Penang Hokkien (; IPA: ) is a local variant of Hokkien spoken in Penang, Malaysia. It is spoken natively by 63.9% of Penang's Chinese community, and also by some Penangite Indians and Penangite Malays.
It was once the lingua franca among the majority Chinese population in Penang, Kedah, Perlis and northern Perak. However, since the 1980s, many younger speakers have shifted towards Malaysian Mandarin under the Speak Mandarin Campaign in Chinese-medium schools in Malaysia, even though Mandarin was not previously spoken in these regions. Mandarin has been adopted as the only language of instruction in Chinese schools and, from the 1980s to mid-2010s, these schools penalised students and teachers for using non-Mandarin varieties of Chinese. A 2021 study found that Penang Hokkien was a 'threatened' language in the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale, due to the encroachment of Mandarin.
Penang Hokkien is a subdialect of Zhangzhou (漳州; Tsiang-tsiu) Hokkien, with extensive use of Malay and English loanwords. Compared to dialects in Fujian (福建; Hok-kiàn) province, it most closely resembles the variety spoken in the district of Haicang (海滄; Hái-tshng) in Longhai (龍海; Liông-hái) county and in the districts of Jiaomei (角美; Kak-bí) and Xinglin (杏林; Hēng-lîm) in neighbouring Xiamen (廈門; Ēe-muî) prefecture. In Southeast Asia, similar dialects are spoken in the states bordering Penang (Kedah, Perlis and northern Perak), as well as in Medan and North Sumatra, Indonesia. It is markedly distinct from Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien, Singaporean Hokkien and Taiwanese Hokkien.
Orthography Penang Hokkien is largely a spoken language, however it can be written in Chinese characters (唐人字; Tn̂g-lâng-jī), or romanised in the Latin script (紅毛字; Âng-môo-jī). Penang Hokkien has a growing body of written, particularly romanised material, thanks largely in part to its increasing online presence on social media. Many topics focus on the language itself such as dictionaries and learning materials. This is linked to efforts to preserve, revitalise and promote the language as part of Penang's cultural heritage, due to increasing awareness of the loss of Penang Hokkien usage among younger generations in favour of Mandarin and English. The standard romanisation systems commonly used in these materials are based on Tâi-lô and Pe̍͘h-ōa-jī, with varying modifications to suit Penang Hokkien phonology.
The Hokkien Language Association of Penang (Persatuan Bahasa Hokkien Pulau Pinang; 庇能福建話協會) is one such organisation which promotes the language's usage and revitalisation. Through their Speak Hokkien Campaign they promote a Tâi-lô based system modified to suit the phonology of Penang Hokkien and its loanwords. This system is used throughout this article and its features are detailed below.
The Speak Hokkien Campaign also promotes the use of traditional Chinese characters derived from recommended character lists for written Hokkien published by Taiwan's Ministry of Education.
Most native-speakers are not aware of these standardised systems and resort to ad hoc methods of romanisation based on English, Malay and Pinyin spelling rules. These methods are in common use for many proper names and food items, e.g. Char Kway Teow (炒粿條; tshá-kúe-tiâu). These spellings are often inconsistent and highly variable with several alternate spellings being well established, e.g. Char Koay Teow. These methods, which are more intuitive to the average native-speaker, are the basis of non-standard romanisation systems used in some written material.
Phonology Consonants +Initials Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal m 名 (miâ) n 爛 (nuā) ng 硬 (ngēe) Plosive/Affricate p 比 (pí) t 大 (tuā) ts 姊 (tsí) k 教 (kàu) 影 (iánn) ph 脾 (phî) th 拖 (thua) tsh 飼 (tshī) kh 扣 (khàu) b 米 (bí) d tsian-doi (煎蕊) j 字 (jī) g 牛 (gû) Fricative f sóo-fá (沙發) s 時 (sî) sh kú-shérn (古申) h 喜 (hí) Lateral l 賴 (luā) Approximant r ríng-gi̋t (令吉) y sa-yang (捎央) w 我 (wá)
Unlike other dialects of Hokkien, alveolar affricates and fricatives remain the same and do not undergo palatalisation to become alveolo-palatal before /i/, e.g. 時 [si] instead of [ɕi]. Words that begin with a null initial, i.e. begin with a vowel without a preceding consonant may feature an initial glottal stop /ʔ/, this is not indicated in writing. The consonants and are only used in the spelling of loanwords. They may be analysed in terms of native Hokkien phonology as beginning with a null initial and may instead be spelled with and respectively, e.g. 我 wá/uá and 捎央 sa-yang/sa-iang. The consonants , , and are only used in loanwords.
