| Singaporean Hokkien | |
| Nativename: | 新加坡福建話 |
| States: | Singapore |
| Speakers: | 1.2 million |
| Date: | 2017 |
| Familycolor: | Sino-Tibetan |
| Fam2: | Sinitic |
| Fam3: | Chinese |
| Fam4: | Min |
| Fam5: | Coastal Min |
| Fam6: | Southern Min |
| Fam7: | Hokkien |
| Fam8: | Quanzhou and Zhangzhou |
| Ancestor: | Proto-Sino-Tibetan |
| Ancestor2: | Old Chinese |
| Ancestor3: | Proto-Min |
| Script: | Chinese characters (Traditional or Simplified) Latin for romanisation (Tâi-lô & Pe̍h-ōe-jī) |
| Nation: | None, lingua franca of the Chinese community in Singapore before the 1980s. |
| Agency: | None |
| Isoexception: | dialect |
| Glotto: | none |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Lingua: | 79-AAA-jek |
| Iso3: | none |
| Iso3comment: | for Southern Min / Min Nan (for Hokkien Bân-lâm is proposed[1]) which encompasses a variety of Hokkien dialects including "Singaporean Hokkien".[2] |
Singaporean Hokkien is a local variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively in Singapore. Within Chinese linguistic academic circles, this dialect is known as Singaporean Ban-lam Gu. It bears similarities with the Amoy spoken in Amoy, now better known as Xiamen, as well as Taiwanese Hokkien which is spoken in Taiwan.[3]
Hokkien is the Min Nan pronunciation for the province of Fujian, and is generally the term used by the Chinese in Southeast Asia to refer to the 'Banlam' dialect. Singaporean Hokkien generally views Amoy as its prestige dialect, and its accent is predominantly based on a mixture of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou speech, with a greater inclination towards the former.
Like many spoken languages in Singapore, Singaporean Hokkien is influenced by other 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. In addition, it has many loanwords from Singapore's four official languages of English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil.
Nevertheless, the grammar and tones of Singaporean Hokkien are still largely based on Banlam. When compared to the Taiwanese accent spoken in Tainan and Kaohsiung, the accent and pronunciation of Singaporean Hokkien inclines toward the Quanzhou accent, which is also close to the pronunciation of Taipei and Xiamen, and is less close to that of Tainan, which has a greater inclination towards the Zhangzhou accent.
From the 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 Chinese constituting almost 75% of Singapore's population. Of these Chinese, many originated from the regions of Amoy/Xiamen, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou in Fujian province. They brought Min Nan to Singapore, which was then propagated throughout the Malayan region. 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", referring to Fujian province.
During the 19th century, many traditional private Chinese schools in Singapore (referred to as) generally used Hokkien to teach Chinese classics and Classical Chinese. However, 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.
During the 1950s and 1960s, many political speeches in Singapore were in Hokkien, in order to reach out to the Chinese community in Singapore. There was also a thriving Hokkien cultural scene that included Hokkien story-telling, opera, and media in Singapore.
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, of Hokkien media in the Singaporean Chinese media. Consequently, all Hokkien-language media in Singapore had to be dubbed in Mandarin before being allowed to stream on national TV.
In addition, the 1980s saw Chinese-medium education replaced by that in 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.
Today, the lingua franca of the Chinese community in Singapore is Mandarin. Although Hokkien is still widely spoken in Singapore today, it is not as widespread as before and is mostly restricted to the older generations. The most common places to hear Hokkien spoken in Singapore are at the country's hawker centres or kopi tiams.
Speaking ability varies amongst the different age groups of the Hokkien Singaporeans. The elderly are generally able to communicate effectively in Hokkien. On the other hand, the middle and younger generations, while generally proficient, have generally lost the ability to communicate as fluently. However, when it comes to using profanities, majority of the younger generation, even among non-Chinese Singaporeans, listed Hokkien as the first out of all languages and dialects. With the Speak Mandarin Campaign from the government, the Hokkien speaking population has been on a gradual decline.
