkien generally holds Amoy dialect as its own standard, and its accent is predominantly based on a mixture of Quanzhou
Quanzhou
Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city in Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It borders all other prefecture-level cities in Fujian but two and faces the Taiwan Strait...
speech (泉州话) and Zhangzhou
Zhangzhou
Zhangzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Fujian province, People's Republic of China. Located on the banks of the Jiulong River , Zhangzhou borders the cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou to the northeast, Longyan City to the northwest and the province of Guangdong to the southwest.Zhangzhou...
speech (漳州话), but with a greater inclination towards Quanzhou
Quanzhou
Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city in Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It borders all other prefecture-level cities in Fujian but two and faces the Taiwan Strait...
accent.
Like many spoken languages in Singapore, Singaporean Hokkien is also subjected to influence from various languages or dialects spoken in Singapore. For instance, Singaporean Hokkien is influenced to a certain degree by Teochew, and is sometimes regarded as a combined Hokkien-Teochew speech (福潮话). In addition, it has also borrowed many loanwords from Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Nevertheless, the grammar and tones of Singaporean Hokkien are still largely based on Minnan. When compared to Taiwanese's prestige accent, Singaporean Hokkien has a greater inclination towards Quanzhou
Quanzhou
Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city in Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It borders all other prefecture-level cities in Fujian but two and faces the Taiwan Strait...
accent and is also closer to Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
and Amoy
Amoy
Xiamen, or Amoy, is a city on the southeast coast of China.Amoy may also refer to:*Amoy dialect, a dialect of the Hokkien lects, which are part of the Southern Min group of Chinese languages...
accent and less close to the Tainan
Tainan
Tainan City is a city in southern Taiwan. It is the fifth largest after New Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Taipei. It was formerly a provincial city, and in 2010, the provincial city merged with the adjacent Tainan County to form a single special municipality. Tainan faces the Taiwan Strait in...
accent.
A Singaporean would likely not have trouble conversing with Taiwanese speakers in Singaporean Hokkien. Similarly, Singaporean Hokkien is understood by Taiwanese speakers, with the exception of some Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
loanwords.
History
From 19th until the early half of the 20th century, there was a large influx of Chinese migrants from southern China into Singapore. This led to ChineseEthnic Chinese
Ethnic Chinese may refer to:*Han Chinese, the dominant ethnic group in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Macao, the Republic of China and Singapore....
constituting almost 75% of Singapore's population. Out of these Chinese
Ethnic Chinese
Ethnic Chinese may refer to:*Han Chinese, the dominant ethnic group in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Macao, the Republic of China and Singapore....
, many originated from the regions of Quanzhou
Quanzhou
Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city in Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It borders all other prefecture-level cities in Fujian but two and faces the Taiwan Strait...
and Zhangzhou
Zhangzhou
Zhangzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Fujian province, People's Republic of China. Located on the banks of the Jiulong River , Zhangzhou borders the cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou to the northeast, Longyan City to the northwest and the province of Guangdong to the southwest.Zhangzhou...
in Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
province. They brought Min Nan
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
to Singapore, which was then propagated around the region of Singapore and Malaysia. As there was no formal Chinese name for Min Nan
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
in the early 20th century, these migrants began to use their place of origin as the name of their speech, and thus called the dialect "Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
福建" (which means "Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
" province).
During the 19th century, many old-style private Chinese schools in Singapore (known as "su-sio̍k-á 私塾仔") generally used Hokkien to teach Chinese classics and Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...
. But by the early 20th century, Mandarin began to replace Hokkien as the medium of instructions in Chinese schools after the founding of many Mandarin-medium schools.
The large influx of Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
speakers from southern Fujian province in the first half of 20th century led to the widespread use of Hokkien in Singapore. During the 1950s and 1960s, many political speeches in Singapore had to be done entirely in Hokkien in order to reach out to the Chinese community in Singapore. There was also a thriving Hokkien cultural scene such as Hokkien story-telling, Hokkien opera and media in Singapore.
Nevertheless, Hokkien has never become widespread among other Chinese dialect groups in Singapore, unlike how Cantonese in Malaysia has great influence among Chinese Malaysians.
However, after 1979, the Singapore government began to push for the use of Mandarin in Singapore, spearheaded by the Speak Mandarin Campaign
Speak Mandarin Campaign
The Speak Mandarin Campaign is an initiative by the government of Singapore to encourage the Singaporean Chinese population to speak Mandarin, one of the four official languages of Singapore...
