Primary branch of Chinese spoken in southern China
This article is about the language group. For the Chinese people sometimes called Yue, see Cantonese people.
"Yueyu" redirects here. Not to be confused with Yuyue, Yuyu, or Yueyue.
A request that this article title be changed to Yue Language is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed.
Yue
Cantonese
粤语; 粵語 广东话; 廣東話
Yuhtyúh; 'Yue' written in Traditional (left) and Simplified (right) character forms
Region
Guangdong, Guangxi, western Hainan, Hong Kong and Macau
Ethnicity
Cantonese Taishanese
Native speakers
86 million (2022)[1]
Language family
Sino-Tibetan
Sinitic
Chinese
Yue
Early forms
Proto-Sino-Tibetan
Old Chinese
Eastern Han Chinese
Middle Chinese
Dialects
Yuehai (incl. Cantonese)
Siyi (incl. Taishanese)
Gao–Yang
Yong–Xun
Gou–Lou
Qin–Lian
Wu–Hua
Luo–Guang
Language codes
ISO 639-3
yue
Glottolog
yuec1235
Linguasphere
79-AAA-m
[image reference needed]
Yue language
Traditional Chinese
粵語
Simplified Chinese
粤语
Cantonese Yale
Yuhtyúh
Literal meaning
'Language of Yue'
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Yuèyǔ
Bopomofo
ㄩㄝˋ ㄩˇ
Wade–Giles
Yüeh4-yü3
Tongyong Pinyin
Yuè-yǔ
IPA
[ɥê.ỳ]
Wu
Romanization
Yoeh nyy
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization
Yuhtyúh
Jyutping
jyut6 jyu5
Canton Romanization
Yüd6yü5
IPA
[jyːt̚˨.jyː˩˧]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ
O̍at-gí, O̍at-gú
Guangdong language
Traditional Chinese
廣東話
Simplified Chinese
广东话
Cantonese Yale
Gwóngdūng wá
Literal meaning
'Guangdong speech'
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Guǎngdōnghuà
Wade–Giles
Kuang3-tung1 Hua4
Tongyong Pinyin
Guǎngdong-huà
IPA
[kwàŋtʊ́ŋ.xwâ]
Wu
Romanization
Kuaon ton ho
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization
Gwóngdūng wá
Jyutping
gwong2 dung1 waa2
Canton Romanization
Guong2dung1 wa2
IPA
[kʷɔːŋ˧˥.toŋ˥ waː˧˥]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ
Kńg-tang-oē
Yue (Cantonese pronunciation:[jyːt̚˨]) is a branch of the Sinitic languages primarily spoken in Southern China, particularly in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi (collectively known as Liangguang).
The term Cantonese is often used to refer to the whole branch, but linguists prefer to reserve the name Cantonese for the variety used in Guangzhou (Canton), Wuzhou (Ngchow), Hong Kong and Macau, which is the prestige dialect of the group. Taishanese, from the coastal area of Jiangmen (Kongmoon) located southwest of Guangzhou, was the language of most of the 19th-century emigrants from Guangdong to Southeast Asia and North America. Most later migrants have been speakers of Cantonese.
Yue varieties are not mutually intelligible with other varieties of Chinese,[2] and they are not mutually intelligible within the Yue family either.[3] They are among the most conservative varieties with regard to the final consonants and tonal categories of Middle Chinese, but have lost several distinctions in the initial consonants and medial glides that other Chinese varieties have retained.
^Yue at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
^Victor H. Mair (2009): Mutual Intelligibility of Sinitic Languages
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