Why is Cantonese called Cantonese and Vernacular?

Cantonese, also known as Cantonese, Cantonese, Cantonese, Cantonese dialect, and vernacular, is called Cantonese (or Yue) in English. It is mainly spoken in most of Guangdong Province, southeastern Guangxi Province, Hong Kong, Macau, and some overseas Chinese communities.

Cantonese includes many varieties, such as Wuchuan dialect and Danjia dialect. Different regions also have different dialects, such as: Guangzhou dialect, Nanfanshun dialect, Luoguang dialect, and Hong Kong dialect. There are several types of Cantonese, such as: Yongxun Cantonese (Nanning dialect), Wuzhou Cantonese (Wuzhou dialect), Gouluo Cantonese (Yulin dialect), Qinlian Cantonese (Qinlian dialect), etc.

Sub-Dialect:

Cantonese is the largest dialect in Guangxi. "Cantonese" includes many sub-dialects with their own characteristics, such as "Gulu Cantonese", "Siyi Cantonese", "Wannu'Guangxi'Pinghua'Pinghua'" with large pronunciation differences: it is a branch of Cantonese and has the characteristics of Cantonese. All the typical *** characteristics of the sub-dialect. According to legend, they came from the Han soldiers brought by "Di Qing".

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Zhuang: Gvangjsih Bouxcuengh Swcigih), referred to as Gui, hereinafter referred to as Guangxi, is an autonomous region in the Republic of China, with its capital Nanning. It is located in the west of South China, bordering the Beibu Gulf to the south and bordering Vietnam. Guangxi has the largest number of ethnic minorities in China, and its languages ??use Cantonese (vernacular), Guiliu Mandarin, Pinghua, Zhuang and various local ethnic minority languages

Standard Cantonese

Cantonese is a 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 long been used as the collective name for the Lingnan region. 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 Guangdong 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 into "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 spoken Cantonese. It usually uses the folk names of Guangdong: Cantonese, provincial and city dialect, and vernacular, while 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.

The Hong Kong Cantonese accent standard is derived from Cantonese, added to the local culture of Hong Kong, and gradually formed into a set of spoken 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, King of the Ming Dynasty

Xunri: meaning "yesterday", "Xunri, flowers and 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 often 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 across the country. In the past, it was said to be "cutting a taxi" to now it is a popular saying. "Hit."