+Finals Bilabial Alveolar Velar Glottal Nasal -m 暗 (àm) -n 安 (an) -ng 紅 (âng) Plosive -p 答 (tap) -t 殺 (sat) -k 角 (kak) -h 鴨 (ah)+Syllabic consonant Bilabial Velar Nasal m 毋 (m̄) ng 霜 (sng)
Vowels +MonophthongsFrontBackSimpleNasalSimpleNasalClosei 伊 (i)inn 圓 (înn)u 有 (ū)Close-Mide 會 (ē)o 蠔 (ô)Open-Midee 下 (ēe)enn 嬰 (enn) oo 烏 (oo)onn 嗚 (onn)Opena 亞 (a)ann 餡 (ānn)+Diphthongs & TriphthongsDiphthongTriphthongai [ai]愛 (ài)ia [ia]椰 (iâ)io [io]腰 (io)iu [iu]油 (iû)ue [ue]鍋 (ue)iau [iau]枵 (iau)au [au]後 (āu)ia [iɛ]燕 (iàn)*ioo [iɔ]娘 (niôo)*ua [ua]話 (uā)ui [ui]為 (uī)uai [uai]歪 (uai)
In the Tâi-lô system for Penang Hokkien, nasal vowels are indicated using final , while Pe̍͘h-ōa-jī uses superscript . Vowel nasalisation occurs in words that have nasal initials (, , ), however, this is not explicitly indicated in writing with either or , e.g. 卵 nūi (/nuĩ/) instead of nūinn/nūiⁿ.For most speakers who are not familiar with Tâi-lô or Pe̍͘h-ōa-jī, nasalisation is commonly indicated by putting an after the initial consonant of a word. This is commonly seen for the popular Penang delicacy Tau Sar Pneah (豆沙餅; tāu-sa-piánn). In other instances, nasalisation may not be indicated at all, such as in Popiah (薄餅; po̍h-piánn), or as in the common last name Ooi (黃; Uînn). The final is only written in conjunction with words that have an initial , e.g. 娘 niôo. In this instance it is pronounced /iɔ̃/ and is a variant of , with nasalisation instead indicated by the nasal initial. The rime is a variant pronunciation of . The two may be used interchangeably in Penang Hokkien, e.g. 張 tiaunn/tionn, 羊 iâunn/iônn. When is followed by final or , it is pronounced [iɛ], with and being pronounced as [iɛn] and [iɛt̚] respectively.In speech, these sounds are often reduced to [ɛn] and [ɛt̚], e.g. 免 mián/mén. The diphthong /ua/ may be spelled in loanwords, e.g. 我 wá/uá. The diphthong /ia/ may be spelled in loanwords, e.g. sa-yang/sa-iang 捎央. There are clear distinction between /e/ and /ɛ/ vowel in Penang Hokkien. For example, the term 家 (home) is pronounced as /kɛ/ (Tâi-lô: ⟨kee⟩, Pe̍͘h-ōa-jī: ⟨ke͘⟩), while 雞 (chicken) is pronounced as /ke/, which is transcribed as ⟨ke⟩ in both Tâi-lô and Pe̍͘h-ōa-jī. However, a lot of Penang Hokkien Tâi-lô or Pe̍͘h-ōa-jī users were prone to ignore the difference. Reasons being the absence of formal letter on /ɛ/ from the orthodox Pe̍h-ōe-jī which is based on Amoy accent, and there are lack of support from most mainstream POJ input methods for the letter ⟨e͘⟩. Despite the existence of formal notation of /ɛ/ in Tâi-lô as ⟨ee⟩, some Tâi-lô users were seems to neglect it too, possibly due to the influence from Taiwanese online resources which don't include letter /ee/ and not aware of it.
+Non-native vowels (used in loanwords)Tâi-lôIPAExampleNoteerOccurs in Quanzhou accented varieties of Hokkien such as those spoken in Southern Malaysia and Singapore.Used in Malay and English loanwords.yUsed in Cantonese loanwords, may be pronounced as .ei[ei]Used in Cantonese loanwords.eoi[ɵy]An alternate pronunciation of due to Cantonese influence.Used in Cantonese loanwords, may be pronounced as .oi[ɔi]Used in Malay, English, Cantonese and Teochew loanwords.Replaces in Malay loanwords, e.g. (), ().Note: The change from final in Standard Malay to is a general feature of Penang Malay, the local variety from which Penang Hokkien borrows.This phonological change can be seen in other loanwords from Penang Malay, e.g. (). ou[ou]Used in Cantonese and Teochew loanwords.