. Following this, the Singapore government also began to employ a more stringent censorship or ban on Hokkien media in the Singaporean Chinese media. Consequently, all dialect media in Singapore had to be dubbed in Mandarin before being allowed to stream on national TV. In addition, the 1980s also saw the replacement of Chinese-medium education with that of English, causing English to emerge as the most widely used language in Singapore. The emergence of the English language, coupled with heavy promotion of Mandarin, generally led Hokkien to decline in Singapore after 1979.
Current status
Today, the lingua francaLingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of the Chinese Community in Singapore is Mandarin
Singaporean Mandarin
Singaporean Mandarin is a variety of Mandarin Chinese widely spoken in Singapore. It is one of the four official languages of Singapore along with English, Malay and Tamil....
. Although Hokkien is still spoken in Singapore today (particularly by the elderly Chinese population), it is not as widespread as before.
There is also variation in the speech abilities amongst the different age groups of the Hokkien Singaporeans. The elderly generation of Hokkien Singaporeans are generally able to communicate effectively in Hokkien. On the other hand, the middle and younger generations of Hokkien Singaporeans have generally lost the ability to communicate as fluently. With the "Mandarin campaign" from the government, the Hokkien speaking population is declining, and the trend is continuing.
Numerals
The following list shows the colloquial readings of the numerals used to count objects.| Pronunciation (Pe̍h-ōe-jī) | Normal | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| lêng | 〇 | 0 0 (number) 0 is both a numberand the numerical digit used to represent that number in numerals.It fulfills a central role in mathematics as the additive identity of the integers, real numbers, and many other algebraic structures. As a digit, 0 is used as a placeholder in place value systems... |
〇 is an informal way to represent zero also 空 [khòng] |
| chi̍t | 一 | 1 | also [it] also 么(T) or 幺(S) [io] when used in phone numbers etc. |
| nn̄g | 兩 | 2 | also [lī]/[jī] (二) |
| saⁿ | 三 | 3 | |
| sì | 四 | 4 | |
| gō | 五 | 5 | |
| la̍k | 六 | 6 | |
| chhit | 七 | 7 | |
| poeh | 八 | 8 | |
| káu | 九 | 9 | |
| cha̍p | 十 | 10 10 (number) 10 is an even natural number following 9 and preceding 11.-In mathematics:Ten is a composite number, its proper divisors being , and... |
Most ordinal numbers are formed by adding 第 [tē] in front of a cardinal number. In some cases, the literary reading of the number must then be used. For example, 第一 = tē-it, 第二 = tē-jī. See: Literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters
Literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters
Differing literary and colloquial readings of certain Chinese characters are common doublets in many Chinese languages and the reading distinctions for certain phonetic features often typify a dialect group...
.
Differences from Taiwanese Hokkien
There are differences between Singaporean Hokkien and Taiwanese Hokkien in terms of vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar.Unique vocabulary
Although Singaporean Hokkien is basically similar to Min NanMin Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
, there exist certain uniquely Singaporean Hokkien words, which are different from the Taiwanese Hokkien.