There is, however, groups of Hokkien Singaporeans working to help preserve, spread and revive the use of Singaporean Hokkien in the country.[4]
The ease of access to online Hokkien entertainment media and pop music from the internet has helped to connect to the language and culture. Many Singaporeans are increasingly using online and social media platforms to learn, discuss, meet, and interact with each other in Hokkien.[4]
Some of the groups include:
Note: In this article, the Tâi-lô romanization system is used.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Alveolo- palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sibilant | |||||||
| Nasal | m pronounced as /link/ 名 (miâ) | n pronounced as /link/ 耐 (nāi) | ng pronounced as /link/ 硬 (ngē) | |||||
| Plosive | plain | p pronounced as /link/ 邊 (pian) | t pronounced as /link/ 地 (tē) | ts pronounced as /link/ 曾 (tsan) | tsi pronounced as /link/ 祝 (tsiok) | k pronounced as /link/ 求 (kiû) | pronounced as /link/ 音 (im) | |
| aspirated | ph pronounced as /link/ 波 (pho) | th pronounced as /link/ 他 (thann) | tsh pronounced as /link/ 出 (tshut) | tshi pronounced as /link/ 手 (tshiú) | kh pronounced as /link/ 去 (khì) | |||
| voiced | b pronounced as /link/ 文 (bûn) | d pronounced as /link/ 日 (di̍t) | j pronounced as /link/* 熱 (jua̍h) | ji pronounced as /link/* 入 (ji̍p) | g pronounced as /link/ 牛 (gû) | |||
| Fricative | s pronounced as /link/ 衫 (sann) | si pronounced as /link/ 心 (sim) | h pronounced as /link/ 喜 (hí) | |||||
| Approximant | l pronounced as /link/ 柳 (liú) | w pronounced as /link/ 我 (wá) | ||||||
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| Tones | Upper/Dark | Lower/Light | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Name | TL | e.g. | Pitch Contour | No. | Name | TL | e.g. | Pitch Contour | ||||
| Original | Sandhied | Original | Sandhied | ||||||||||
| Level | 1 | 陰平 im-piânn | 詩 si | [˦˦] (44) | [˨˨] (22) | 5 | 陽平 iông-piânn | 時 sî | [˨˦] (24) | [˨˩] (21) | |||
| Rising | 2 | 上聲 sióng-siann | 死 sí | [˦˨] (42) | [˨˦] (24) | － | |||||||
| Departing | 3 | 陰去 im-khì | 四 sì | [˨˩] (21) | [˦˨] (42) | 7 | 陽去 iông-khì | 是 sī | [˨˨] (22) | [˨˩] (21) | |||
| Entering | 4 | 陰入 im-ji̍p | 薛 sih | [ʔ˧˨] (32) | [ʔ˦˨] (42) | 8 | 陽入 iông-ji̍p | 蝕 si̍h | [ʔ˦˧] (43) | [ʔ˨˩] (21) | |||
| [ʔ˦] (4) | [ʔ˦] (4) | ||||||||||||
| Note | Entering tones (4 & 8) only occur in closed syllables where ◌ represents either -p, -t, -k, or -h. | ||||||||||||
When Singaporeans speak Hokkien, they do so with various accents and tones largely from Tong'an, Anxi, Nan'an, Kinmen as well as Yongchun, Jinjiang, Longhai City and Southern Zhangzhou accents. In practice, it is common for Singaporeans to mix English conjunctions such as "and" into a Hokkien sentence. Some would include honn (乎) (an exclamatory remark in Jinjiang / Nan'an), in addition to the widely used Hokkien exclamatory particles la (啦) or loo (囉).
In saying years or numbers, Singaporean Hokkien normally does not differentiate between literary or vernacular readings of Chinese characters. In Taiwan or Amoy, a distinction is usually made. For instance, the year 1980 would be said with a literary pronunciation ; but in Singapore, no differentiation is made and is pronounced as otherwise vernacular .
As another instance, Taiwanese would speak telephone numbers using literary readings, whereas Singaporeans would use vernacular ones instead. For example, the telephone number 98444678 will be pronounced in Taiwan as, where in Singaporean Hokkien it would be pronounced as .
In Singaporean Hokkien, as compared to Quanzhou (whose accent Hokkien usually inclines toward), Zhangzhou, Amoy or Taiwanese, which pronounce the vowel —there is a vowel change from (pronounced as //iŋ// or pronounced as //iəŋ//) to (pronounced as //eŋ// or pronounced as //ɛŋ//). This change is similar to pronunciation in regions south of Zhangzhou—Dongshan, Yunxiao, Zhangpu, Pinghe, Zhao'an counties (southern Zhangzhou accent)—and in Teochew and Cantonese.
