BACKGROUNDS | hakka-in-hong-kong

BACKGROUDS

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Like Cantonese, Hakka is one of the best known dialects of Chinese. The use of Hakka was first brought to Hong Kong New Territories by a group of farmers immigrating from overpopulating Guangdoong Province in Mainland Chian during the early Qing Dynasty[1]. While Hakka and Cantonese may sound alike, Hakka has its own distinctive linguistic features that separate it from Cantonese and many other kinds of Chinese dialects. In terms of the use of vocabulary, Hakka and other dialects may have totally different vocabulary to represent the same subject. For example, while peanuts in Cantonese and Mandarin are expressed equally as“花生”, Hakka people use the another word comprised of different Chinese characters “地豆”[2].

However, it is said that the fluency and acquirement of knowledge of Hakka in younger generation has declined in the recent years. [3].

This claim is supported by the results from the population

census carried out every ten years by the Hong Kong government. The population of Hakka has dramatically dropped over the past twenty years, from 5.3%[1] of the total population in 1911 to 0.009% in 2011[2].

A number of researches have been conducted to look into the reasons behind such a decline in Hakka speakers’ population and the possible scenarios of this continuing trend. Some scholars put the blame on the control over the usage of Hakka under colonial language policies as well as the unwillingness of Hakka parents to talk to their children in indigenous language[3]. Whatever the reasons might be, it is undeniable that the voice of this fading language in Hong Kong has become fainter than ever.

FOOTNOTES

[1] “How did Hakka appear in Hong Kong,” The University of Hong Kong. Accessed on April 11,2015, http://lcom3001-exploringahongkongminor.weebly.com/reference.html.

[2] “Hong Kong Inhabitants: Language and Linguistic conservation,” Association for Conservation of Hong Kong Indigenous Language. Accessed on April 11,2015, http://www.hkilang.org/NEW_WEB/page/articles.

[3] Chun Fat Lau, “A dialect murders another dialect: the case of Hakka in Hong Kong,” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2005, 173 (2005): 23-35.

[4] Census and Statistics Department Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong 1991 Population Census – Main Report, Hong Kong, 1993, 44.

[5] Census and Statistics Department Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong 2011 Population Census – Main Tables, Hong Kong, 2002, 24.

[6] Chun Fat Lau, “A dialect murders another dialect: the case of Hakka in Hong Kong,” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2005, 173 (2005): 26.

[7] Retrieved from http://lcom3001-exploringahongkongminor.weebly.com/how-did-hakka-appear-in-hong-kong.html