How did Cantonese originate and develop?

Cantonese, generally called vernacular, commonly known as Cantonese, is called Cantonese in English (the name foreigners call Cantonese). The correct name is [Cantonese dialect]. It is a language phenomenon among the seven major dialects of Chinese that is more complex. A dialect that retains the characteristics of ancient pronunciation, has many ancient words, and has less internal differences. Distributed in most areas of Guangdong and southeastern Guangxi, represented by Cantonese dialect. Cantonese can be said to preserve the earliest "Mandarin" in my country.

Formation and Origin

To discuss the place where Cantonese was formed, we must first understand where Cantonese comes from. Some people think that Cantonese comes from the ancient Lingnan "Baiyue" language, but this is not true. Cantonese does retain some elements of the ancient Lingnan "Baiyue" language, but its main source is the "Yayan" in the ancient Central Plains. Today's Cantonese language has a wide influence, and many TV series have added a lot of Cantonese humorous plots, such as "Wulin Gaiden"

The basis of Yayan is the original Chinese language used by the Chinese tribal alliance headed by the Yellow Emperor. By the Zhou Dynasty, it developed into the national dialect in the Central Plains. It can be said to be the earliest "Mandarin" in my country. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, each vassal state had different dialects, but Yayan was used in official interactions, literati lectures, and sacrificial activities. Confucius once said: "The elegant words of Zi are all elegant words in poems, books, and etiquette." The Qin Dynasty conquered the land of "Baiyue" and recruited the fugitives from the original six countries, as well as their son-in-laws and Jia people to work as "cultivators" in Lingnan. ". These settlers "come from all over the world" and must use elegant language to communicate with each other. However, because the settlers worked alone in the fields, their language was only spoken within the villages and did not spread throughout the Lingnan region. Until Zhao Tuo established the Kangnan Kingdom, he also adopted the costumes and living customs of the Baiyue indigenous people and spoke the Baiyue indigenous language. It can be seen that Yayan is not popular in Lingnan, but there are only a few small "Yayan Islands". The spread of Yayan in Lingnan began after the Western Han Dynasty brought peace to the Nanyue Kingdom. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up the "Jiaozhi Governor's Department" to supervise each county. The Eastern Han Dynasty withdrew the Jiaozhi Governor's Department and established Jiaozhou. Both the Jiaozhi Governor's Department and Jiaozhou were Han political powers, and official communication must use elegant language. The Jiaozhi Governor's Office and the administrative office of Jiaozhou were located in Guangxin most of the time, and Yayan was first used in Guangxin. Guangxin was also an important trading town in the early days of Lingnan. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent envoys from Xuwen and Hepu to open the Maritime Silk Road. They used silk, porcelain, mixed silk, etc. to buy back overseas treasures such as pearls, biglaze, and strange stones, passing through the Nanliu River, Beiliu River, and Jianjiang River. ——The two trade channels of the Nanjiang River enter Guangxin, and then are transported to the Central Plains via the Hejiang River and the Xiaoshui River. The elegant language introduced from the Central Plains gradually became popular in this area through commercial activities.

Guangxin was also the early cultural center of Lingnan. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, a large number of literati and scholars used this place as their base to carry out cultural activities and set up libraries to teach students. The most prominent among them are the Confucian scholars Chen Yuan and Shi Xie. Chen Yuan was known as the "Linghai Confucian". In his later years, he returned to Guangxin to run a school and became one of the pioneers of Lingnan culture. Shang Xie served as the governor of Jiaozhi County for more than 40 years, and was once the "Dong Supervisor of Seven Counties". Many scholars from the Central Plains admired his name and came to rely on him. They traveled to Jiaozhi, Guangxin and other places to give lectures. What these literati used when spreading Chinese culture in the Central Plains was, of course, elegant language with Chinese characters as recording symbols. When the indigenous people learned Chinese culture and Chinese characters, they also learned Yayan. The languages ??of these indigenous peoples were originally very different, they could not communicate with each other, and they had no writing. Therefore, in addition to using Yayan when communicating with the Han people, they also invariably relied on Yayan when communicating with each other. In this way, Yayan became the synonym of each indigenous tribe, just like the vassal states used Yayan in their interactions during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, forming a bilingual system. They used their own mother tongue within their own tribes and used Yayan in external interactions. Yayan. At the same time, some elements of the ancient Baiyue language were also absorbed by the language of Han immigrants, gradually forming Cantonese, a dialect of Chinese.

