The formation of the Hakka dialect
The Hakka dialect is a branch of the Han nationality's most common dialect, represented by Meixian dialect in Guangdong. Meixian, this name came later. According to Wen Zhonghe's "Jiaying Prefecture Chronicles", Meixian began to be called Chengxiang County during the Southern Qi Dynasty. At that time, Cheng Min [m n], a native of the Southern Qi Dynasty, lived in Yihua Township, Jiaying Prefecture. Later generations thought of his virtue and named his township Chengcheng Township and his county Chengxiang County. In the later Jin Dynasty, when Chengxiang County was originally subordinate to Guangzhou Yi'an and was subordinated to the Southern Han Dynasty, Gongzhou was changed to Meizhou. After several changes during the Song Dynasty, it was renamed Chengxiang County during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and was affiliated to Chaozhou Prefecture in Guangdong. As for the name "Chengxiang County, Jiaying Zhili Prefecture Province", it happened during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty. By the time of Jiaqing, Jiaying Prefecture was promoted to a prefecture. Until the Republic of China, it was affiliated to Guangdong Province. Jiaying Prefecture was abolished and renamed Meizhou, and later changed to Mei County. Today, Meizhou City includes seven counties and one district, namely Meixian, Xingning County, Wuhua County, Jiaoling County, Pingjian County, Dabu County, Fengshun County and Meijiang District, all speaking pure Hakka dialect. Meixian dialect is the representative of Hakka dialect.
Meixian County was named after the Republic of China. According to the history of the old system recorded in the "Meixian City Cultural Relics Chronicle", Meixian should include the old name of Thirty-Six Forts, which is now Meicheng and its suburbs, Changsha, Shuichun, Shikeng, Shejiang, Fuda, Nankou, Hesi, Yao Shang, Daping, Shishan, Xiyang, White House, Bingcun, Yanyang, Chengdong, Songkou (Songdong, Songnan), Baidu, Longwen, Taoyao, Songyuan and other districts. The languages ??spoken between these districts certainly belong to the Meixian phonology family, but there are slight differences. How did the Hakka dialect represented by Meixian dialect come into being? Mr. Wang Li, a contemporary language master, said: "'Hakka' means 'guest' or 'outsider'. Therefore, Hakka are outsiders." According to the "Meixian Local History Reader" published by Meixian Huanwenge in 1912 . "The Hakka people are originally Han people in the Central Plains, and they are all people of Guangshan and Gushi in Henan." Due to the war in the late Tang Dynasty, they "migrated between Ting and Gansu" and then moved to Guangdong. "Slaughtered them all", and when the chaos in the Yuan Dynasty was settled, they returned to "migrate to Mei" from Sajiang to Jiangxi. Qing Dynasty poet Huang Zunxian's "Preface to Meizhou Poems" says: "This guest came from He and Luo, and entered Guangdong from Fujian. He has been handed down for thirty years and has been passed down for seven hundred years, and his language has changed a lot." What does "shou's language" mean? language? Mr. Zhang Taiyan, a master of the Qing language language, said in "Hakka Dialect·Preface": "Those who call themselves Hakka in Guangdong take the counties of Jiaying as their ancestral home." "Ke Shuo" "Hakka pronunciation is the rhyme of the ancestors" shows that the Hakkas in Meixian County are Han people, and the origin of Hakka is naturally the spoken language of the ancestors in the Central Plains. Therefore, Hakka has preserved a large number of ancient and medieval pronunciations. Huang Zunxian said: "I have heard that Mr. Chen Lanfu said the guest's language, which proves that it is consistent with Zhou Deqing's "Central Plains Phonology" (see "Preface to Meizhou Poetry Biography"). Due to social unrest, a large number of Han people from the Central Plains moved south. After a long period of migration, these Han people from the Central Plains, known as "guests", finally settled in the Meixian area. The language they spoke slowly developed into a dialect - Hakka. , Hakka has been finalized in the long-term historical development, forming an independent, pure, lively and rich Hakka dialect that is different from the synonymous language of the Han nation.