Because of their dominance in Chinese diaspora overseas, standard Cantonese and its dialect Taishanese are among the most common Chinese languages that one may encounter in the West. Increasingly since the 1997 handover , Cantonese has been used as a symbol of local identity in Hong Kong, largely through the development of democracy in the ...

Cantonese language, variety of Chinese spoken by more than 55 million people in Guangdong and southern Guangxi provinces of China, including the important cities of Canton, Hong Kong, and Macau. Throughout the world it is spoken by some 20 million more.

Understanding the early development of Cantonese requires a dive into the broader landscape of Chinese dialects, which emerged from the Sino-Tibetan language family. Historically, the Chinese language has evolved over millennia, with its dialects forming and diverging as populations migrated, cultures merged, and political landscapes changed.

Cantonese is an East Asian language which comes from Canton, southern China. People use the word 'Cantonese' to refer to the Guangzhou dialect, Hong Kong dialect, Xiguan dialect, Wuzhou dialect and Tanka dialect of Yue. Linguists prefer to keep the name 'Cantonese' for the Yue dialect of Guangzhou (Canton) and Hong Kong. Using this ...

The Cantonese language is also viewed as part of the cultural identity for the native speakers across large swathes of southern China, Hong Kong and Macau. Although Cantonese shares much vocabulary with Mandarin Chinese, the two languages are not mutually intelligible largely because of pronunciation and grammatical differences.

Cantonese is a Sinitic language spoken by about 85 million people, mainly southern China, particularly in the provinces of Guangdong, Hainan and Hunan, and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and also in Hong Kong, Macau. In 2019 there were about 80 million speakers of Cantonese in China, including 6.6 million in Hong Kong and 507,000 in Macau.

Cantonese (or Yue 粵) is one of a number of language varieties (also referred to as dialects 方言) that make up the ‘Chinese’ or Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Other Sinitic varieties include Mandarin, Xiang, Gan, Wu, Min, and Hakka.

Cantonese varies slightly by region, with the most prominent dialects spoken in Guangzhou (the standard form), Hong Kong, and Macau. Differences among these dialects are primarily in pronunciation and vocabulary. The Hong Kong dialect has also absorbed English words and phrases, reflecting its colonial history and international exposure.

Unlike Mandarin, which has a single standardized form, Cantonese encompasses a range of regional dialects spoken across southern China. Despite political and social pressures to promote Mandarin as the dominant language of China, Cantonese has retained its vitality in regions such as Hong Kong and among Cantonese-speaking communities abroad.

Standard Cantonese pronunciation originates from Guangzhou, also known as Canton, the capital of Guangdong Province. Hong Kong Cantonese is closely related to the Guangzhou dialect, with only minor differences. Yue dialects spoken in other parts of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, such as Taishanese, exhibit more significant divergences.