Below is a table illustrating the difference:
| Hanzi | Singaporean Hokkien | Amoy Hokkien | English | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 生 | to live | |||
| 清 | clear | |||
| 明 | bright | |||
| 冷 | cold | |||
| 英 | brave | |||
| 政 | political |
In Amoy Hokkien pronunciation, 我 (lit. 'I/me') is pronounced as pronounced as //ɡua˥˨//; but in Singapore, it is pronounced as pronounced as //wa˥˨//, which is alleged by some to have been influenced by the Teochew pronunciation pronounced as //ua˥˨// although other dialects like Putianese and some regional Hokkien dialects including most Taiwanese Hokkien dialects also pronounce it as pronounced as //ua˥˨//.
There are some differences between the sentence structure used by Singaporean Hokkien and by Amoy/Taiwanese Hokkien.
For instance, when asking a question "do you want to...?", Singaporean Hokkien typically uses the sentence structure 愛……莫？, whereas Taiwan uses 欲……無？ . The word 愛 is commonly used in Singaporean Hokkien to mean "want to", but in Amoy Hokkien and Taiwan Hokkien, the word 欲/卜 (which means "want" in Hokkien) is used instead. 愛 in Amoy and Taiwanese Hokkien it typically means "love to" or "need to".
Also, unlike Taiwanese Hokkien—which typically uses the word 敢 (meaning "whether or not") when asking a question, which is more formal or polite—Singaporean Hokkien does not use the word 敢 . Instead, it simply adds the word 無 at the end of the sentence to indicate that it is a question (similar to Mandarin's 嗎 or adds a Cantonese intonation 咩 at the end. Adding the word 無 at the end of a sentence is also used in Taiwanese Hokkien, when one is asking a question in an informal way.
| Singaporean Hokkien | Amoy | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 愛食飯莫？ | 欲食飯無？ | Do you want to eat? | |
| 汝有睏飽無？ | 汝敢有睏飽？ | Did you have enough sleep? |
See also: Literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters.
The following list shows the colloquial readings of the numerals used to count objects.
| Hanzi | Tâi-lô | Value | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| , | 0 | 〇 is an informal way to represent zero also 空 | ||
| 1 | also pronounced also 么 when used in phone numbers etc. | |||
| 2 | also 二 | |||
| 3 | ||||
| 4 | ||||
| 5 | ||||
| 6 | ||||
| 7 | ||||
| 8 | ||||
| 9 | ||||
| 10 |
Most ordinal numbers are formed by adding 第 in front of a cardinal number. In some cases, the literary reading of the number must then be used. For example, 第一 =, 第二 = .
There are minor differences between Singaporean Hokkien and Amoy or Taiwanese in terms of vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. Amoy and Taiwanese bear close resemblance, and are usually considered the prestige dialect of Hokkien, differing only in terms of vocabulary.
Although Singaporean Hokkien is similar to Amoy or Taiwanese, there exist certain unique Singaporean Hokkien words, which are different from those two aforementioned dialects.
| Singaporean Hokkien | Amoy Hokkien | Definition | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 死景 | Chinese: 博物館 | museum | |
| 活景 | Chinese: 動物園 | zoo | |
| 掠無球 | Chinese: 毋捌 | completely not understand (lit. catch no balls) | |
| 假強 | Chinese: 假 | act smart (overdo it; Singapore especially for women) | |
| 俏母 | Chinese: 媠查某 | pretty lady | |
| 督公 | Chinese: 讚 | superb (originated from Na Tuk Kong) |
| Singaporean Hokkien | Definition | Amoy/Taiwanese Hokkien | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese: 愛 ài | Want | Chinese: 欲 beh | 愛 ài in Amoy means "love" or "must". 欲 in Singaporean Hokkien can be classified as an auxiliary verb denoting volition of the following verb. Chinese: 欲 beh is sometimes written alternatively as Chinese: 卜 beh. | |
