Hakka is actually made up of waves of migrations across different eras from different Northern regions, so they donât all sound the same.
They also donât have any kind of significant presence in Taiwan before mid-Qing. Most Han Chinese in Taiwan at the time were either introduced to Taiwan by the Dutch or followed Koxinga. Those who came during the Dutch era probably came in several waves, as the Dutch killed off a bunch of them during the Gouqua Faet rebellion. They were also prominently from coastal Minnan regions. Koxinga had some Hakka generals and soldiers, but itâs pretty obvious the majority of his followers were also from coastal Minnan regions.
Hakka immigrants were systematically introduced to Taiwan by the Qing dynasty for a while after the Tsu It-kuĂŹ rebellion. Many of the Hakka leaders eventually defected to the Qing army, and the Qing government realized that pitting Hakka and Holo against one another reduces the risk of rebellion. Aside from encouraging Hakka immigration in that era, Holo immigration were even more strictly clamped down. Thatâs when Hakka people increased to make up about 15% of Taiwanâs total Han Chinese population.
Although I still have no idea why Hakka and Cantonese both picked up the p to f sound change. This sound change is more complete in Cantonese, and Hakka is just half way there.
For example, the following are a few characters that had a /p/ or /pÊ°/ initial in Middle Chinese:
飯: Hakka - pÊ°an, Holo - pnÌg, Cantonese - fan, Korean - ban
ć : Hakka - pÊ°ui or pÊ°ou, Holo - puÄ«, Cantonese - fai, Korean - pye
è„: Hakka - pÊ°ui or pÊ°i, Holo - puĂź, Cantonese - fei, Korean - bi
It is possible that Cantonese picked up the pâf change because Guangdong was the prominent sea port throughout Qing dynasty, and the Manchu officials introduced that change. That eventually began to spread to the Hakka languages in Guangdong as well.
Mandarin is archaic perhaps in the sense that you can not construct the words through an alphabet. But it is very advanced in the sense that there is no conjugation of verbs and no tenses in the language
I could imagine if aliens were to come to earth they would be speaking Mandarin
Itâs archaic in every sense of the word letâs not kid ourselves. Itâs modern day hieroglyphics.
Squiggles and pictures crammed together. No spacing, no indication of names and places. The Japanese figured it out. I love the Japanese