Rhymes Vowel(s)OpenNasalPlosive[-][◌̃][m][n][ŋ][p̚][t̚][k̚][ʔ][a]aannamanangapatakah[ai]aiainn aih[au]au auh[e]e eng ekeh[ɛ]eeennem*en*eeng* et*eek*eeh[ə]er* ern* ert* erh*[ei]ei* [i]iinnimining*ipitik*ih[ia]iaianniam iangiap iakiah[iɛ] ian iat [iau]iauiaunn [io]io ioh[iɔ]ioo*ionn iong iok[iu]iu Vowel(s)Open NasalPlosive[-][◌̃][m][n][ŋ][p̚][t̚][k̚][ʔ][o]o um* ung* uk*oh[ɔ]ooonnomon*ong ot*okooh[ɔi]oi* [ou]ou* [u]u un ut uh[ua]uauann uanuang* uat uah[uai]uaiuainn [ue]ue ueh[ui]uiuinn [y]y* yn* [ɵy]eoi* [m̩]m－[ŋ̍]ng－
* Used in loanwords, variants and onomatopoeia
Tones In Penang Hokkien, the two Departing tones (3rd & 7th) are virtually identical, and may not be distinguished except in their sandhi forms. Most native speakers of Penang Hokkien are therefore only aware of four tones in unchecked syllables (high, low, rising, high falling), and two Entering tones (high and low) in checked syllables. In most systems of romanisation, this is accounted as seven tones altogether. The tones are:
+Penang Hokkien tones Upper/Dark Lower/Light No.NameTLContourSandhiedNo.NameTLContourSandhiedLevel 1陰平im-piânn[˦˦] (44)[˨˩] (21)5陽平iông-piânn[˨˧] (23)[˨˩] (21)Rising 2上聲sióng-siann[˥˧] (53)[˦˦] (44)－[˦˦˥] (445)Departing 3陰去im-khì[˨˩] (21)[˥˧] (53)7陽去iông-khì[˨˩] (21)[˨˩] (21)[˦˦] (44)Entering 4陰入im-ji̍p[ʔ˧] (3)[ʔ˦] (4)8陽入iông-ji̍p[ʔ˦] (4)[ʔ˧] (3)NoteEntering tones (4 & 8) only occur in closed syllables where ◌ represents either -p, -t, -k, or -h.
The names of the tones no longer bear any relation to the tone contours. The (upper) Rising (2nd) tone has two variants in Penang Hokkien, a high falling tone [˥˧] (53) and a high rising tone [˦˦˥] (445). The high falling tone [˥˧] (53) is more common among the older generations while in the younger generations there has been a shift towards the use of the high rising tone [˦˦˥] (445). When the 3rd tone is sandhied to the 2nd tone, the high falling variant [˥˧] (53) is used, however some speakers may sandhi the 3rd tone to the 1st tone [˦] (44). As in Amoy and Zhangzhou, there is no lower Rising (6th) tone.
Tone sandhi Penang Hokkien, like other Hokkien dialects albeit less extensive, features tone sandhi (變調; piàn-tiāu), a process where the tone of a character changes if it is followed by another character as part of a multisyllabic compound. When a character is read in isolation as a monosyllabic word, or as the final character in a multisyllabic compound, it is pronounced with its "original tone" (本調; pún-tiāu). Within a multisyllabic compound, every character, except for the one in the final position undergoes tone sandhi. For example, the word 牛 gû in isolation is pronounced with an ascending tone, [˨˧] (23), but when it combines with a following syllable, as in 牛肉 gû-bah, it undergoes tone sandhi and is pronounced with a low tone, [˨˩] (21). Meanwhile 肉 bah in the final position is pronounced with its original tone [ʔ˧] (3). This process occurs regardless of the length of the compound, for example, in 牛肉粿條湯 gû-bah-kué-tiâu-thng, the first 4 characters are pronounced with their sandhied tone, while only the final character 湯 thng, is pronounced with its original tone.
In both Tâi-lô and Pe̍͘h-ōa-jī based romanisation systems, compounds are indicated with the use of hyphens linking the individual syllables. Single hyphens (-) are most often used and linked syllables undergo tone sandhi as described above. Double hyphens (--) are used in instances where the preceding syllable does not undergo tone sandhi. Tone marks always show the original tone, and do not change to indicate the sandhied tone in a compound.
1st → 7th ← 5th ↑ (↖) ↓ 2nd ← 3rd 4th ↔ 8th
The general tone sandhi rules for Penang Hokkien are as follows: 5th becomes 7th 7th becomes 3rd 3rd becomes 2nd (for some speakers becomes 1st) 2nd becomes 1st 1st becomes 7th