Cantonese language
| Yue | |
|---|---|
| Cantonese | |
| 粵語/粤语 廣東話/广东话 | |
Yuht Yúh/Jyut6 jyu5 (Yue) written in traditional Chinese (left) and simplified Chinese (right) characters | |
| Native to | China, Vietnam, Malaysia |
| Region | Pearl River Delta (Central Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau); Eastern-Southern Guangxi |
| Ethnicity | Han Chinese |
Native speakers | 73.4 million (2020) |
| Dialects |
|
| Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese (Written Cantonese) Cantonese Braille | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Hong Kong and Macau (de facto, though officially referred to as "Chinese"; Cantonese and occasionally Mandarin are used in government). Recognised regional language in Suriname. |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | yue |
Cantonese is an East Asian language that comes from Canton, in southern China. People use the word "Cantonese" to refer to the Guangzhou dialect, the Hong Kong dialect, the Xiguan dialect, the Wuzhou dialect, and Tanka dialect of Yue. Linguists prefer to use the name "Cantonese" for only the Yue dialect of Guangzhou (Canton) and Hong Kong. Using that classification, Cantonese is the prestige dialect of Yue.
Cantonese is spoken by people in southern China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as by many overseas Chinese who came from Cantonese-speaking parts of China. It is also the most common language of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and North America. It is said that over 100,000,000 people speak Cantonese.
Cantonese is the third most spoken dialect of Chinese, behind Mandarin and Wu, but its official status in Hong Kong and Macau make it more widely known than many other Chinese dialects.[1]
Even though Cantonese is called a dialect of Chinese, Cantonese is so different from Mandarin, the most spoken dialect of Chinese, that they are mutually unintelligible. That means that a speaker of one language cannot understand the other language without learning it beforehand. It is said that Cantonese is more closely related to Classical Chinese or the Traditional Chinese than Mandarin.[2]
Cantonese is from the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. It is a tonal language and has six kinds of tones.
Hong Kong and Macau
In Hong Kong, the official languages are English and Chinese, according to the Basic Law of Hong Kong. The vagueness of listing Chinese as the official language allows for the wide use of Cantonese, as it is called a dialect of Chinese. In Hong Kong, many people speak Cantonese, instead of Mandarin, and some may even get offended Mandarin is spoken. Most schools in Hong Kong teach in Cantonese, rather than the language that they speak in Mainland China.
In Macau, the majority speak Cantonese,which is also the official language with the other being Portuguese. The people, however, speak many other languages since the area is popular with tourists for its casinos.