Pontianak Teochew

Pontianak Teochew (Chinese: 坤甸潮州話; Peng'im: kung¹ diêng⁶ dio⁵ ziu¹ uê; Pe̍h-ūe-jī: Khun-tiān Tiô-tsiu-uē; Indonesian: Bahasa Tiociu Pontianak) is a dialect of Teochew primarily spoken by the Chinese community in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Pontianak Teochew was originally spoken by the Teochew people who migrated from the Chaoshan region in Guangdong, China. These migrants and their descendants constitute the majority of the Chinese population in Pontianak and its surrounding areas. Today, however, it serves as the lingua franca for the entire Chinese community in Pontianak. Pontianak Teochew has also become a common trade and marketplace language in Pontianak and its surrounding areas, even among non-Teochew Chinese communities, such as the Hakkas. The Teochew people primarily dominate the city center and the southern suburbs in Kubu Raya, while the Hakkas are more concentrated in the northern suburbs across the Kapuas River and neighboring areas, such as Mempawah Regency.

Unlike in Java, where the use of Chinese languages has declined due to language shift and past discouragement by the Indonesian government, the Chinese dialects spoken in Pontianak and West Kalimantan remain well-preserved. Pontianak Teochew continues to be spoken across generations of the Chinese community in Pontianak, including by younger people. It is used in schools and markets, although there is a gradual shift toward Indonesian, particularly among the youth. Code-mixing between Pontianak Teochew and Indonesian is also a common phenomenon. Pontianak Teochew has undergone significant assimilation into the local languages, making it significantly different from the original Teochew dialect spoken in Guangdong. This variation is primarily the result of language assimilation processes involving Pontianak Malay, the native language of the area, and Indonesian, the national language. Additionally, Pontianak Teochew has been influenced by other Chinese varieties, such as Hakka. Many Chinese people in Pontianak are generally multilingual, speaking not only Teochew but also Hakka, Mandarin, Pontianak Malay, and Indonesian.