The Weitou dialect or Wai Tau dialect () is a dialect of

Yue Chinese Yue () is a branch of the Sinitic languages primarily spoken in Northern and southern China, Southern China, particularly in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi (collectively known as Liangguang). The term Cantonese is often used to refer ...

. It forms part of the Guan–Bao (Kuan-pao; , Tungkuan– Paoan) branch of

Yuehai Yuehai () 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 o ...

. It is spoken by older generations in Lo-hu and Fu-tʻien districts in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, and by those in the

New Territories The New Territories (N.T., Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: ) is one of the three areas of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of H ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. 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 Chow Yun-fat (born 18 May 1955), previously known as Donald Chow, is a Hong Kong actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility, encompassing action to melodrama and comedy and historical drama, his accolades include three Hong Kong Film Awar ...

who himself grew up in

Lamma Island Lamma Island, also known as Y Island, Pok Liu Chau or simply Pok Liu, is the third largest List of islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Islands District, Hong Kong, Islands District. Lam ...

, consistently speaks the Weitou dialect. In a more general sense, ''Wei-tou-hua'' can refer to any

variety of Chinese There are hundreds of local Chinese language varieties forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast part of mainland Chi ...

spoken in the villages of Hong Kong, including

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

and rural Yue dialects. In contrast, most Hong Kong residents speak standard Cantonese, while most Shenzhen residents speak Mandarin.

Phonology

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 (),

San Tin San Tin () is a loosely defined area in Yuen Long District in New Territories, Hong Kong that is part of the San Tin (constituency), San Tin constituency. Unlike Hong Kong's highly urbanised areas, San Tin is sparsely populated due to its marsh ...

(in

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation ** International Phonetic Association, the organization behind the alphabet * India pale ale, a style of beer * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA ...

). There are four

tone contour A tone contour or contour tone 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 Asia, Southeast Asia, West Africa, Nilo-Saharan languages, K ...

s, when the "

entering tone A checked tone, commonly known by the Chinese calque entering tone, is one of the four syllable types in the phonology of Middle Chinese. Although usually translated as "tone", a checked tone is not a tone in the western phonetic sense but rather ...

s" (stopped syllables) are ignored:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weitou Dialect Cantonese language Languages of Hong Kong New Territories