Kantonese dialects

The **dialects of Kantonese** fall into three primary clades, Northern (Honzura and Eibun regions), Central (Tōkai and Kubura regions) and Southern (Nandai region), with the dialects of Taisui often distinguished as an additional branch, being considerably divergent. The Sunpaku language of the Honnan islands is not a Kantonese dialect, although it is sometimes referred to as such.

## History

Regional variants of Kantonese have existed since the ancient era. The *Hohonnōkai*, the oldest existing collection of Kantonese poetry, includes poems written in dialects of the old capital (Meihan) and southern Japan, but other dialects were not recorded. The specific features of ancient dialects have not been recorded, therefore it is unknown to what extent modern vernaculars have inherited their features and structure. Only some island dialects, such as Zōhai, still retain the remnants of the oldest traceable vernaculars.

In the early medieval era, there were only vague records which described dialects as 'crude' and 'coarse', and were obviously associated with the lower classes. Beginning in the 12th century, regional dialects began to be studied at a basic linguistic level, and even cropped up in poems. In particular the Mikei dialect experienced a period of popularity in the early 1300s, as it was regarded as having 'elegance' and 'refinement' suited for spoken poetry. The variety of Kantonese dialects developed markedly during the 16th and 17th centuries as the movement of people between fiefs and provinces became much less restricted. From the 12th century onwards, the dialect of the Shunba region (now Kanjō and Kuyama Prefectures) has been the standard form of Kantonese.

With modernisation in the late 19th century, the government began to fully promote the establishment and spread of a standard language. Regional languages and dialects alike were slighted and suppressed, leading speakers to feel a sense of inferiority and shame. The desire to 'fit in' and speak without being ridiculed was exacerbated by strict punishments against those who spoke their own vernaculars. From the 1900s to the 1940s, the push for the replacement of regional dialects with Standard Kantonese reached its peak and became inescapable.

Now, Standard Kantonese has saturated the nation, and traditional dialects are in decline. This owes mostly to the effect of television and radio, the education curriculum, expansion of traffic, and urban concentration. However, regional speech is now often valued as being 'nostalgic', 'cute', 'friendly' and a marker of 'precious local identity', and many dialect speakers have managed to overcome their sense of shame regarding their natural way of speaking. The contact between regional dialects and languages and Standard Kantonese creates new speech forms amongst the newer generations, such as the Zōhai dialect, which is a mix of two different languages.

## Classification

There is a generally accepted approach to classifying Kantonese dialects. Most scholars agree that the mainland dialects can be separated into five groups: northern, southern, eastern, western and central. The coastal dialects are often referred to separately as *saibyō-jōgen*. The central dialects are referred to as *dan-jōgen*. Northern dialects are known as *hon-jōgen*, southern as *ki-jōgen*, eastern as *shi-jōgen*, and western as *kan-jōgen*.

## List of dialects

### Northern dialects [*hon-jōgen*]

* Honban dialects
* Aoma dialect
* Hamae dialect
* Arami dialect
* Heisai dialect