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Cantonese
(Traditional Chinese: 粵語;
Simplified Chinese: 粤语,
Cantonese: Yuet6yue5; Mandarin pinyin: Yueyu, lit.
"Yụet (Guangdong) language") is one of the major dialect
groups or languages of the Chinese language or language family. It is
mainly spoken in parts of southern Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, by
Chinese minorities in Southeast Asia and by many overseas Chinese of
Guangdong and Hong Kong origin worldwide. The name is derived from Canton,
a former romanized Western name for Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong
province.
Different
dialects of Cantonese are spoken depending on area. The most prestigious
is the Guangzhou dialect, also referred to simply as
"Cantonese". The Guangzhou dialect is the lingua franca
of not just Guangdong province, but also the overseas Cantonese diaspora,
spoken by about 70 million Cantonese worldwide. The Guangzhou dialect is
also spoken in Hong Kong, a financial and cultural capital of southern
China. In addition to the Guangzhou dialect, the Taishan dialect, one of
the sei yap or siyi (四邑)
dialects that come from Guangdong counties where a majority of
Exclusion-era Cantonese-Chinese immigrants emigrated, continues to be
spoken both by recent immigrants from Southern China and even by
third-generation Chinese Americans of Cantonese ancestry alike. |