Teochew (Simplified Chinese: 潮州话; Traditional Chinese: 潮州話; Pinyin: Cháo zhōu huà; Peng'im, Chaozhou: Diê⁵ ziu¹ uê⁷; Peng'im, Shantou: Dio⁵ ziu¹ uê⁷) is a variety of Chaoshan Min, a Southern Min language, which is spoken by the Teochews in the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong and by their diaspora around the world. It is sometimes referred to as Chiuchow, based on its Cantonese pronunciation, due to the English romanisation by colonial officials. It is closely related to some varieties of Hokkien, as it shares some cognates and phonology with it. Despite this, the two are not generally mutually intelligible.

Teochew preserves many Old Chinese pronunciations and vocabulary that have been lost in some of the other modern varieties of Chinese. As such, many linguists consider Teochew one of the most conservative Chinese languages.

Teochews in Singapore

In Singapore, the Teochews are the second-largest Chinese community, after the Hokkiens. They originated mainly from the Chaoshan region in Guangdong province, which include Chaozhou, Chao’an, Shantou, Jieyang, among others. The local Teochew population makes up approximately 19.4% of the total Chinese population, according to a 2020 census. The proportion of the population has remained quite stable since the 1931 census.

Singaporean Teochew

Chinese linguist Li Yongming’s research found that the Teochew phonetic system in Singapore includes 18 initial consonants, 69 vowels, and eight tones. The following are some of its phonetic characteristics: Initial consonants retain certain ancient phonetic features. For example, words like 分 fen, 房 fang, 浮 fu are pronounced with bilabial consonants “b” and “p”, conforming to the ancient phonological pattern that labiodental consonants are grouped under bilabial consonants. Words like 柱、竹zhu, 抽 chou are pronounced with dental sounds “d” and “t”, conforming to the ancient phonetic pattern of moving from alveolar sounds to retroflex sounds.
Mandarin Chinese has a Si Hu 四呼 system of vowel classification, with categories based on the four shapes of the mouth and strength of aspirated sounds: “open mouth”, “even teeth”, “closed mouth”, and “pursed mouth”. In Teochew, however, there are only three categories as there are no “pursed mouth” vowels. The “e” and “ao” vowels found in Mandarin words such as 哥ge, 贺 he, 糕gao, and 号hao are merged into a single category of vowels in Teochew.

Similar to Hokkien dialects, Teochew has a dual pronunciation system, where words have literary and colloquial pronunciations which are distinct from one another.

References

 Li, Yongming. (1991). 新加坡潮州话的外语借词和特殊词语 [Singapore Teochew loan words and unique terms]. Fangyan 1, 56–63.

 Yap, Foong Ha; Grunow-Hårsta, Karen; Wrona, Janick, eds. (2011). Nominalization in Asian Languages: Diachronic and typological perspectives. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 11. ISBN 978-9027206770.