Phonetic materials of Taishan dialect

Taishan dialect belongs to the Siyi dialect of Cantonese and is the representative language of Siyi dialect. In some contexts, Taishan dialect is synonymous with Siyi dialect. Siyi Cantonese is one of the most different dialects from Guangzhou Dialect in Cantonese system. They are mainly distributed in Xinhui, Taishan, Kaiping and Enping (formerly known as Siyi, later renamed Wuyi because of Heshan) in Wuyi area of Guangdong Province, China, as well as Jiangmen City, parts of Heshan, parts of Zhongshan, Doumen District of Zhuhai and overseas Chinese communities (especially in North America). Taishan dialect is the most influential branch of overflowing Cantonese.

Taishan dialect (Siyi dialect) is mainly distributed in Xinhui, Taishan, Kaiping and Enping counties (cities), Chinese mainland (formerly Siyi, later renamed Wuyi because of Heshan) and parts of Jiangmen and Heshan in Wuyi area of Guangdong. Chinese communities outside the mainland (especially in North America), such as Gary Locke, a former American ambassador who can't speak Chinese in news reports, can speak fluent Taishan dialect. Jiangmen city speaks vernacular, which has many pronunciation characteristics of Wuyi dialect.

According to linguists' research, Siyi dialect was formed in the Song Dynasty, when the descendants of local Guangfu people and a few Nanyue people merged with some Minnan people who went to the sea from Quanzhou, Fujian Province and moved to Siyi area by sea. In other words, Siyi dialect is a unique language with Cantonese as the main body and influenced and integrated by Minnan dialect. This can be proved from the pronunciation and vocabulary of Siyi dialect. In addition, Siyi dialect is similar to some Gan dialects, and the pronunciation of [h] is weakened by "tou" and "ding".