Lan-nang

Lan-nang, or more properly known as Lán-n?ng-ōe , is the Philippine of . The name "Lán-n?ng-ōe" means 'our people's language '. Its mother dialect is the Amoy dialect of Xiamen, China. Lan-nang is spoken among the Chinese residing in the Philippines. It is characterized by borrowings from , , and Cantonese languages. It is also known by its heavy usage of words which are considered as colloquial or localized forms found in dialects from Amoy and Choan-Chiu. About 592,200 people, or 98.7% of all Chinese in the Philippines speak it as their mother language. Although Lan-nang is not recognized in the linguistic academe, in this article, however, it is treated as a ''variant'' of the Amoy dialect, and not as a dialect, per se.

Phonetics

In some situations, Lan-nang is written in the Latin alphabet. With the direction of the Chinese Congress on World Evangelization-Philippines, an international organization of Overseas Chinese Christian churches around the world, romanization of Lan-nang is leaning highly on the Pe?h-ōe-jī system.

Initials

b, ch, chh, g, h, j, k, kh, l, m, n, ng, p, ph, s, t, th

Finals

*Vowels: a, i, u, e, o, o?
*Diphthongs: ai, au, ia, iu, io, ui, oa, oe
*Triphthongs: iau, oai
*Nasals: m, n, ng

Tones

Tones are expressed by diacritics; checked syllables are followed by the letter h. Where diacritics are not technically available, e.g. on some parts of the internet, tone numbers may be used instead.

# a
# á
# à
# ah
# ?
# ā
# h

Examples for the seven tones: chhiū 象 , pà 豹 , bé 馬 , ti 豬 , ch?a 蛇 , ah 鴨 , lk 鹿

Sample phrases

;Hello!:Dí hō, dí hō?
;I don't know.:Guá zai ya?.
;Do you know how to speak Lan-nang?:Dí eh-hiao kong Lan-nang-oé b??
;Where is the soap?:H?-gé sá-bun tí-to-lò'?
:Note: 'sá-bun', though sounds similar to the Tagalog ''sabon'', is not borrowed from that language. In , which is a variant of Hokkien that is not influenced by Tagalog, it is pronounced as ''sap-b?n''. Etymologically speaking, perhaps both Taiwanese and Tagalog ultimately derive ''sap-b?n''/''sabon'' from the Romance languages that had brought the concept of soap to them .
;Can you get me a glass?:Dí e zuì-dit ká-oá tuè ji pui bo?
:Note: "Ji pui" literally means "one glass" and fluent speakers of the language use this. However, the Tagalog word "baso" is also sometimes used.
;Do you eat noodles?:Dí e ziá' mì b??
:Note: Some people would use the Tagalog "pansit" instead of "mi" for noodles. But this does not happen often.
;Do you eat sweet potatoes?: Dí e ziá' ka-mú-ti b??
:Note: 'ka-mú-ti' is borrowed from Tagalog ''kamote'', and ultimately from Spanish ''camote''.
;When are you going to China?:Dí ti-si beh'-kh? Tňg-soa??
:Note: 'Tňg-soa?', meaning China, is the colloquial term for 'Tiong-kok '. In the Lan-nang variant of Hokkien, the former is more used.
;His friend is in the hospital:Yi e siong-hó ti pi?-chù.
:Note: 'siong-hó' , meaning "friend", is the colloquial term for 'pêng-iú' , while 'pi?-chù' , meaning "hospital" or "house for the sick", is the colloquial term for 'yi-?'.
;Where are you going?:Dí beh'-khí to-lò'?

Geographic Spread

Lan-nang-ōe is spoken throughout the Philippines where there are significant numbers of Hokkien Chinese. Cities in the Philippines that have a significant number of Chinese include Metro Manila, Angeles City, Davao City, Vigan, Ilocos Sur, San Fernando City, Pampanga, Ilagan, Isabela, Cauayan City, Cabatuan, Isabela, , Cebu City, Iloilo City, Bacolod City, Cagayan de Oro City, and Zamboanga City.

Uniqueness

Although Lan-nang-ōe is generally mutually comprehensible with , including Taiwanese, certain words in Lan-nang-ōe are only used in the Philippines. Often, this results in confusion in Lan-nang-ōe speakers, especially in China. Other aspects of Lan-nang-ōe's uniqueness is its massive use of Hokkien colloquial words . Because there is an absence of a central agency governing Lan-nang-ōe, various subvarieties have developed. In Cebu, for example, instead of Tagalog, Cebuano words are also incorporated. The vast majority of the Chinese who came to the Philippines had their ancestral roots in China, so Lan-nang-ōe is closer to the Hokkien dialects spoken in China.