Yuehai Yue

Last updated

Yuehai
粵海
Native to China
Region Pearl River Delta, Guangdong
Native speakers
13 million? (1998) [1]
Dialects
  • Guangfu
  • Sanyi
  • Xiangshan
  • Guanbao
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
Glottolog yueh1236
Linguasphere 79-AAA-ma
Ping and Yue dialect map.svg
The four main Yuehai languages, at right, are shaded in pink

Yuehai (Chinese :粵海; Jyutping :jyut6 hoi2; pinyin :Yuèhǎi) is the main branch of Yue Chinese, spoken in the Pearl River Delta of the province of Guangdong, as well as Hong Kong and Macau. It is commonly called Cantonese, though that name is more precisely applied to the Guangzhou topolect of Yuehai.

Topolects

Yuehai is divided into four principal dialects, each of which contains various subdialects. Cantonese is the prestige form.

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Cantonese cuisine Chinese regional cuisine from Guangdong

Cantonese or Yue cuisine is the cuisine of Guangdong province of China, particularly the provincial capital Guangzhou, and the surrounding regions in the Pearl River Delta including Hong Kong and Macau. Strictly speaking, Cantonese cuisine is the cuisine of Guangzhou or of Cantonese speakers, but it often includes the cooking styles of all the speakers of Yue Chinese languages in Guangdong. Scholars categorize Guangdong cuisine into three major groups based on the region's dialect: Cantonese, Hakka and Chaozhou cuisines. On the other hand, the Teochew cuisine and Hakka cuisine of Guangdong are considered their own styles, as is neighboring Guangxi's cuisine despite eastern Guangxi being considered culturally Cantonese due to the presence of ethnic Zhuang influences in the rest of the province. Cantonese cuisine is one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of Chinese cuisine. Its prominence outside China is due to the large number of Cantonese emigrants. Chefs trained in Cantonese cuisine are highly sought after throughout China. Until the late 20th century, most Chinese restaurants in the West served largely Cantonese dishes.

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Yue Chinese Primary branch of Chinese spoken in southern China

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The Weitou dialect is a dialect of Yue Chinese. It forms part of the Guan–Bao branch of Yuehai. It is spoken by older generations in Luohu and Futian districts in Shenzhen, and by those in the New Territories, Hong Kong.

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Sze Yap Cantonese represents the second largest Han group in Hong Kong after the group of people (Punti) originating from the Guangzhou-Sam Yap region. The Sze Yap Cantonese comes from a region in Guangdong in China called Sze Yap, now called Ng Yap, which consists of the counties of Taishan, Kaiping, Xinhui, Enping, Heshan and Jiangmen. The Sze Yap Cantonese group have contributed much to what makes Hong Kong a success. Hong Kong people of Sze Yap origin represented about 18.3% of Hong Kong's total population in 1961, and 17.4% in 1971; today this population still increases as more immigrants from the Taishanese-speaking areas of Guangdong in mainland China continue to immigrate to Hong Kong.

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Yunfu Cantonese or Yunfu vernacular is a dialect of Yue Chinese spoken in Yunfu, Guangdong, China. It is classified as a variety of Yuehai Yue, or in more recent classification, Guangfu Yue.

References

  1. "Guangfu" (apparently = all of Yuehai) in Olson, An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China