Cantonese as Written Language: The Growth of a Written Chinese VernacularCantonese is the only dialect of Chinese which has developed a widely known and used written form. It has played a role in publishing in the Guangdong region since the late Ming dynasty when various types of verses using Cantonese were published as mu yu shu (‘wooden fish books’). In the early twentieth century these dialect texts were joined by Cantonese opera scripts, published as popular reading material. However, it was only after the end of the Second World War that written Cantonese came to be widely used in popular newspapers and magazines, advertising, and in the private communications. Cantonese as Written Language examines this development in the broader context of diglossia, and also of the patterns by which spoken vernaculars have developed written forms in other societies. Based on primary source research, including interviews with publishers and writers who played an important role in the growth of written Cantonese, the author argues that this move of Cantonese into the realm of written language is closely associated with Hong Kong's distinct local culture and identity. The growth of the written vernacular also reflects the territory's evolving cultural distinctiveness from mainland China, first as a British colony, and now as a Special Administrative Region of China. |
Contents
| 15 | |
Spoken and Written Cantonese | 45 |
Written Cantonese in Premodern Guangdong | 67 |
The Hong Kong Dialect Literature Movement | 101 |
Written Cantonese in Modern Hong Kong | 125 |
Why Has Use of Written Cantonese Increased? | 175 |
The Future of Written Cantonese | 213 |
Interviews and Public Lectures | 245 |
Notes | 259 |
| 285 | |
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Common terms and phrases
advertisements Apple Daily argued audience Baihua Cantonese love songs Cantonese opera Cantonese speakers Cantonese terms Cantonese vocabulary Cantonese words Cantonese-speaking Chan Chen China Chinese characters Chinese dialects Classical Chinese colloquial Cantonese columns comic containing Cantonese development of written Dialect Literature Movement dialect writing dialogue Diary diglossia diglossic DLM writers dragon boat songs dynasty early example fact genres growth of written Guangzhou Hong Kong newspapers Hua Jia Huang increased interview issue Kong's Liang literary magazines Mandarin Marked Cantonese characters markedly Cantonese Ming dynasty Ming Pao Daily mosquito press odd opinion Oriental Daily percent phonetic borrowing pocketbooks popular prestige promote published Putonghua readers relatively role saam kap scripts southern songs spoken Cantonese spoken language Standard Chinese Ta Kung Pao Taiwan tended Tin Tin Daily traditional wooden fish books written Cantonese written Chinese written form written in Cantonese written language written Taiwanese written vernacular Wu dialect
Popular passages
Page 26 - Its members are and must be mobile, and ready to shift from one activity to another, and must possess that generic training which enables them to follow the manuals and instructions of a new activity or occupation. In the course of their work they must constantly communicate with a large number of other men, with whom they frequently have no previous association, and with whom communication must consequently be explicit, rather than relying on context. They must also be able to communicate by means...
Page 21 - Writing and speaking are not just alternative ways of doing the same things; rather, they are ways of doing different things.
Page 20 - the man who wants to talk at all times like a book or a newspaper is a decided oddity
References to this book
Education for Intercultural Citizenship: Concepts and Comparisons Geof Alred,Michael Byram Limited preview - 2006 |