Standard Cantonese

Cantonese is a tonal language belonging to the Chinese family of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is widely used in Guangdong, Guangxi, China, Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia, as well as among Chinese communities in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia. Its name comes from the "Nanyue Kingdom" in the Lingnan region of ancient China ("Southern Guangdong Kingdom" in "Hanshu"). In order to distinguish "Yue" from the Wu-speaking areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Guangdong and Guangxi now use "Guangdong" as the official character, specifically referring to Guangdong and Guangdong. Therefore, Yue opera and Cantonese opera do not refer to the same thing. In addition, "Guangdong" has also been used as the collective name for the Lingnan region for a long time. The two Guangxi are called "Two Guangdong" respectively, Guangdong is called "Eastern Guangdong", and Guangxi is called "Western Guangdong". Hainan Island has long been an administrative unit under Guangdong Province, so it is also included in the historical concept of "Guangdong".

It was not until the Republic of China that "Guangdong" narrowed its scope to specifically refer to Guangdong Province. Therefore, in different historical periods, "Guangdong" can be divided into a broad sense (Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan) and a narrow sense (referring only to Guangdong Province). "Eastern Guangdong" and "Western Guangdong" have completely different scopes of reference in different historical periods. The origin of Cantonese was finalized long before the initial separation of Guangdong and Guangxi in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, from a historical and cultural perspective, "Cantonese" should be understood as "Lingnan" in a broad sense, rather than "Guangdong."

In terms of linguistic classification, northern Chinese scholars and some There are differences between Guangdong, Guangxi and Western scholars. One theory is that Cantonese is a Chinese language that has been fused with Old South Vietnamese; the other is that Old South Vietnamese has been combined with Chinese elements to become a completely new language. The former regards Cantonese as a dialect of the single language Chinese due to cultural and political considerations; while the opponents, based on the political stance of the Lingnan region, believe that Cantonese is one of the Chinese languages ??and an independent language. Both have their own linguistic basis.

Cantonese

Formerly known as Cantonese, it is also known as provincial dialect and vernacular. Chinese officials generally call it Guangzhou dialect and standard Cantonese. Cantonese is the standard pronunciation of Cantonese and is also the main form of spoken language. The Xiguan accent in the old town of Guangzhou is generally regarded as authentic, but now the Xiguan accent has almost been lost. The province usually uses the pronunciation included in the "Guangzhou Phonetic Dictionary" (1983) as the standard. Cantonese is composed of Cantonese pronunciation, Cantonese vocabulary, and Cantonese grammar. Cantonese in the broad sense is mainly popular in the Pearl River Delta and Guangxi Cantonese-speaking areas of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, and overseas Chinese communities with Cantonese immigrants. Cantonese in the narrow sense refers to the Cantonese spoken in the central city of Guangzhou, while Guangzhou is closely related to Foshan, Zhongshan, Wuzhou, The accents of Hong Kong and Macau are roughly the same. Some native Cantonese speakers can write Cantonese vernacular. Influenced by the economy and culture of Guangzhou (the capital of Guangdong Province), residents in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong can all speak Cantonese with an accent. There are also Cantonese-speaking residents in some places in eastern and northern Guangdong. Cantonese is the lingua franca of the province, and many Cantonese can speak more than two mother tongues.

