Examining Hakka Languages Through Western Materials

Abstract

This paper introduces and discusses three important sets of scholarly materials produced by Western missionaries on Hakka (the Basel Mission, the English Presbyterian Mission, and the Missions Étrangères de Paris). We provide a short review of the studies published on these materials during the last 20 years. We then give some examples of how these historical materials contributed to deepening our knowledge of modern colloquial Chinese. In conclusion, we assess the worth of these materials, while discussing their shortcomings, for the linguistic field.