Waitau
Encyclopedia
Weitou dialect is a dialect of Yue Chinese. It forms part of the Guan-Bao (莞宝片, Dongguan
-Bao'an
) branch of Yuehai, sometimes called Cantonese. It is spoken by the older generations 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 characterize characters who come from walled villages. For example, in the 1992 movie Now You See Love, Now You Don't
《我爱扭纹柴》, the chief character, played by Chow Yun-fat
who himself grown up in Lamma Island
, consistently speaks the Weitou dialect.
In a more general sense, Weitou Hua can refer to any Chinese
language
/dialect
spoken in the villages of Shenzhen
and Hong Kong
in southern China
, including Hakka and rural Yue dialects, in contrast to Cantonese
(Guangfu) spoken by the majority of Hong Kong and Shenzhen residents.
(in IPA).
There are four tone contour
s, when the "entering tone
s" (stopped syllables) are ignored:
Dongguan
Dongguan is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong province, People's Republic of China.An important industrial city located in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the south, and the Pearl River to...
-Bao'an
Bao'an
Bao'an District is one of the seven districts comprising Shenzhen, a major economic city in Guangdong, People's Republic of China. It is one of three districts lying outside the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, alongside Longgang...
) branch of Yuehai, sometimes called Cantonese. It is spoken by the older generations in Shenzhen, and by those in the New Territories
New Territories
New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory. Historically, it is the region described in The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory...
, Hong Kong.
The Weitou dialect can be heard in Hong Kong TV dramas and movies, and is usually used to characterize characters who come from walled villages. For example, in the 1992 movie Now You See Love, Now You Don't
Now You See Love, Now You Don't
Now You See Love, Now You Don't is a 1992 Hong Kong film directed by Mabel Cheung and Alex Law.In this film, the chief character, played by Chow Yun-Fat who himself grew up in Lamma Island, consistently speaks the Waitau language....
《我爱扭纹柴》, the chief character, played by Chow Yun-fat
Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
who himself grown up in Lamma Island
Lamma Island
Lamma Island , also known as Pok Liu Chau or simply Pok Liu , is the third largest island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Islands District.-Name:...
, consistently speaks the Weitou dialect.
In a more general sense, Weitou Hua can refer to any Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
/dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
spoken in the villages of Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
in southern China
Northern and southern China
Northern China and southern China are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions has never been precisely defined...
, including Hakka and rural Yue dialects, in contrast to Cantonese
Standard Cantonese
Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a language that originated in the vicinity of Canton in southern China, and is often regarded as the prestige dialect of Yue Chinese....
(Guangfu) spoken by the majority of Hong Kong and Shenzhen residents.
Phonology
Zhang & Zhuang (2003:21-4) records the phonological systems of three varieties of the Weitou dialect spoken in Hong Kong. Following is the one of Fan Tin (蕃田), San TinSan Tin
San Tin , or San Tin Heung , is an area located near Lok Ma Chau area in the New Territories and belongs to the Yuen Long District, Hong Kong....
(in IPA).
| p | pʰ | b | f | w |
| t | tʰ | d | l | |
| tʃ | tʃʰ | ʃ | j | |
| k | kʰ | ɡ | h | |
| kʷ | kʷʰ | ɡʷ |
| a | œ | ɔ | ɛ | i | u | y | |
| ai | ɐi | ɵy | |||||
| au | ɐu | eu | |||||
| am | ɐm | em | |||||
| æŋ | ɐŋ | œŋ | ɛŋ | yœŋ | |||
| ɵŋ | oŋ | eŋ | |||||
| ap | ɐp | ep | |||||
| æk | ɐk | œk | ɛk | yœk | |||
| m | ŋ | ɵk | ok | ek |
There are four tone contour
Tone contour
A tone contour is a tone in a tonal language which shifts from one pitch to another over the course of the syllable or word. Tone contours are especially common in East and Southeast Asia, but occur elsewhere, such as the Kru languages of Liberia and the Ju languages of Namibia.-Themes:When the...
s, when the "entering tone
Entering tone
A checked tone, commonly known by its Chinese calque entering tone , is one of four syllable types in the phonology in Middle Chinese which are commonly translated as tone. However, it is not a tone in the phonetic sense, but rather describes a syllable that ends in a stop consonant, such as p, t,...
s" (stopped syllables) are ignored:
| tone name Tone name In the Chinese and Vietnamese languages, tone names are the names given to the tones these languages use.*In Chinese, tone names are given in terms of the four tones, namely level , rising , departing , and entering , as well as dark and light , and high and low .* Standard Vietnamese has six... |
contour | description |
| Yin Ping | ˨˧ (23) or ˥ (55) | low rising or high |
| Yang Ping | ˨˩ (21) | low |
| Shang | ˧˥ (35) | high rising |
| Qu | ˧ (33) | mid |