Some people point out that it is inappropriate to use "Cantonese" to refer to accents outside Guangzhou (including Hong Kong and Macao Cantonese). The so-called "Cantonese" is also unreasonable because Cantonese was not invented by Guangzhou people. The current Cantonese dialect was developed by businessmen from various places doing business in Guangzhou, so it is correct to use "Cantonese". When foreigners were doing business in Guangzhou, they mistakenly equated the provincial capital (today's Guangzhou) with "Canton" in Guangdong (the current Canton Fair in English is "Canton Fair"), and translated Cantonese and Cantonese as "Cantonese". In fact, Guangdong and Guangzhou are not the same. The same concept, so "Cantonese" should be translated as "Guangzhou dialect" to meet the original meaning. Cantonese has long been an academic name, while Cantonese is just a common name. Hong Kong academic circles still call it Cantonese. Just like calling Hokkien dialect Hokkien dialect, calling Cantonese dialect Cantonese is a folk speaking habit. However, since there are three main dialects in Guangdong: Cantonese, Chaoshan, and Hakka, and these three dialects are completely different, it is really far-fetched to call it Cantonese. Moreover, the provincial capital (today's Guangzhou) is called "Canton", and the Canton Fair was originally the Guangzhou Trade Fair, so the public still thinks "Cantonese" corresponds to "Cantonese", and "Standard Cantonese" corresponds to "Cantonese" or "Standard Cantonese".

In addition to words in Cantonese, Cantonese also absorbs many words from Teochew and Hakka. For example, "thirst" is pronounced as "dry mouth", "dry throat" or " Dry mouth". In addition, Guangzhou is also a gathering place for foreigners, and there are many foreign words, such as strawberry, strawberry, modern, etc., which are the same as Hong Kong. There are also some original words in Guangzhou, such as Huangdog (earthworm) and Tangwei (dragonfly). Cantonese often likes to use the word "good" when describing something as exaggerated. Such as: So big, so happy, I like it so much....

Hong Kong Cantonese

Hong Kong Cantonese (also called Hong Kong Cantonese or Hong Kong dialect, relative to Hong Kong English), formerly Hong Kong does not have an official name for the local Cantonese spoken language. It usually uses the folk names of Guangdong: Cantonese, provincial dialect, and vernacular. However, Hong Kong officials only call it Cantonese. Before the 1970s, local Cantonese was a mixture of Cantonese accents from various regions. For example, "Sister Ma" was called "Sister Ma" according to Shunde pronunciation, but it tended to be based on Cantonese dialect. Since the 1980s, "Cantonese" has been adopted by the Hong Kong government as the standard term for local Cantonese spoken language, while names such as Cantonese, provincial dialect, and vernacular have gradually withdrawn from formal occasions.

People who used to refer to Cantonese as Cantonese were mainly immigrants from other provinces (including Taiwan). They called the Cantonese spoken by Cantonese people as Cantonese. At the same time, when people learned Cantonese from Hong Kong, it was obviously lazi.

Hong Kong’s Cantonese accent standard is derived from Cantonese, added to Hong Kong’s local culture, and slowly formed into a set of spoken-language languages ??with Hong Kong characteristics. Hong Kong is also a British colony, so there are many foreign language vocabulary, and Hong Kong people are also accustomed to using a mixture of Chinese and English. Cantonese is one of the official languages ??of Hong Kong. Internal government communications and announcements are often conducted in Cantonese and English. Broadcast media generally have Cantonese channels. Although there are many speakers of Hong Kong Cantonese and its coverage is very wide, Hong Kong Cantonese is only regarded as a spoken variant of Cantonese. Even though there is the so-called Cantonese pronunciation movement in Hong Kong, it has not yet been adopted as an accent standard.

Cantonese retains many ancient Chinese words that have disappeared in modern standard Chinese, such as:

Qu: it means "he", now also called "qu", 'qu so-called Xiaoling is a ditty sung by Gai Shijing. 'Qu Lv' by Jide, Ming Dynasty

Looking for the sun: meaning "yesterday", "Looking for the sun and looking for the flowers without saying a word (Cheng Gai, Song Dynasty)"

When: "When "It means, "When will the bright moon come (Song Dynasty poem Su Shi's "Shui Tiao Ge Tou")"

Pray: - Request] gods and Buddhas\praying words are mostly left by our ancestors and do not need to be thought through. Just talk about it and forget about it after socializing.

