Is Cantonese still spoken in Guangdong?
Table of Contents
- 1 Is Cantonese still spoken in Guangdong?
- 2 Why is Mandarin the official language of China and not Cantonese?
- 3 Is Cantonese an official language?
- 4 What is the difference between Cantonese and Guangdong?
- 5 Where does the Cantonese language come from?
- 6 What are the different types of Cantonese romanization?
Is Cantonese still spoken in Guangdong?
Cantonese remains today as a majority language in Guangdong and Guangxi, despite the increasing influence of Mandarin. Taishanese people may also be considered Cantonese but speak a distinct variety of Yue Chinese, Taishanese.
Why is Mandarin the official language of China and not Cantonese?
How did Mandarin become the official language? All of the official spoken languages were once dialects. Mandarin was the dialect spoken in the Northern regime and especially Beijing. At the time, Mandarin speakers did not necessarily outnumber other major dialects, mainly Cantonese and Wu, by much.
Is Cantonese an official language?
Translated to English, the post in traditional Chinese characters reads in part as: “The United Nations officially define Cantonese as a language, not a dialect, and it is recognised as one of the six leading languages in daily use, which are English, Chinese, Cantonese, Russian, French, Spanish and Arabic.
What dialect do they speak in Guangdong?
Cantonese
| Cantonese | |
|---|---|
| Region | Pearl River Delta of Guangdong, eastern Guangxi |
| Language family | Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Yue Yuehai Cantonese |
| Dialects | Guangzhou Xiguan Hong Kong Malaysian |
| Writing system | Written Cantonese Cantonese Braille Written Chinese |
Why Cantonese is not a language?
Cantonese is not considered another language per se, because Chinese characters unify these two languages in writing. In the absence of Chinese characters, they will be considered different languages today. I cannot think of other group of languages that experience such phenomenon.
What is the difference between Cantonese and Guangdong?
As “Cantonese” is a cultural concept and “Canton” is where the word derives from, “Canton” is a narrower geographical concept than “Guangdong”. It refers to the origin of Cantonese culture, that is, Guangzhou.
Where does the Cantonese language come from?
‘Standard Cantonese’) is a language within the Chinese (or Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (also known as Canton) and its surrounding area in Southeastern China. It is the traditional prestige variety of the Yue Chinese dialect group, which has over 80 million native speakers.
What are the different types of Cantonese romanization?
Cantonese romanization systems are based on the accent of Canton and Hong Kong, and have helped define the concept of Standard Cantonese. The major systems are: Jyutping, Yale, the Chinese government’s Guangdong Romanization, and Meyer–Wempe.
Why is Guangzhou called Guangdong in English?
As the promotion proceeded, the official English name of the city changed from “Canton” to “Guangzhou”, which is exactly the romanization of the city’s name in Mandarin Chinese. Not considering immigration from other provinces, Guangdong (also Mandarin romanization) itself is a multilingual province.