Yuehai Yue

"Zhongshan dialect" redirects here. For the dialect of Min Chinese, see Zhongshan Min.

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.

Yuehai
粵海
Native to	China
Region	Pearl River Delta, Guangdong
Native speakers	(13 million? cited 1998)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Yue Yuehai
Dialects	Guangfu Sanyi Xiangshan Guanbao
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	yueh1236
Linguasphere	79-AAA-ma
The four main Yuehai languages, at right, are shaded in pink

Topolects

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

• Guangfu dialects
  • Guangzhou dialect
  • Hong Kong dialect
  • Macau dialect
  • Xiguan dialect
  • Wuzhou dialect
  • Tanka dialect
• Sanyi / Nanpanshun dialects
  • Nanhai dialect
  • Jiujiang dialect
  • Xiqiao dialect
  • Shunde dialect
• Xiangshan dialect
  • Shiqi dialect
  • Sanjiao dialect
• Guanbao dialect
  • Dongguan dialect
  • Bao'an dialect (Waitau)

References

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