{"id":4673,"date":"2024-04-14T23:56:58","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T06:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/troubadourworks.com\/tiandi\/meotw\/?p=4673"},"modified":"2024-04-20T00:07:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T07:07:25","slug":"yueyu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/troubadourworks.com\/tiandi\/meotw\/2024\/04\/14\/yueyu\/","title":{"rendered":"Yu\u00e8y\u01d4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\t\tYu\u00e8y\u01d4<\/span>\n\t\t\t(Yu\u00e8\u00b7y\u01d4\n\t\t\tYue \u00b7 Language [\u2192 [Cantonese]]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u7ca4\u8bed\n\t\t\t\u7cb5\u8a9e<\/span>)<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t \u2190 Tap\/click to show\/hide the \u201cflashcard\u201d<\/span>\n<\/h3>\n\n

This week\u2019s MEotW, \u201cYu\u00e8y\u01d4<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(Yu\u00e8\u00b7y\u01d4\n\t\t\tYue \u00b7 Language [\u2192 [Cantonese]]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u7ca4\u8bed\n\t\t\t\u7cb5\u8a9e<\/span>)<\/span>\u201d,<\/i> is a term that over the years one may occasionally have come across in the Chinese fields. For example, it used to be used on publication download pages on jw.org<\/a>, where it has been replaced by a term that is more familiar to many: \u201cGu\u01cengd\u014dnghu\u00e0<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(Gu\u01ceng\u00b7d\u014dng\u00b7hu\u00e0\n\t\t\t{Wide \u00b7 East \u2192 [Canton]} \u00b7 Speech \u2192<\/span> [Cantonese speech\/language]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u5e7f\u4e1c\u8bdd\n\t\t\t\u5ee3\u6771\u8a71<\/span>)<\/span>\u201d<\/i> (\u201cCantonese\u201d).<\/p>\n

The Language(s)<\/h4>\n

Regarding \u201cYu\u00e8y\u01d4<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(Yu\u00e8\u00b7y\u01d4\n\t\t\tYue \u00b7 Language [\u2192 [Cantonese]]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u7ca4\u8bed\n\t\t\t\u7cb5\u8a9e<\/span>)<\/span>\u201d,<\/i> the Wikipedia article on Yue Chinese<\/a> provides this summary:<\/p>\n

\nYue<\/strong> (Cantonese pronunciation: [jy\u02d0t\u031a\u02e8]) is a branch of the Sinitic languages primarily spoken in Southern China, particularly in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi (collectively known as Liangguang).<\/p>\n

The term Cantonese<\/strong> is often used to refer to the whole branch, but linguists prefer to reserve the name Cantonese for the variety used in Guangzhou (Canton), Wuzhou (Ngchow), Hong Kong and Macau, which is the prestige dialect of the group. Taishanese, from the coastal area of Jiangmen (Kongmoon) located southwest of Guangzhou, was the language of most of the 19th-century emigrants from Guangdong to Southeast Asia and North America. Most later migrants have been speakers of Cantonese.<\/p>\n

Yue varieties are not mutually intelligible with other varieties of Chinese,[source]<\/a><\/sup> and they are not mutually intelligible within the Yue family either.[source]<\/a><\/sup>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This Wikipedia page also cites Ethnologue<\/a> as saying that the number of native speakers worldwide of Yu\u00e8y\u01d4<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(Yu\u00e8\u00b7y\u01d4\n\t\t\tYue \u00b7 Language [\u2192 [Cantonese]]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u7ca4\u8bed\n\t\t\t\u7cb5\u8a9e<\/span>)<\/span> was recently about \u201c86 million (2022)[source]<\/a><\/sup>\u201d. That\u2019s not as many as Mandarin has (no other language\/language branch currently has as many native speakers as Mandarin does), but that\u2019s still a lot of people.<\/p>\n

Regarding how Cantonese relates to other Chinese speech varieties<\/a>, note the following excerpt from the MEotW post<\/a> on \u201cy\u01d4z\u00fa<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(y\u01d4\u00b7z\u00fa\n\t\t\tlanguage \u00b7 {ethnic group \u2192 [group of things with common characteristics] \u2192<\/span> [group]}<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\u8bed\u65cf\n\t\t\t\u8a9e\u65cf<\/span>)<\/span>\u201d:<\/i><\/p>\n

\nIt\u2019s interesting to note that according to Prof. [Victor H.] Mair\u2019s article<\/a> (p. 737) mentioned above, not only are Mandarin and Cantonese separate languages (not just \u201cdialects\u201d), it would be more accurate to consider them to be in separate language branches<\/em>, as defined by the language classisification scheme he uses:<\/p>\n

\nCantonese and Mandarin are separate languages. Cantonese is not a \u2018dialect\u2019 of Mandarin or of Hanyu<\/i>, and it is grossly erroneous to refer to it as such. Since Cantonese and Mandarin are separate languages (or, perhaps more accurately, separate branches), it is wrong to refer to them as \u2018dialects.\u2019 The same holds for Hokkien, Shanghainese, and so forth.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That Mandarin and Cantonese should really be considered to be in separate language branches<\/em> emphasizes to us politically neutral Mandarin field language-learners that we must not repeat or be misled by the politically motivated erroneous assertion that Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, etc. are just dialects of \u201cChinese\u201d. That might be even more wrong than saying that English, French, Spanish, etc. are just dialects of \u201cEuropean\u201d!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some Geography<\/h4>\n

To clarify regarding some of the places related to \u201cYu\u00e8y\u01d4<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(Yu\u00e8\u00b7y\u01d4\n\t\t\tYue \u00b7 Language [\u2192 [Cantonese]]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u7ca4\u8bed\n\t\t\t\u7cb5\u8a9e<\/span>)<\/span>\u201d:<\/i><\/p>\n