中国广东省的方言 Dialects in China’s Guangdong Province

最近，有关中国广东省主要电视台的节目应以中国官方语言普通话为主的建议，引起省内市民的关注，担心粤语会被弱化。

在新加坡，一位姓蓝的读者于八月五日写给《海峡时报》，谈广东省的方言。以下是该文主要内容：

人们有一个普遍的错误观念，以为粤人是中国广东省主要居民；而事实是，省内有三大族群：粤人、客家人、潮州人。

粤语是古代越国语衍生出的一种方言。古代越人居住于现在的广东、广西与越南北部。越人很可能采用中国书写文字，但却保留了他们本身的语言。所以，粤语并不是唯一保留古代中国文字的语言。

其实，从中原搬迁过来的客家人，他们客家话可以说是真正的保留了中国古代语言。

古代中国的政权集中在中原，也就是现在的西安与洛阳。中国的主要语言应该是该地的语言。客家人自中原搬迁到南方，居住于与外隔绝的山地中，他们很可能保存了中国古代文化与语言。

有关粤人发动了动摇满清政权的主要历史事件的说法，是值得进一步考证的。

这些事件的领导人如洪秀全与孙中山等固然是来自广东，他们都是客家人。粤语成为播音界主要语言是因为它是香港主要的语言。香港溢出效应弱化了其他主要方言，如客家话与潮语。

所以，粤人对以普通话来播音的建议迅速提出抗议，他们也应该知道由于粤语的强势，其他主要方言因而受害。

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Recently, proposals for Guangdong's main television company to broadcast primarily in Mandarin – China's official language – have caused concerns among people in the province, who fear that Cantonese is being sidelined.

In Singapore, Lester Lam wrote to The Straits Times on 5 August 2010 to talk about the dialects spoken in Guangdong Province. Below are extracts of his letter:

There is a common misconception that southern China’s Guangdong province is overwhelmingly Cantonese, when it is actually peopled by three main dialect groups: the Cantonese, the Hakkas and the Teochews.

…… Cantonese is the derivative of the language spoken by the ancient Yue, who populated present-day Guangdong, Guangxi and northern Vietnam. The Yue would most likely have adopted the common written Chinese language but retained their language. So, the retention of ancient words in Chinese dialects is not unique in Cantonese.

In fact, the Hakkas, who migrated south from China’s central plains, can truly claim to retain the ancient Chinese language in the Hakka dialect.

Power in ancient China was focused in central China, in present day Xi-an and Luoyang. The dominant language there would have been the dialect of that area. As the Hakkas were central Chinese migrants who remained isolated in the mountains of southern China, they could well have preserved the culture and language of ancient China.

(The) claim that several historical events that jolted the Qing Dynasty were started by native Cantonese speakers also bears scrutiny.

While they originated in Guangdong, their leaders, such as Hong Xiuquan and Sun Yat Sen, were Hakkas. Cantonese shows dominate the airwaves in Guangdong largely because of the popularity of the dialect in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong spillover effect is causing the decline of major dialects such as Hakka and Teochew.

So, while the Cantonese are quick to protest moves to air programmes in Putonghua in Guangdong, they must also acknowledge that other important dialects in their province are suffering because of the dominant of Cantonese.