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Taiwanese Hakka is a language group consisting of Hakka dialects spoken in Taiwan, and mainly used by people of Hakka ancestry. Taiwanese Hakka is divided into five main dialects: Sixian, Hailu, Dabu, Raoping, and Zhao'an.[5] The most widely spoken of the five Hakka dialects in Taiwan are Sixian and Hailu.[6] The former, possessing 6 tones, originates from Meizhou, Guangdong, and is mainly spoken in Miaoli, Pingtung and Kaohsiung, while the latter, possessing 7 tones, originates from Haifeng and Lufeng, Guangdong, and is concentrated around Hsinchu.[5][6] Taiwanese Hakka is also officially listed as one of the national languages of Taiwan. In addition to the five main dialects, there are the northern Xihai dialect and the patchily-distributed Yongding, Fengshun, Wuping, Wuhua, and Jiexi dialects.
| Taiwanese Hakka | |
|---|---|
| toiˇ vanˇ hagˋ gaˊ ngiˊ / toiˇ vanˇ hagˋ fa Thòi-vàn Hak-kâ-ngî / Thòi-vàn Hak-fa | |
| Pronunciation | Sixian: [tʰoi˩ van˩ hak̚˨ fa˥] Hailu: [tʰoi˥ van˥ hak̚˨ fa˩] Dapu: [tʰoi˧ van˩˩˧ kʰak̚˨˩ fa˥˧] Raoping: [tʰoi˧ van˥ kʰak̚˥ fa˨˦] Zhao'an: [tʰai˧ ban˥˧ kʰa˥ su˥] |
| Native to | Taiwan |
| Region | Taoyuan, Miaoli, Hsinchu, Pingtung, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Nantou, Changhua, Yunlin, Yilan, Hualien and Taitung |
| Ethnicity | Hakka Taiwanese |
Native speakers | 2,580,000 (2015)[1] |
| Dialects | |
| Latin (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Taiwan[a] |
| Regulated by | Hakka Affairs Council |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| ISO 639-6 | htia |
| Glottolog | None |
| Linguasphere | 79-AAA-gap |
 Proportion of residents aged 6 or older using Hakka at home in Taiwan, in 2010 | |
In 2014, 4.2 million Taiwanese self-identified as Hakka, accounting for 18% of the population.[7] The Hakka Affairs Council has designated 70 townships and districts across Taiwan where the Hakka account for more than a third of the total population, including 18 in Miaoli County, 11 in Hsinchu County, and another 8 in Pingtung, Hualien, and Taoyuan counties each.[7]
With the introduction of martial law in 1949, the KMT-led government repressed Hakka, along with Taiwanese Hokkien and other indigenous languages in favor of Mandarin.[8] In 1988, the Hakka community established the Restore My Mother Tongue Movement to advocate for the right to use and preserve the Hakka language.[9] Language restrictions were relaxed after 1987 with the lifting of martial law and ensuing democratic reforms.[8] In 2012, the ministry-level Hakka Affairs Council was established to stem the language's decline in Taiwan.[10] In December 2017, the Legislative Yuan designated Hakka as an official national language of Taiwan.[11]
While Hakka has official status in Taiwan, it has seen ongoing decline due to a language shift to the more dominant Taiwanese Mandarin and Taiwanese Hokkien.[12] The number of Hakka speakers in Taiwan has declined by 1.1% per year, particularly among youth.[10] In 2016, only 22.8% of self-identifying Hakkas aged 19 to 29 spoke the language.[13] Today, Taiwanese Hakka tends to be used within families and within local communities, which has reduced intergenerational transmission.[12] An estimated 2 million Hakkas now self-identify as Hoklo.[12] Furthermore, the great diversity of Hakka dialects used throughout Taiwan has impeded standardization of Hakka for teaching.[12]