| Chinese: 汝 lí / lír / lú | You | Chinese: 你 lí | 你 lí (used in Quanzhou/Amoy/Taiwanese) is also used in Singaporean Hokkien, originating from Quanzhou/Amoy speech. The pronunciation of lír 汝 originated from the Tâng-uann accent (同安音), or could be traced to Teochew, while lú 汝 came from the Zhangzhou variant of Hokkien which is predominant in Penang, Malaysia as well as Medan and most parts of Indonesia. | |
| Chinese: 恁儂 / Chinese: 恁人 lín lâng | You-all | Chinese: 恁 lín | The use of 儂/人 lâng in Singaporean Hokkien pronoun (I, you, we) originated from Teochew grammar. | |
| Chinese: 我儂 / 我人 uá lâng | We | Chinese: 阮 / Chinese: 咱 gún / lán | Chinese: 阮儂 gún lâng, Chinese: 咱 lán and Chinese: 咱儂 lán lâng are also used in Singaporean Hokkien. Quanzhou and Zhangzhou uses Chinese: 阮 gún, whereas Amoy uses Chinese: 阮 gún/guán in a manner similar to Taiwanese. | |
| Chinese: 伊儂 / 伊人 i-lâng | They | Chinese: (亻因) in | The addition of 儂 lâng originates from Teochew, and is also commonly used in Shanghainese. | |
| Chinese: 錯 tshò | Wrong | Chinese: 毋著 m̄-tio̍h | The Malay word salah is actually more commonly used to mean 'wrong' in Singaporean Hokkien. Chinese: 毋著 m̀-tio̍h is also used in Singaporean Hokkien. | |
| Chinese: 舊早 kū-tsá | In the past | Chinese: 頂擺 / Chinese: 以前 téng-mái / í-tsêng | All variants are used in Amoy/Taiwanese. | |
| Chinese: 鬥跤手 tàu-kha-tshiú | Help | Chinese: 鬥相共 tàu-sann-kāng | All variants are used in Amoy / Taiwanese. | |
| Chinese: 卽兜 tsit-tâu | This place | Chinese: 這爿 / Chinese: 遮 tsit-pêng / tsiâ | Chinese: 這爿 tsit-pêng is also commonly used in Singapore, Chinese: 遮 tsiâ less so. Chinese: 這 tsit is sometimes written alternatively as Chinese: 即 or Chinese: 今. | |
| Chinese: 按呢款 án-ne-khuán | In this way, so | Chinese: 按呢 án-ne/án-ni | Chinese: 款 khuán is not generally appended in Amoy / Taiwanese | |
| Chinese: 幾鐳 / Chinese: 幾箍 kui-lui / kui khoo | How much? | Chinese: 偌濟錢 juā-tsuē tsînn | All variants are used in Amoy. Both 鐳 lui and 錢 tsînn are used in Minnan region today to mean "money". In Singapore however, 鐳 lui is more commonly used to mean "money". The word 鐳 lui was previously thought to have originated from Malay. However, research indicated that the word 鐳 lui is in fact a unique Hokkien word, originating from the unit of currency known as Chinese: 銅鐳 tâng-lui during the early Chinese Republican period. It actually means "bronze money". Chinese: 銅鐳 tâng-lui was commonly used in Minnan region and Chaoshan region during that time, and the term spread to Singapore then and remains in common use until today. 鐳 lui used to be used in Taiwan, but due to Japanese colonial rule fell out of use. It was replaced by Chinese: 錢 tsînn which is the normal term for "money" in Taiwan today. | |
| Chinese: 轉厝 tńg-tshū | Go home | Chinese: 倒去 to-khì | Chinese: 轉去 to-khì is used in Singapore as well, but with a more general meaning of "going back", not specifically home. | |
| Chinese: 今仔日 kiann-ji̍t | Today | Chinese: 今仔日 kin-á-ji̍t | Singapore '今仔'日 kiann-ji̍t is a contraction of Amoy Chinese: 今仔日 kin-á-ji̍t. Chinese: 今日 kin-ji̍t is also heard in Singapore. | |
| Chinese: 當今 tong-kim | Nowadays | Chinese: 現此時 hián-tsú-sî | Both Singapore and Amoy/Taiwanese commonly use Chinese: 這陣 tsit-tsūn to encompass the meaning of "nowadays". Chinese: 現此時 hián-tshú-sî is commonly used in Taiwanese. | |
| Chinese: 即陣 tsit-tsūn | Now | Chinese: 這馬 / Chinese: 這站 tsit-má / tsit-tsām | Chinese: 這陣 tsit-tsūn is also used in Amoy / Taiwanese | |
| Chinese: 四散 sì-suānn | anyhow/casual/random | Chinese: 烏白 oo-pe̍h | E.g. 伊四散講 i sì-suānn kóng - He speaks casually (or nonsense). Chinese: 四散 sì-suānn is sometimes also used in Amoy, and regularly used in Teochew. | |