| Singaporean Hokkien (Hanji) | POJ | Definition | Compare Taiwanese Hokkien |
|---|---|---|---|
| sí-kéng | Museum | (phok-bu̍t-kóan) | |
| o̍ah-kéng | Zoo | (tōng-bu̍t-hn̂g) | |
| lia̍h-bô-kiû | Completely do not understand (literally "catch no balls") | (m̄ bat) | |
| kê-khiàng | Act "smart" (overdo it) | (ké-gâu) | |
| chhiò bú | Pretty girl | (súi cha-bó͘) | |
Same meaning, different words
| Singaporean Hokkien | Definition | Compare Taiwanese Hokkien | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| (ai) | Want | (beh) | 爱(ài) in Taiwanese Hokkien means "love" or "must". "欲" in Singaporean Hokkien can be classified as an auxiliary verb denoting volition of the following verb. |
| (lé or lú) | You | (lí) | "你 (lí)" is also used in Singaporean Hokkien |
| (lín lâng) | You-all | (lín) | |
| (góa lâng) | We | (gún) or (lán) | " gún lâng" and " lán/lán lâng" are also used in Singaporean Hokkien |
| (i lâng) | They | (in) | |
| chhò | Wrong | m̄-tio̍h | The Malay word "salah" is actually more commonly used to mean 'wrong' in Singaporean Hokkien. "" (m̀-tio̍h) is also used in Singaporean Hokkien |
| chia̍h-páh bē | Hello！ | lí-hó | " chia̍h-páh bē" is also used in Taiwan, but generally means "have you eaten already?" |
| to lo̍h | Where? | tó-uī | E.g. khì to lo̍h, "Where are you going?" |
| khiā | Live | tòa | E.g. khiā to lo̍h',' "Where do you live?" |
| kū-chá | In the past | (éng-pái) or í-chêng | All variants are used in Singapore Hokkien |
| tàu-kha-chhiú | Help | tàu-saⁿ-kāng | "斗跤手 (tàu-kha-chhiú)" is also used in Taiwan |
| chit-tau | This place | chit-pêng or chia | chit-pêng is also commonly used in Singapore, chia less so |
| án-ne-khóan | In this way, so | án-ne | khóan is not generally appended in Taiwan |
| (kui-lui) or kui kho | How much? | jōa-chōe chîⁿ | The word "lui" is a Malay loan. |
| tńg-chhū (pron. tn̂g-chhū) | Go home | tńg—khì | tńg—khì is used in Singapore as well, but with a more general meaning of "going back", not specifically home. |
| kiaⁿ-ji̍t | Today | kin-á-ji̍t | Singapore kiaⁿ-ji̍t is a concatenation of Taiwan kin-á-ji̍t. Also heard in Singapore is (kin-ji̍t). |
| tong-kim | Nowadays | hián-chú-sî (pron. hiān-chū-sî) | Both Singapore and Taiwan more commonly use chit-chūn to encompass the meaning of "nowadays" |
| chit-chūn | Now | chit-má or chit-chām | chit-chūn is also used in Taiwan |
| sì-sōaⁿ (pron. sí-sóaⁿ) | anyhow/casual/random | (o͘-pe̍h) | E.g. 伊四散讲 i sì-sōaⁿ kóng - He speaks casually (or nonsense). (sì-sōaⁿ) is sometimes also used in Taiwan. |
| tiāⁿ-tio̍h | surely | it-tīng or cho̍at-tùi (pron. chòat-tùi) | tiāⁿ-tio̍h is sometimes also used in Taiwan. it-tīng is a loan from Mandarin. |
| gia̍h or giâ | Take | thêh | gia̍h is also used in Taiwan, while thêh in Singapore has the specific meaning of "carry". |
| kiaⁿ-su | Fear of losing out/failure - kiasu Kiasu Kiasu is a Hokkien word that literally means 'fear of losing' . However its actual usage would imply a meaning more approaching that of "dog in a manger", and yet not quite... |
(kiaⁿ sit-pāi) | |
| kong-si | Share | pun or kong-ke | kong-si means "company" in Taiwanese |
| chiā | Very | chin, chiâⁿ or chiok | |
| siong | Very tough or difficult | kan-lân | " siong" literally means "injurious", but has become slang in Singapore for "tough" or "difficult" |
| heng | Luckily, fortunately | hó-ka-chài | In Taiwanese Hokkien, " hīng-ūn" is also used. |
| sioⁿ-siâng | same | kāng-khóan | |
| chia̍h-hong | To go on holiday, or more generally to live in luxury | thit-thô | In Taiwanese Hokkien, " (chia̍h-hong)" is also used but means "facing the wind". In Singapore, thit-thô means simply "to play" (as in children playing). |
Same word, different pronunciation
