Problems Associated with Saving Penang Hokkien

10 August, 2016.

One of the biggest problems associated with trying to save Penang Hokkien from dying is that different people have a different idea of what is Penang Hokkien. A lot of people may have their own take of what it is, but when it comes to doing the work to save the language, they pull back. Let someone else do it. They are keen only to talk and to provide opinion.

As one of those who are willing to shoulder the hard work, my take of what is Penang Hokkien matters to me a lot. It is the language I learn from small, and I want to preserve it according to how I know it. Not only that, how the language is preserved matters to me.

At present, there are different people taking different approaches to save Penang Hokkien. If I disavow any involvement in what they are doing, it is not because I am not keen to save Penang Hokkien, and certainly not out of jealousy. The two main reasons would be (a) I feel what they are doing to be a futile exercise which they do not yet realise, or realise but are in denial, and (b) the end result is not the Penang Hokkien that I know and am keen to save.

Many are attempting to swim against the tide. But I know that, if you try to do that, the tide will defeat you, and all your effort will come to nothing.

At this point, I need to be clear that I am interested to save the language that I know from small. I am not interested in establishing standard Hokkien as a common language for all Hokkien-speaking people to communicate among themselves. Particularly, if that comes at the expense of eroding the Penang Hokkien that I know.

A lot of people use the term "Penang Hokkien" when they are actually talking about standard Hokkien. As mentioned, different people have different opinion of what is Penang Hokkien. To me, Hokkien is a language, and Penang Hokkien is a dialect of that language. Hokkien is not a dialect of Mandarin, and Penang Hokkien likewise is not a dialect of Mandarin. However, Penang Hokkien is a dialect of Hokkien.

In my opinion, something that is too purely Hokkien has no business calling itself Penang Hokkien. Penang Hokkien has to exhibit specific characteristics that differentiates it from Hokkien. There are two main characteristics I want to talk about: loanwords and sentence structure. Many consider Penang Hokkien to simply be Hokkien with loanwords from the Malay peninsula, be it from Malay, English, Cantonese, etc. To me, Penang Hokkien is more than that. However, many shun to regard a sentence to be in Penang Hokkien, if it takes on an English or Malay sentence structure. In my opinion, that IS Penang Hokkien too, for it exhibits the indigenous characteristics and influence of having been in this region for over two hundred years. On the other hand, in my opinion, a Hokkien that is pure is not Penang Hokkien, even if it is spoken by a local.

It is common knowledge that among all those who are keen to save Penang Hokkien, I am the most hard headed. But I am so for the passion I have to preserve the language that I know from small. I want it to be exactly as it is, and if I can, then develop it as a modern language for future generations. The moment a person opens his mouth, I can tell whether that is Penang Hokkien or not. As for saving other dialects of Hokkien, I am not interested; let someone else do it.

Because of the differences I have, and that I have remained strongly unmoved by approaches that modify my definition of what is Penang Hokkien, I am unwilling to be involved in other people's approaches to save the language. [an error occurred while processing this directive]