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Dialogue between Language and Space: An Appellative Study of the Space in Hakka Unit-type Tulous in Zhao'an County, Fukien
Yen-Ming Huang
Associate Professor, Department of Architecture and Interior Design, National Yunlin University of Science & Technology.
Chi-Yun Liang
Graduate Student, Department of Architecture and Interior Design, National Yunlin University of Science & Technology.
Language is the medium of communication. It is a product of culture, and produces culture. It reflects the
cultural background and the ways of thinking of an ethnic group. In the process of ethnic migration, language changes because of interaction of different ethnic groups. The shift of spatial appellation reflects the change of language and the transition of spaces and spatial cognition as well.
Zhao’an County, subordinated to Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province and located at the border between Holo and
Hakka areas, reveals compatibly both Holo and Hakka cultures. Hakka in Zao’an dwells at the northern mountain area in the County. There are “unit-type tulous” spreading in Zhao’an County and adjacent areas. A tulou of the type is composed with several units. Units are separated with thick rammed earth partition walls. Each household unit owns the space extending from the ground up to the roof of a unit. The ownership of a residential household in unit-type tulous is demarcative. It is quite different from the ownership situation in corridor-type tulous.
Both the geographic location between Holo and Hakka and the critical epoch between traditional era and contemporary are represented in the language and space in tulous. The objective of this essay is to investigate the transformation of spaces and space appellations of tulous in Zhao’an Hakka area. Four topics are included:
1. What characteristics do the Hakka tulous have? How do the residents call the spaces of yulous? 2. What space cognitions and concepts can be excavated from the space appellations? 3. What is the significance of geography and time can be interpreted in the space transformation of tulous? 4. What is the significance of geography and time can be interpreted in the appellative transformation of tulous? The study finds: 1. Some special space appellations are particular, e.g. "peng dong" as upper floors, and “tsha-kong” as toilet
room. They display particular spatial concepts of Zhao’an Hakka. 2. Some space appellations and their pronunciations collected at the villages near Holo area are affected by
Holo dialect, e.g. "leu-lid-piang" is called "lou-nei-cheng", and "fi-ziang" is pronounced as "shui-jing". The phenomena represent that Zao’an is located at Holo-Hakka mixed area.
3. Cooking space is originally called "zoo-ha". The original appellation of cooking space "zoo-ha" is gradually replaced by "cu-fong". It reflects that the Hakka dialect has been affected by Mandarin dialect.
4. The alteration of tulou spaces are popular, e.g. residential unit is added a toilet space, called "ced-su" or "bbui-sen-geen" instead of "tsha-kong", or is demarcated a space for sleeping called "fong-geen". It represents that tulous are gradually updated.
Keywords: Hakka, Zhao’an Hakka, unit-type tulous, space appellation