| Chinese: 定著 tiānn-tio̍h | surely | Chinese: 一定 / Chinese: 絕對 it-tīng / tsua̍t-tùi | Chinese: 定著 tiānn-tio̍h is sometimes also used in Taiwan. Chinese: 一定 it-tīng is a loan from Mandarin. | |
| Chinese: 驚輸 kiann-su | Fear of losing out/failure - kiasu | Chinese: 驚失敗 kiann sit-pāi | ||
| Chinese: 公私 kong-si | Share | Chinese: 分 / Chinese: 公家 pun / kong-ke | ||
| Chinese: 正 tsiā | Very | Chinese: 真 tsin | ||
| Chinese: 傷 siong | Very tough or difficult | Chinese: 艱難 / 困難 kan-lân / khùn-lân | Chinese: 傷 siong literally means "injurious", but has become slang in Singapore for "tough" or "difficult" | |
| Chinese: 幸 heng | Luckily, fortunately | Chinese: 好佳哉 hó-ka-tsài | ||
| Chinese: 食風 tsia̍h-hong | To go on holiday, or more generally to live in luxury | Chinese: 迌 tshit-thô | In Amoy / Taiwanese, Chinese: 食風 tsia̍h-hong is also used but means "facing the wind". In Singapore, Chinese: 迌 tshit-thô means simply "to play" (as in children playing). |
There are some words used in Singaporean Hokkien that are the same in Taiwanese Hokkien, but are pronounced differently.
| Hokkien Words | Definition | Singaporean Hokkien | Taiwanese Hokkien | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 咖啡 | Coffee | "" is a loan word from the Malay word "Malay: kopi" which in turn is taken from the English word "English: coffee" The Mandarin word "" and the Taiwanese Hokkien word "" are derived from the French word "Romance languages: café". As Hokkien does not have an f-sound, this turned into a p-sound. Philippine Hokkien pronounces the word for "coffee" as "" which is also a loan word from the Filipino/Tagalog word "Filipino; Pilipino: kape", which is also derived from the Spanish word "Spanish; Castilian: café". | |||
| 按怎 | How | "" is also commonly used in Taiwan. The pronunciation of "" originates from Zhangzhou. | |||
| 啥物/甚物 | What | "" is based on the word 甚物 (used in Amoy/Zhangzhou), whereas "" is based on the word 啥物 (used in Quanzhou). Taiwan typically uses "啥物 " more often, although "甚物 " is also used. Singapore also uses "啥物 ", though less often. |
Because Singapore is a multilingual country, Singaporean Hokkien has been influenced by many other languages spoken in Singapore. As a result, there are many non-Hokkien words that have been imported into Singaporean Hokkien, such as those from Malay, Teochew, Cantonese, and English.
There are words in Singaporean Hokkien that originated from other Chinese variants spoken in Singapore.
| Singaporean Hokkien | Definition | Amoy Hokkien | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese: 偏 phinn | Cheap | Chinese: 俗 sio̍k | Chinese: 偏 phinn originates from Teochew. Chinese: 俗 sio̍k also used in Amoy/Quanzhou/Zhangzhou | |
| Chinese: 死爸 sí-pē | Very | Chinese: 眞 / Chinese: 足 tsin / tsiok | Originated from Teochew word 死爸 sí-pĕ. Interchangeably used in Singaporean Hokkien, which can coincide with the Hokkien pronunciation of 死爸 sí-pē. The word Chinese: 死爸 sí-pē in original Hokkien is a vulgar word that means "to the extent that your/my father dies". | |
| Chinese: 山龜 suānn-ku | Country-bumpkin | Chinese: 土包仔 thóo-pau-á | Originated from Teochew, lit. "mountain tortoise" | |
| Chinese: 無便 bô-piàn | There is no way (nothing can be done) | Chinese: 無法度 bô-huat-tō | Originated from Teochew | |
| Chinese: 做儛 tsò-bú | together | Chinese: 做伙 / Chinese: 做陣 / Chinese: 鬭陣 tsuè-he / tsuè-tīn / tàu-tīn | Originated from Teochew | |
| Chinese: 緊張 kán-tsiong | Nervous | Chinese: 緊張 kín-tiunn | Originated from Cantonese |
The following are the common Malay loanwords used in Singaporean Hokkien. Most of them are also used in Amoy.
