Extract from the Sacred Edit of Kangxi in Swatow Vernacular
Here is an interesting example of Teochew written with Chinese characters in the 19th century, that I came across via this Twitter thread. Many thanks to the participants @airin_lvr, Justin, Elijah, and Egas for a stimulating exchange.
In the Introduction to the 1874 Chinese dictionary compiled by Samuel Wells Williams, Syllabic dictionary of the Chinese language arranged according to the Wu-Fang Yuen Yin, with the pronunciation of the characters as heard in Peking, Canton, Amoy, and Shanghai (Shanghai: American Mission Press), there is a side-by-side comparison of the same literary Chinese text translated into different regional vernacular languages, including Swatow Teochew. These appear to have been contributed by informants from different parts of China.
Williams’s aim was to show how different the literary “book style” is from the vernaculars, and how different the regional vernaculars are from each other. As he points out, “only in the … examples from Peking and Hankow, are all the characters used in their proper signification.” I.e. regional vernaculars like Teochew often use characters to write words that are not cognate to what those characters represent in the literary language. They may be used because their pronunciation is similar (phonetic gloss), or because they have a similar meaning (semantic gloss). An example of a phonetic gloss is the spelling 做年 for Teochew zo3ni5 (“how”).
This text is a good example for vernacular character usages that were in use at the time. For Teochew, the usages here are similar to those in late 19th/early 20th century Teochew songbooks (I’ve been keeping a list of examples I’ve observed on Chinese Wikisource) and other texts from that era. There was no standard for written vernaculars, but some of these usages go back to the Ming era and possibly even earlier (see 曾宪通 (1991). 明本潮州戏文所见潮州方言述略《方言》 1991 (1) : 10-29). Unfortunately this informal tradition of written Teochew is mostly gone today.
It is through a bit of a fluke that we have this example text in Teochew. Elsewhere in the dictionary, Williams used Amoy Hokkien to represent the Southern Min variety of Chinese. However, when it came to documenting not just the pronunciation of individual characters but an actual vernacular translation, “[t]he teachers at Amoy declared themselves unable to write their colloquial intelligibly.” Just like Teochew, there are Hokkien texts written in Chinese characters (their written traditions overlapped because these vernaculars are closely related and come from neighboring regions), but perhaps they did not agree on which variant characters to use, or did not think that they were sufficiently orthodox to warrant publication.
The base text is an extract from the Sacred Edit of the Kangxi Emperor 聖諭廣訓, an instructional text written in simple literary Chinese that was distributed throughout China to educate local populations on Confucian values. Local literati were supposed to hold public lectures explaining the text in their local vernaculars. The full text is available on Wikisource.
The Teochew (marked below with 潮) and English versions are from the Syllabic Dictionary (page XLII onwards, digitized by Harvard University Libraries). I have added a Pêng’im transcription and notes.
【文】孝者天之經地之義民之行也
【潮】大凡行孝個事。天理之常。人情之正。百姓之行爲也。
dua-huam heng-hao gai se. tiêng-li ze siên. nang-cêng ze zian. bêh-sên ze hêng-ui ia.
Now filial piety is a statute of heaven, a principle of earth, and an obligation of mankind.
行 hêng6 – literary reading, for meaning “conduct, behavior”; compare vernacular reading gian5, “to walk”
天 tiêng1 – literary reading; vernacular reading is tin1
【文】人不知孝父母
【潮】做子不曉行孝爹娘。
zo gian m-hiou hêng-hao dia-niê.
Do you, who are void of filial piety,
子 in this context is probably a semantic gloss for vernacular gian2, “child”. The character is otherwise read as ze2.
【文】獨不思父母愛子之心乎
【潮】做年不想着爹娘惜子兒個心性乎？
zo-ni m-siên-diêh dia-niê siêh ze-ri gai sim-sên hu?
ever reflect on the natural affection of parents for their children?
做年 zo3ni5 – “how”, phonetic gloss for vernacular word wihout a cognate in literary Chinese
子兒 ze2ri5 – “children”, 子 is pronounced as zv in this phrase
【文】方其未離懐抱
【潮】許幼時，未放開胸前抱在手時，
he iun-si, bhuê bang-kui hêng-zoin po do ciu si,
Even before you left the maternal bosom,
【文】饑不能自哺寒不能自衣
【潮】肚困儥得交己食，身寒儥得交己穿。
dou-kung bhoi-dig ga-gi ziah, sing-hang bhoi-dig ga-gi cêng.
if hungry, you could not have fed yourselves; if cold, you could not have put on your own clothes.
肚困 dou3kung3 – “hungry”
儥 bhoi6 – “unable”; phonetic gloss for vernacular word without literary cognate
交己 ga1gi7 – “oneself”; phonetic gloss for vernacular word without literary cognate
【文】為父母者審音聲察形色
【潮】做爹娘個人，聽子個音語聲說，看子個樣相。
zo dia-niê gai nang, tian gian gai im-ghe-sian-suêh, toin gian gai iên-siên.
A father or a mother judge by the voice, or look at the features of their children,
【文】笑則為之喜啼則為之憂
【潮】歡喜就兌子懽喜。啼哭就兌子煩惱。
huan-hi ziu duê gian huan-hi. ti-kao ziu duê gian huêng-lo.
whose smiles make them joyful, or whose weeping excites their grief.
兌 duê7 – “to follow”; phonetic gloss for vernacular word without literary cognate
【文】行動則跬步不離
【潮】行走舉動，爹娘腳步不敢行開。
gian-zao ge-dong, dia-niê ka-bou m-gan gian-kui.
