Hakka (Meixian)

Hakka is a Sinitic language from the tri-province border region between southern Jiangxi, northern Guangdong, and western Fujian. Due to subsequent migrations, there are also Hakka speakers scattered around various other provinces and regions of South China, even as far west as Sichuan, and Hakka Chinese make up a prominent diaspora in Southeast Asia as well as the Americas.

The name Hakka for this language is actually of relatively recent origin, and it became the dominant name for the language after Hakka speakers migrated further southwards into Yue Cantonese region, where the name (literally meaning "guest families") came to be used to referred to speakers of this particular Chinese variety from the northern Guangdong/western Fujian/southern Jiangxi region to distinguish them and their language variety from the local language variety. Over time, most Hakka Chinese took up this term as their own endonym, though in parts of southern Jiangxi (where the Hakka originated), many people who speak the Hakka language just refer to themselves as the locals, as they are not really the "guest families" to that region and there is no other local community with whom to contrast themselves.

Within the core Hakka region (where Hakka is spoken as the primary local language), the Meixian (梅縣) area of Meizhou prefecture in northeastern Guangdong is often considered to be the most prototypical and representative Hakka variety; the Sixian Hakka spoken in Taiwan is also very similar to Meixian Hakka. The majority of Hakka varieties outside the core Hakka tri-province border region such as in Hainan, Sichuan, Guangxi or outside of China stem from migrations out of the northeastern Guangdong region, so learning a Hakka variety of this type (whether Meixian, Sixian, or another similar variety) will give the most coverage in communication ability.

Rimes

Plain Rimes

Nasal Rimes

Checked Rimes

Tones