| Singaporean Hokkien | Hanzi | Definition | Amoy Hokkien | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Su-ka (suka) | Chinese: 舒合 (su-kah) | Like | Chinese: 佮意 (kah-ì) | ||
| Sabun | Chinese: 雪文 (sap-bûn) | Soap | Chinese: 茶箍 (tê-khoo) | Chinese: 雪文 (sap-bûn) is also used in Taiwan. Amoy, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou also uses Chinese: 雪文 (sap-bûn). Originates from old Portuguese "sabon" (modern Portuguese uses "sabão") which also gave Malay its word for soap. Chinese: 茶箍/茶枯 (tê-khoo) is also used in Amoy/Quanzhou/Zhangzhou. | |
| Kah-win (kahwin) | 交寅 (kau-ín) | Marry | Chinese: 結婚 (kiat-hun) | 交寅 (kau-ín) is also used in Amoy. Originates from Malay. | |
| Ka-cau | Disturb | Chinese: 攪擾 (kiáu-liáu) | |||
| Ba-Lu (baru) | Recently | Chinese: 最近 (tsuè-kīn) | |||
| Pa-sak (pasar) | Chinese: 巴刹 (pa-sat) | Market | Chinese: 市場 (tshī-tiûnn) or Chinese: 菜市 (tshài-tshī) | ||
| Ma-ta (mata-mata) | Police | Chinese: 警察 (kéng-tshat) | Mata literally means "eye" and is used as a colloquial term for the police. 'mata-mata' may also be used to mean 'spy'. | ||
| Ga-duh | Quarrel | Chinese: 冤家 (uan-ke) | |||
| Si-nang (senang) | Easy | Chinese: 簡單 (kán-tan) | |||
| To-long | Help | Chinese: 拜託 (pài-thok)，Chinese: 幫忙 (pang-bâng) or Chinese: 鬥相共 (tàu-sann-kāng) | |||
| Sa-lah | Offence, Wrong | Chinese: 犯法 (huān-huat) | |||
| Ta-pi (tetapi) | But | Chinese: 但是 (tān-sī)， Chinese: 毋過 (m̄-koh/m-ku) or Chinese: 猶毋過(iáu m̄-koh) | Chinese: 毋過 is also used in Amoy/Quanzhou/Zhangzhou. Quanzhou typically pronounces Chinese: 毋過 as "m̄-ku", whereas Zhangzhou pronounces Chinese: 毋過 as "m̄-koh". | ||
| Roti | Bread | Chinese: 麵包 (mī-pau) or Chinese: 麭 (pháng) (Japanese loanwords) | |||
| Pun | Chinese: 本(pun) | Also | Chinese: 嘛是 (mā sī) or Chinese: 也是 (iā-sī) | E.g. (i pun-sī tsin suí) - She is also very prettyBoth other Amoy Hokkien words are also used. | |
| Saman | summons (fine) | Chinese: 罰款 (hua̍t-khuán) | |||
| Agak Agak | Guess/Estimate | Chinese: 臆 (ioh) | |||
| Kentang | Potato | Chinese: 馬鈴薯 (má-lêng-tsû) | |||
| Guli | Marble | Chinese: 大理石 (tāi-lí-tsio̍h) | |||
| Botak | Bald/Baldy | Chinese: 光頭 (kng-thâu) or Chinese: 禿頭 (thut-thâu) | |||
| Pakat | Chinese: 巴結 (pá-kat) | Conspire | Chinese: 串通 (tshuàn-thong) | ||
| Buaya | Chinese: 磨仔 (buá à) | Crocodile | Chinese: 鱷魚 (kho̍k-hî) | ||
| Beh Ta-han | 袂扙捍 | Cannot tolerate | Chinese: 擋袂牢 (tòng bē tiâu) | Formed by Hokkien word "beh 袂" and Malay word "tahan" | |
| Mana Eh Sai | Mana 會使 | How can this be? | Chinese: 敢會使 (kam ē-sái) | Formed by Malay word "mana" and Hokkien word "e-sai 會使" | |
| Lokun | 老君 | Doctor | Chinese: 醫生 (i-seng) | From Malay word "Dukun", which means shaman or medicine man. Alternatively, 老君 lo-kun is related to Taoist's deity Daode Tianzun, which is commonly known as Taishang Laojun (太上老君) "The Grand Supreme Elderly Lord". Many Chinese in Singapore practiced Taoism and visited Taoist temples to prescribe medicine to cure their disease. Naturally, the deity became like a doctor. Lokun 老君 can also mean a wise man. |
There are also many English loanwords used in Singaporean Hokkien. They are usually used when the speaker does not know the Hokkien equivalent. Some of these English terms are related to working and living in Singapore
| English loanwords in Singaporean Hokkien | Compare Taiwanese Hokkien | |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping | Chinese: 踅街 (se̍h-kue) | |
| MRT | Chinese: 地鐵 (tē-thih) or Chinese: 捷運 (tsia̍t-ūn) | |
| But | Chinese: 但是 (tān-sī) or Chinese: 毋過 (m̄-koh) | |
| Toilet | Chinese: 便所 (piān-sóo) |
See main article: Old Chinese and Literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters. Certain colloquial pronunciations of Singaporean Hokkien words are directly inherited from the consonant system of Old Chinese. Hokkien did not experience a great phonological change throughout the transition period from Old Chinese to Middle Chinese.