When trying to talk, they leave not their steps;
【文】疾痛則寢食俱廢
【潮】病痛爹娘⿰目鬱食全儥。
bên-tong dia-niê ug ziah cuêng bhoi.
and when in sick or in pain, they can neither sleep nor eat in comfort,
⿰目鬱 – this character for ug8 “to sleep” is not yet encoded in Unicode. Justin Leung on Twitter goes into more detail about this particular word, its etymology, and how differently it has been represented in character form.
【文】以養以教至於成人
【潮】用飯飼大，用規矩教示。到能得𠉛就做人。
êng bung ci dua, êng gui-ge ga-si, gao lêng-dig X-ziu zo-nang
in order that they may nurture and teach them. When [their children] reach man’s estate,
【文】復為授家室
【潮】再該伊母子嬤致房室
zai gai i bho ze bhou di bang-sig
they see to their marriage,
嬤 bhou2 – “wife”, vernacular character
I’m not completely sure how to parse the Teochew version.
【文】謀生理百計經營心力俱瘁
【潮】尋事業百樣計算思想心事磨力全坪艱苦
cuê se-ngiêp bêh-iên goi-seng se-siên sim-se bhua-lag cuêng-pian gang-kou
and scheme for their livelihood by a hundred plans, in which they weary their minds and spend their strength.
【文】父母之徳實同昊天㒺極
【潮】爹娘個功勞真親像大天無底止。
dia-niê gai gong-lao zing cing-siên dua-tiêng bho doin-zi
Parental virtue is truly as limitless as high heaven!
【文】人子欲報親恩於萬一
【潮】做人個子欲報答爹娘功勞。於萬分中行一分。
zo-nang gai gian ain bo-dab dia-niê gong-lao, i bhuêng-hung dang hêng zêg-hung
A man who desires to recompense one in a myriad of the loving acts of his parents,
【文】自當内盡其心
【潮】交己應該在家盡子個心
ga-gi êng-gai do gê zing gian gai sim
must really devote to them his whole heart at home
【文】外竭其力
【潮】在外尅苦子個力。
do-ghua kag-kou gian gai lag
and exert all his strength abroad.
【文】謹身節用
【潮】惜身體儉銀錢。
siêh sing-toi kiêm ngeng-zin
He must care well for his body and be frugal in his expenses,
【文】以勤服勞
【潮】應該尅苦代父兄勞力。
êng-gai kag-kou toi bê-hian lao-lag
in order that he may diligently labor for them.
代 toi3 – “on behalf of”, also pronounced do7 “generation”, dai3 (literary)
【文】以隆孝養
【潮】應該滂沛孝敬［吃］爹娘食。
êng-gai pang-pai hao-gêng koih dia-niê ziah
To enable him to fully and filially nurture them,
吃 – I think this is should be 乞 “to give”
【文】毋博奕飲酒
【潮】不可跋錢着碁食酒。
m-ko buah-zin dêh-ki ziah-ziu
he must neither gamble nor get drunk,
跋 buah8 – “to gamble, fall”, vernacular reading; also pronounced buag8 to mean “to walk, travel”
着碁 dêh4ki5 – “to play chess”, 着 is pronounced deh4 in this context (see Dictionary of the Swatow Dialect), otherwise dieh8
【文】毋好勇鬭狠
【潮】不可好抖力相刣相爭。
m-ko haon dao-lag siên-tai siên-zên
he must neither love to quarrel,
好 haon3 – “fond of”; otherwise pronounced ho2 to mean “good”
刣 tai5 – “kill, slaughter”, vernacular character
【文】毋好貨財私妻子
【潮】不可貪心物件錢財私心嬤子
m-ko tam-sim muêh-gian zin-cai se-sim bhou-gian
nor desire to hoard wealth for the use of his wife and children.
【文】縱使儀文未備而誠慤
【潮】雖然是外面禮貌未到足，而孝心着實
sui-riêng si ghua-ming loi-mao bhuê gao-zog, re hao-sim diêh-sig
Though his manners and accomplishments may be defective, yet his heart must, at any rate, be thoroughly sincere.
【文】有餘推而廣之
【潮】有多多推論到曠曠大大個孝道。
u do-do tui-lung gao kuang-kuang dua-dua gai hao-dao
Let us enlarge a little on this principle.
【文】如曾子所謂
【潮】親像生曾孔子弟子所呾。
cing-siên sêng-zêng kong-ze di-ze so-dan
Tsangtsz’ speaks thus respecting it:
【文】居處不莊非孝
【潮】大家做⿰口匏不正即不是行孝。
dai-gê zo-X m-zian ziêg m-si hêng-hao
“It is unfilial to move and act without dignity;
【文】事君不忠非孝
【潮】服事王家不盡忠即不是行孝。
hog-se uang-gê m-zing-dong ziêg m-si hêng-hao
“it is unfilial to serve one’s prince disloyally;
【文】蒞官不敬非孝
【潮】做官不敬畏即不是行孝。
zo-guan m-gêng-ui ziêg m-si hêng-hao
“it is unfilial to fill an office without reverential care;
【文】朋友不信非孝
【潮】朋友無信實即不是行孝。
pêng-iu bho sing-sig ziêg m-si hêng-hao
“it is unfilial to act insincerely towards a friend;
【文】戰陣無勇非孝
【潮】相刣個地場無出力即不是行孝。
siên-tai gai di-diên bho cug-lag ziêg m-si hêng-hao
“[and finally], to turn a coward in battle is unfilial.”
【文】皆孝子分内之事也
【潮】攏總孝道人子本等心內個事也。
long-zong hao-dao ring-ze bung-dêng sim-lai gai se ia.
All these things are involved in the duty of a filial son.
Posted on 2024-02-23 00:00:00 +0000