There are some words used in Singaporean Hokkien, which are the same in Taiwanese Hokkien, but are pronounced differently.| Hokkien Words | Definition | Singaporean Hokkien | Taiwanese Hokkien | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coffee | ko-pi | ka-pi | ||
| 按怎 | How | án-chóaⁿ | án-nuá | "án-chóaⁿ" is also commonly used in Taiwan |
| 啥物 | What | sí-mi̍h | siáⁿ-mi̍h | "sí-mi̍h" is based on Quanzhou Quanzhou Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city in Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It borders all other prefecture-level cities in Fujian but two and faces the Taiwan Strait... speech |
Loanwords from other Chinese dialects
There are some words used in Singaporean Hokkien, which originated from some other Chinese dialects spoken in Singapore.| Singaporean Hokkien | Definition | Taiwanese Hokkien | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| (phiⁿ) | Cheap | (sio̍k) | Originated from Teochew |
| (sî-bēh) | Very | (chin) or (chiok) | Originated from Teochew. The word (sí-pēh) in original Hokkien is a vulgar word that means "to the extent that your/my father dies". |
| (soāⁿ-ku) | Country-bumpkin | (thó͘-pau-á) | Originated from Teochew, lit. "mountain tortoise" |
| (bô-piàn) | There is no way (nothing can be done) | (bô-hoat-tō) | Originated from Teochew |
| (chò-bú), (chò-tīn) | together | (chò-hóe), (tâng-chê) or (tàu-tīn) | Originated from Teochew |
| (gan tʂiong) | Nervous | (kín-tiuⁿ) | Originated from Cantonese |
Malay loanwords
The following are the common Malay loanwords used in Singaporean Hokkien. The large mix of Malay loanwords in Singaporean Hokkien makes it quite different from Amoy or Taiwanese Hokkien.| Malay loanwords in Singaporean Hokkien | Hanzi | Definition | Compare Taiwanese Hokkien | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Su-ka (soeka) | (su-kah) | Like | (kah-ì) | |
| Sabun | (sap-bûn) | Soap | (tê-kho͘) | (sap-bûn) is also used in Taiwan |
| Kah-win (kawin) | 交寅 (kau-ín) | Marry | (kiat-hun) | |
| Ka-cau | Disturb | (kiáu-liáu) | ||
| Ba-Lu (Baru） | Recently | (chòe-kīn) | ||
| Pa-sak (Pasar) | （pa-sat) | Market | (chhī-tiûⁿ) or (chhài-chhī-á) | |
| Ma-ta (Mata Mata) | Police | (kéng-chha) | ||
| Ga-duh | Quarrel | (oan-ke) | ||
| Si-nang (Senang) | Easy | (kán-tan) | ||
| Lui (Duit) | (lui) | Money | (chîⁿ) | |
| To-long | Help | (pài-thok)， (pang-bâng) or (tàu-saⁿ-kāng) | ||
| Sa-lah | Offence, Wrong | (hōan-hoat) | ||
| Ta-pi (Tetapi) | But | (tān-sī)， （m̄-koh） or (iáu m̄-koh) | ||
| Loti | Bread | (mī-pau) or 'phang' (Japanese loanwords) | ||
| Pun | (pun) | Also | (mā sī) or (iā-sī) | E.g. 伊本是真帅 (i pun-sī chin suí) - She is also very pretty |
| Saman | summons (fine) | (ho̍at-khóan) | ||
| Agak Agak | Guess/Estimate | (ioh) | ||
| Kentang | Potato | (má-lêng-chû) | ||
| Guli | Marble | (tāi-lí-chio̍h) | ||
| Botak | Bald | (kng-thâu) or (thut-thâu) | ||
| Pakat | (pá-kat) | Conspire | (chhòan-thong) | |
| Buaya | (buá à) | Crocodile | (kho̍k-hî) | |
| Beh Ta-han | 袂扙捍 | Cannot tolerate | (tòng bē tiâu) | Formed by Hokkien word "beh 袂" and Malay word "tahan" |
| Mana Eh Sai | Mana 會使 | How can this be? | (kam ē-sái） | Formed by Malay word "mana" and Hokkien word "e-sai 會使" |
English loanwords
There are also many English loanwords used in Singaporean Hokkien. They are usually used when the speaker does not know what the equivalent of the Hokkien word for a certain term is. Some of these English terms are related to working and living in Singapore| English loanwords in Singaporean Hokkien | Compare Taiwanese Hokkien |
|---|---|
| Shopping | （se̍h-koe） |
| MRT | （chia̍t ūn） or 地下鐵 (tē-hā-thih) |
Grammar
There are some differences in the sentence structure used by Singaporean Hokkien and Taiwanese Hokkien.For instance, when asking a question for "do you want to..?", Singaporean Hokkien typically uses the sentence structure "愛(ai)...莫(mài)?", whereas Taiwanese Hokkien uses the structure "欲(beh)..無(bô)".