Min dialects, including Hokkien, preserved a unique feature of Old Chinese: it does not have labiodental consonants. For instance, the word "分" is pronounced as in Mandarin, but as in Hokkien. This marks a major difference between Old Chinese and Middle Chinese.
| Hokkien Vocabulary | Mandarin Equivalent | English | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 汝 lí / lír / lú | 你 nǐ | you | ||
| 伊 i | 他/她/它 tā | he/she | ||
| 箸 tī / tīr | 筷子 kuàizi | chopsticks | ||
| 物件 mi̍h-kiānn | 東西 dōngxi | things | ||
| 按呢 án-ni / án-ne | 這麼 zhème | like this | ||
| 按怎 àn-tsuánn | 怎麼 zěnme | how? | ||
| 厝 tshù | 房子 fángzi | house | ||
| 檨 suāinn | 芒果 mángguǒ | mango | ||
| 枵 iau | 餓 è | hungry | e.g. 我個腹肚眞枵。 (I'm very hungry.) | |
| 尻川 kha-tshng | 屁股 pìgǔ | buttock | e.g. 拍尻川！(Spank [his] bottom!) | |
| 跤 kha | 腳 jiǎo | leg | ||
| 塗跤 thôo-kha | 地板 dìbǎn | floor | ||
| 鼎 tiánn | 鍋 guō | wok | ||
| 肉脞 bah-tshò | 碎肉 suìròu | minced meat | ||
| 蹛 tuà | 住 zhù | to live/reside | e.g. 汝蹛底落？ (Where do you live?) | |
| 徛 khiā | 住 zhù | to live/reside | e.g. 我徛佇牛車水。 (I live in Chinatown.) | |
| 佇 tī / tīr | 在 zài | to be located in/at | e.g. 汝佇底落？ (Where are you?) | |
| 暗暝 àm-mî / àm-mê | 晚上 wǎnshang | night | ||
| 晏 uànn | 晚 wǎn | night | ||
| 門跤口 mn̂g-kha-kháu | 門口 ménkǒu | entrance | ||
| 外口 guā-kháu | 外面 wàimiàn | outside | ||
| 泅水 siû-tsuí | 游泳 yóuyǒng | swim | ||
| 卽陣 tsit-tsūn | 現在 xiànzài | now | ||
| 卽久 tsit-kú | 現在 xiànzài | now | ||
| 卽馬 tsit-má | 現在 xiànzài | now | ||
| 現此時 hiān-tsú-sî | 現在 xiànzài | now | ||
| 當今 tong-kim | 現在 xiànzài | nowadays | ||
| 眠床 bîn-tshn̂g | 床 chuáng | bed | ||
| 遘 kàu | 到 dào | get to/reach | e.g. 我遘厝了。 (I've reached home.) | |
| 轉 tńg | 回去 huíqù | go back | e.g. 我轉去學堂提物件。 (I came back to get my things.) | |
| 倒轉 tò-tńg | 回去 huíqù | go back | ||
| 食 tsia̍h | 吃 chī | eat | ||
| 猶未 á-buē | 還沒 háiméi | not yet | e.g. 我猶未食飯。 (I've not yet eaten.) | |
| 趁錢 thàn-tsînn | 賺錢 zhuànqián | earn money |
See also: Written Hokkien.
