Weitou dialect
| Weitou dialect | |
|---|---|
| Wei Tou Hua | |
| Native to | Hong Kong, Guangdong |
Native speakers | Under 10 thousand in Hong Kong[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
| This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. | |
| Weitou dialect | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | Wei Tou Hua | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | Wei Tou Hua | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
The Weitou dialect or Wai Tau dialect[2][3] (Chinese: Wei Tou Hua ; Jyutping: wai4 tau4 waa2; lit. 'walled (village) language') is a dialect of Yue Chinese. It forms part of the Guan-Bao (Wan Bao Pian ; Guan bao pian) 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.
The Weitou dialect can be heard in Hong Kong TV dramas and movies, and is usually used to depict characters who come from walled villages. For example, in the 1992 movie Now You See Love, Now You Don't, the chief character, played by Chow Yun-fat who himself grew up in Lamma Island, consistently speaks the Weitou dialect.
In a more general sense, Wai4 tau4 waa2 can refer to any variety of Chinese spoken in the villages of Hong Kong, including Hakka and rural Yue dialects. In contrast, most Hong Kong residents speak standard Cantonese, while most Shenzhen residents speak Mandarin.
Phonology
[edit]Zhang & Zhuang (2003:21-4) records the phonological systems of three varieties of the Weitou dialect spoken in Hong Kong. Following is Fan Tin's (Fan Tian ), San Tin (in IPA).
| p | ph | b | f | w |
| t | th | d | l | |
| tS | tSh | S | j | |
| k | kh | g | h | |
| kw | kwh | gw |
| a | oe | o | e | i | u | y | ||
| ai | ai | oy | ||||||
| au | au | eu | ||||||
| am | am | em | m | |||||
| aeng | ang | oeng | eng | yoeng | ng | |||
| ong | ong | eng | ||||||
| ap | ap | ep | ||||||
| aek | ak | oek | ek | yoek | ||||
| ok | ok | ek |
There are four tone contours, when the "entering tones" (stopped syllables) are ignored:
| tone name | contour | description |
|---|---|---|
| Yin Ping | (23) or (55) | low rising or high |
| Yang Ping | (21) | low |
| Shang | (35) | high rising |
| Qu | (33) | mid |
References
[edit]- ^ Lau, Chaak Ming; Tang, Gary (2025). Wei Tou Yu Ke Jia - Xiang Gang Ben Tu Yu Yan Gu Shi Ji (2 ed.). Scone Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 978-988-76894-0-9.
- ^ Dupre, Jean-Francois (2019). "Urban Development and Land Controversies in Rural Hong Kong: An Indigenous Rights Perspective". In Cheung, Sidney C. H. (ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Gastronomic Tourism. Abingdon, Oxon New York, NY: Routledge. p. 49-67. ISBN 9781315147628.
- ^ Tsang, Sik Wah Patrick (2002). Hakka immigrants' identity and allegiance: Cultural dualism and missiological outreach. Fuller Theological Seminary, School of World Mission.
- (in Chinese) Chang, Song Hing; Zhuang, Chusheng (2003). Xiang Gang Xin Jie Fang Yan [Dialects of the New Territories]. Commercial Press. ISBN 962-07-1682-5.
External links
[edit]- (in Chinese) Huang Jian Quan . "Shen Zhen Fang Yan Fen Bu ". Archived from the original on 11 September 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
- (in Chinese) "Shen Zhen Fang Yan Fen Bu ". SZ News. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2006.
