Credits Due

The following monograph has been of monumental use. Two maps found in these pages are based on material found there. Please find the time to acquire a copy and enjoy its insights. It is sadly out of print.
Author : Mantaro J. Hashimoto
Title : The Hakka Dialect; A Linguistic Study of Its Phonology, Syntax and Lexicon Princeton-Cambridge Studies in Chinese Linguistics, V
Publisher : Cambridge at the University Press, 1973.
ISBN 0 521 20037 7
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 72-85438.

Review

Hashimoto surveys the literature on Hak Ga studies and includes two maps, one of the migration of the Hakkas and another showing the present day areas in China where there are Hak Ga speaking communities. There is a brief history about the migration. The Moi Yen (Meixian) Dialect is looked into intimately by Hashimoto, though there are mention of other sister dialects in the Hak Ga group.

The importance of Hak Ga is investigated through its connections to Ancient Chinese. There are a considerable amount of transcribed phonetic words and full sentences representing the Moi Yen dialect. Phonetic transcription also include the tones markings. Chinese characters in the traditional rhyming lists set in the style of older chinese dictionaries is provided. The aim of this is to show phonetic relationships with Ancient Chinese and Hak Ga.

Hak Ga speakers can try their own dialect against the Moi Yen dialect by noting the phonetic transcription and translations. As a speaker of Sa Tdiu Kok (Sha Tau Kok, Sa Thew Kok) Hak Ga, I have found that the transcription agrees very well in most cases. Where there are differences, they are minor, due mainly to the regional peculiarities.

For readers in England

There are copies of this book in :
  1. Birmingham University Library (Main Library PL 1853)
  2. Manchester University John Rylands Library (Area 1 Floor 4 495.17/H1)
  3. Oxford University Bodlian Library (BOD Bookstack Chin. d.1842)
  4. York University J.B. Morrell Library. (MZN 140 HAS)
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This page was last updated on Saturday 15 March 1997.
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