Hokklo Taoist priests are the largest group among Taoist clergy community in Singapore, they had always conduct their religious services in Hokkien and still continue to do so. Most Tangki or Chinese mediums from Hokkien temples also communicate in Hokkien during spiritual consultation. Some of the Chinese Buddhist temples in Singapore continue to recite the Buddhist scriptures in Hokkien during their daily worship services. The scriptures contain Singapore-style Hokkien romanization are available to assist during the scriptural recitation. There are also Hokkien Buddhist sermons CDs made available and distribute among Hokkien communities in Singapore and overseas. Some of the Chinese Christian churches in Singapore also have services conducted in Singaporean Hokkien.
There exist Singaporean Hokkien writings, folk adages, and ballads written by early Chinese immigrants to Singapore.
Amongst the folk ballads, a few outstanding writings tell of the history and hardship of early Chinese immigrants to Singapore.
There are 18 sections in the poetry ballad "行船歌" (Hâng-tsûn-kua) ("Songs of traveling on a boat"), which talks about how early immigrants migrated to Singapore.
There is another ballad called "砰嘭水中流" (Pin-pong-tsúi-tiong-lâu) ("Flow in the midst of water"):
An example of a folk love ballad is "雪梅思君" (Suat-m̂-su-kun) ("Snow and plum thinking of a gentlemen"), on the loyalty and chastity of love.
An example of love poetry is "針線情" (tsiam-suànn-tsiânn） ("The emotions of needle and thread"):
See main article: Getai. Singapore also held Getai during traditional Chinese festivals, for instance the Zhong Yuan Festival. During the Getai event, it is common to speak a number of Chinese dialects, including Hokkien, Teochew, and Cantonese. During the 1960s, Hokkien song was particularly popular. The Singapore Hokkien star Chen Jin Lang (陳金浪) was once the compere and main singer during the Hungry Ghost Festival. His famous song "10 levels of Hades" ("十殿閻君") was especially popular.
Early Singaporean Hokkien opera had its origins in Gaojia opera, which was brought from Quanzhou to Singapore during the late 19th century. In 1927, the Taiwanese Gezai opera spread to Singapore. Because its lyrics and singing style were easier to understand, it made a great impact on Singapore. Consequently, by the mid 20th century, it had replaced Gaojia opera to become the mainstream Hokkien opera in Singapore.
Currently, Singapore Hokkien opera is performed by two older troupes—Sin Sai Hong Hokkien Opera Troupe (新賽風閩劇團) and Xiao Kee Lin Hokkien Opera Troupe (筱麒麟閩劇團)—and three newer troupes—Sio Gek Leng Hokkien Opera Troupe (筱玉隆閩劇團), Ai Xin Hokkien Opera Troupe (愛心歌仔戲團), and Do Opera [Hokkien] (延戲[福建歌仔戲]), which is the newest.
A Singapore Chinese opera school nurtures talents in opera, including Hokkien opera.
Singapore Hokkien movies began to appear in the late 1990s, notably by dubbing in Hokkien mainstream Chinese movies made in Singapore. Amongst these, movies directed by Jack Neo, such as I Not Stupid and Money No Enough were popular. They reflected the social environment of local Singaporeans.
Although Singapore radios started to ban Hokkien in the 1980s, Rediffusion Singapore continued to broadcast in Hokkien and greatly contributed to the culture of Singapore. For instance, the Hokkien story-telling program Amoy folks story (廈語民間故事), by Koh Sock May (許淑梅), was very popular.
See main article: Nanguan music.
Nanyin (Southern Music) first spread to Singapore in 1901. Many immigrants from Quanzhou began to establish various Nanyin organizations.
Those which survive include the Siong Leng Musical Association, which was established in 1941. It was responsible for promoting Nanyin, as well as Liyuan opera. In 1977, the then chairman of the association, Ting Ma Cheng (丁馬成), advocated for the ASEAN Nanyin Performance (亞細安南樂大會奏), which helped to revive Nanyin. In addition, in order to educate young people about this performance art, he also published two books on Nanyin and Liyuan opera.
Currently, the Siong Leng Musical Association is led by Ding Honghai (丁宏海), and it continues to promote Nanyin in Singapore.
See main article: Pe̍h-ōe-jī.
There are some letters written in Pe̍h-ōe-jī from early Hokkien migrants in Singapore.
An example was provided by the descendant of Tan Book Hak, a cousin of Tan Kah Kee.
Singapore's Chinese name "新加坡" (sin-ka-pho) originated from Hokkien's transliteration of "Singapore". In addition, there are many other place names in Singapore that originated from Hokkien: Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh, for instance.