Traditional Chinese Linguae Francae of Malaysia

[an error occurred while processing this directive] Traditional Chinese Linguae Francae of Malaysia (9 February 2016)


The diverse history of Chinese migration to Malaysia has yielded a complex patchwork of traditional Chinese linguae francae in the country. Before the beginning of the 20th century, the Chinese community of each town speaks its own lingua franca, necessitating the learning of a myriad of Chinese languages for those who need to community with the Chinese of different towns.

Of the numerous Chinese linguae francae spoken in Malaysia, a few predominate. Until the mid 19th century, the two main Chinese languages are the Northern Peninsular Malaysia Hokkien and the Southern Peninsular Malaysia Hokkien. Their arrivals can be traced to the traditional role of Hokkien seafarers going back centuries, and boosted by periods of Hokkien migration whenever there were turbulences in their traditional homeland of Fujian Province. Due to their city of origin, the peoples of Hokkien ancestry speak two main dialects of Hokkien, which give rise to the Northern and Southern forms observed today.

Map of the Traditional Chinese Linguae Francae of Malaysia

This map was created with the input from members of Learn Penang Hokkien Facebook Group.



Fujian Province is the main contributor to Chinese migrants in Malaysia. From this province alone come two different Hokkien dialect groups, the Zhangzhou and Amoy, represented by the Northern and Southern Peninsular Malaysia forms of Hokkien. In addition, Fujian province also contributes migrants speaking the Fuzhou dialect of the Eastern Min language, as well as some Hakka- and Teochew-speaking migrants.

Northern Peninsular Malaysia Hokkien is today largely known as Penang Hokkien, even though the language is spoken in other towns outside Penang, and in fact, has been around long before Penang was established as a British colony. Other large towns where the Northern Peninsular Malaysia Hokkien is spoken today include Alor Setar and Taiping. This dialect of Hokkien is also spoken in smaller towns such as Kota Bharu and Kuala Terengganu, but the size of the Chinese communities in these areas have diminished.

Guangdong Province is the second largest contributor of Chinese migrants to Malaysia, providing the bulk of the Cantonese and speaking migrants, as well as the Sinning-speaking migrants, which have largely been absorbed within the Cantonese group. Hakka-speaking migrants largely trace their roots to Chaozhou, but due to their being a diaspora within China itself, may also have arrived from Fujian Province and even Hainan Province. There was a large influx of the Cantonese-speaking and Hakka-speaking migrants from the mid-19th century. This coincides with the opening of tin mines in Malaya, as well as displacements brought on by warfare such as the Taiping Rebellion and the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars.

Until Standard Chinese was introduced to this country, the Chinese of the different language groups use their respective languages in oral form, but when writing, they switch to Literary Chinese, in a situation called diglossia. Although Literary Chinese is often loosely interpreted as similar to Classical Chinese, in fact they are not. To be precise, Classical Chinese is the written language of the classical period of Chinese literature, whereas Literary Chinese is the form of written Chinese in use right up to the early 20th century, when it was replaced by vernacular written Chinese, which is, the Mandarin we know today.

The arrival in Malaysia of written vernacular Chinese (commonly known today simply as Mandarin) since the early 1920s has resulted in the gradual uprooting of the traditional Chinese languages as the Chinese lingua franca in the various towns in Malaysia. Many of the lesser-spoken Chinese languages have been displaced by Mandarin, whereas the more widely spoken ones - namely Hokkien and Cantonese - have somewhat resisted their displacement.

Although Hokkien in written form has appeared sporadically down the centuries, when it comes to writing, Hokkien speakers right up to present times have resorted to using Literary Chinese in the past and Mandarin presently. Taiwan, which has the largest population of Hokkien speakers, for much of the 20th century made no attempt to propagate the use of Hokkien, and in fact took steps to suppress its use until recent decades, following the Taiwan localisation movement, when Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka and various Taiwanese aboriginal languages receive much needed resuscitation.

In Malaysia, by the end of the 20th century, there is dawning realisation among the speakers of Penang Hokkien that the position of their mother tongue as the traditional Chinese lingua franca of their home towns has been threatened, and various individual start to mount efforts to check the continual erosion of their languages in the face of continuous penetration by Mandarin.

In recent years, various groups have stepped up to champion the use of Penang Hokkien, but each charting its own path. While all are united by the common desire to preserve and save the language, each takes on a different approach. Some are encouraging parents to speak Hokkien to their children, some are compiling Penang Hokkien dictionaries and some are creating videos and lessons for the Internet. As for the written form for Hokkien in Malaysia, there is no consensus, with some literature using Chinese characters, some using Church Romanisation, some subscribe to using Taiwanese Romanisation, some prefer the homegrown Taiji Romanisation, and some using individually interpreted Phonetic transcription without any tone indications. Time will tell whether their disparate efforts will yield any tangible results.

Foot Notes

1. According to Robert Lip Seng Kee, there are barely any Fuchow speakers in Teluk Intan. Most of them grew up speaking a variant of Penang Hokkien, almost a distinct island of that variant amidst a sea of Cantonese and Foochow speakers, an anomaly noted by Prof Dr Khoo Kay Khim in his 1982 book; Teluk Anson (Teluk Intan): 100 Tahun.

Dr Khoo suggested that since Teluk Anson was developed to be a port, the earliest Chinese migrants brought in by the administrators were experienced port workers from Penang. They, in turn, brought in more fellow clansmen from Zhangzhou who spoke a similar subdialect. The Cantonese speakers, who also form a significant number of the Chinese community, albeit slightly smaller than the Teochew speakers, were relatively newcomers and mainly settled along Immigrant Road (Jalan Woo Saik Hong today).

That is, perhaps, why there is a little less borrowing from Malay and English in the Hokkien spoken in Teluk Intan compared to the one spoken in Penang although the intonation and phonology is generally identical.

Some further suggestion for entry into this page would be Hutan Melintang, Sabak Bernam, Sekinchan, and Kuala Selangor which have a preponderance of Teochew speakers, as is wont for most Chinese fishing communities in the West Coast.