Please tell me something, just say it casually; speak without thinking.

嬦嬬: means "chatting", now the homophone is often used to write "Qinggai"

Yaguang: the original meaning is "the cabin on the cliff", which is extended to mean "danger" Meaning, today the homonym "yayan" is commonly used to express it

English and other foreign words

Due to historical reasons in Guangzhou, many words are influenced by English, such as: the ball is called "wave" ( Ball), small shops are called "Store", taxis are called "Taxi"... However, these words are rarely seen in the mainland, and have gradually developed into words unique to the Pearl River area. However, the word "taxi" has spread almost all over the country. In the past, it was said to be "cutting a taxi" to now it is a popular saying. "Hit."

Pay the bill

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Let me explain:

China has a vast land and rich resources, and cultural differences are It is inevitable that just like "paying the bill" means settling the bill, settling the bill does not mean "paying the bill". When and how to settle the bill are the primary issues in buying and selling. In many places, it is still customary to pay before purchasing, just to prevent individual consumers from defaulting on their bills. "Paying the bill" means treating others with integrity, consuming first and settling the bill later. Whoever becomes a scapegoat loses because of his or her character. It is said that the folk customs in Guangdong are simple and honest, which can be seen from the "paying the bill" that has been popular for many years.

Whenever Cantonese people meet up with relatives and friends to have tea and dinner in restaurants, the checkout is always "busy" for a while, because the host and the guests will politely fight over the bill to pay. Cantonese people generally refer to checkout as "paying the bill". What is the reason?

Some people from other provinces think that "pay the bill" in Cantonese means that the host does not want the guests to take away the bill, so he deliberately buries the bill first. Some people also think that "paying the bill" is actually a variation of "paying the bill". Whenever you check out after a meal, the waiter will hand the bill to the customer, and the customer will pay as if he paid the bill, so it is called "Pay the bill". In fact, this is completely a misunderstanding, and it is also because people from other provinces do not understand the multiple meanings of the word "bury" in Cantonese. In Mandarin, the word "bury" generally only means to cover up or hide, but in Cantonese, it also means integration and settlement. For example, when a store settles its business volume for the whole day before closing at night, it is called "bury". "Pay the bill"; when a project or business is about to be completed, it is called "burying the end"; when you go to a restaurant to have tea and eat and pay the bill, you will ask the waiter to "pay the bill" or "look at the number". Simply put, it is the end of calculating the various expenses. It means making a list. In the old days, there was no bill at all for drinking tea. The waiter was called, and the waiter counted the used utensils, "buried the number" and "looked at the number" according to the plate. After doing the mental calculation immediately, he loudly reported to the cashier and said, "Open it and take it." "Stay" (five fingers, representing fifty cents), "Open Thursday" (seven cents and four cents), and customers walk to the cashier to settle on their own.

In addition, the word "bury" in Cantonese also means to be close. For example, when a train enters a station, it is called "bury the station"; it also means to close, such as "burying the mouth" of a wound (the wound heals); It means to enter, such as "bury the seat" (to sit down at the table), "to bury the bar" (to be unable to enter the topic, and to talk without speculation); it also means to gather and group, such as "bury the pile" (to make friends and form a party).

The subtlety of "bury" in Cantonese is that in addition to being a verb, it can also be used as an auxiliary verb, such as "行bury徟" (walk over), "PUSH bury go" ( Push it inside), sit down (sit closer), invade it and play (let him play with it), and even scold it (even scold him together).

In addition, "bury" can also be used as a conjunction, such as "I bury you together" (me and you); it can also be used as a preposition, such as "shrinking the corners of the head" (shrinking corners), " 锐Bury together” (stick together), hide behind the door (hide behind the door). Precisely because the word "buried" in Cantonese has the ability to change skills like Sun Wukong, people from other provinces may not be able to master and use it at the first time.