Also, unlike Taiwanese Hokkien which typically uses the word "敢 kám" (meaning "whether or not 是否") when asking a question, Singaporean Hokkien does not use the word "敢 kám". Instead, it simply adds the word "無(bô)" at the back of the sentence to indicate that it's a question (similar to Mandarin's 嗎）.
| Singaporean Hokkien | Taiwanese Hokkien | English |
|---|---|---|
| (ai chia̍h-pn̄g mài?） | (beh chia̍h-pn̄g bô?) | Do you want to eat? |
| (lé ū khùn-pá bô?) | (lí kám ū khùn-pá?) | Did you have enough sleep? |
Literature, folk adage and ballad
Some of the Buddhist temples in Singapore continue to have Buddhist sutra being recited in Hokkien. The sutra contains Singapore-style Hokkien romanization to help in the recitation. Some of the Chinese Christian Churches in Singapore also have services conducted in Singaporean Hokkien.There existed some Hokkien writings, folk adage and ballad in Singapore. Amongst the various Hokkien folk ballad in Singapore, a few outstanding writings include the history and hardship of early Chinese immigrants to Singapore. For instance, 《雪梅思君》 (Soat-m̂-su-kun) (Snow and plum thinking of a gentlemen) is a folk ballad written about the loyalty and chastity of love.
Another Singapore Hokkien Love Poetry is 《針線情》 (Chiam-sòaⁿ-chiâⁿ） (The emotions of needle and thread) has the following beautiful Hokkien writing:
There is another 18 sections in the poetry ballad 《行船歌》 (Hâng-chûn-koa) (Songs of traveling on boat), which talks about how early immigrants migrated to Singapore.
There is also another ballad called 《砰嘭水中流》 (Pin-pong-chúi-tiong-lâu) (Flow in the midst of water):
Further reading
- Chua, B. H. (2000). Taiwan's present/Singapore's past mediated by Hokkien language. Singapore: Dept. of Sociology, National University of Singapore. ISBN 9813033436
- The Rev. Carstairs DouglasCarstairs DouglasCarstairs Douglas was a Scottish missionary, remembered chiefly for his writings concerning the Southern Min language of Fujian, in particular his Chinese–English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy.-Early life:Castairs Douglas was born a son of the manse in Kilbarchan in...
, Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, with the Principal Variations of the Chang-chew and Chin-chew Dialects, 2nd corrected ed., London, Publishing Office of the Presbyterian Church of England, 1899 (first published 1873), bound with the Supplement by Thomas Barclay [Shanghai, 1923]), ISBN 1-86210-068-3 - 周長揖、周清海（著），《新加坡閩南話詞典》 ，中國社會科學出版社， 2002年，ISBN 9787500435303 (Zhou Changyi,Zhou Qinghai (2002), "Singaporean Hokkien Dictionary", China Social Science Pub.)
- 周長揖（著），《新加坡閩南話概説》 ，廈門大學出版社， 2000年，ISBN 9787561516924(Zhou Changyi (2000), "An Overview over Singaporean Hokkien", Xiamen University Pub.)
- 周長揖（著），《新加坡閩南話俗語歌謠選》 ，廈門大學出版社， 2003年，ISBN 7561521588(Zhou Changyi (2003), "Collection of Singaporean Hokkien Folk Adage and Ballad", Xiamen University Pub.)
See also
- Taiwanese Hokkien
- Amoy dialect
- Languages of Singapore
- Singaporean MandarinSingaporean MandarinSingaporean Mandarin is a variety of Mandarin Chinese widely spoken in Singapore. It is one of the four official languages of Singapore along with English, Malay and Tamil....
- Chinese in SingaporeChinese in SingaporeChinese Singaporeans are people of Chinese ethnicity who hold Singaporean nationality. As of 2010, Chinese Singaporeans constitute 74.1% of Singapore's resident population, or approximately three out of four Singaporeans, making them the largest ethnic group in Singapore...
External links
- Holopedia - Wikipedia in Peh-oe-ji (Wikipedia in Hokkien)
- Online Hokkien Forum (in English)
- 闽江茶座——周长楫教授谈闽南话在新加坡 (Professor Zhou Changyi discusses about Singaporean Hokkien)
- Malaysian/Singaporean Hokkien
- Is "Hokkien" my mother tongue?
- Teochew and Singaporean Hokkien Words
- 闽南人 The Hokkiens——新加坡国家图书馆馆藏选介