Fusion of Fujian and Cantonese bilingual English words

Dialect business card

Longdu dialect

Scope: In Zhongshan City, a city cluster in the Pearl River Delta, Shaxi and Dachong are like "islands" that are different from the surrounding Cantonese culture, and the residents here speak a Min dialect that is different from Cantonese - Longdu dialect.

Features: In the long-term development, Longdu dialect has integrated the color of Cantonese dialect vocabulary. The late Huang Jiajiao, a professor of the Department of Chinese at Sun Yat-sen University and a famous linguist, believes that this is a "Cantonese-style Min dialect".

Drying is read as "exposure", pot is read as "Ding", people read as "Nong"... Under the "wrapping" of Cantonese culture in the Pearl River Delta, the two towns of Shaxi and Dachong in Zhongshan, Guangdong, have a popular Min dialect - Longdu dialect. Even with the strong impact of the surrounding Cantonese, Longdu dialect still retains the core characteristics of min language. Interestingly, a pronunciation of "Provincial Qilong" has also been derived from the local area, which is specifically used for cultural and educational occasions or dealing with outsiders.

In 2021, the second phase of the Sino-Chinese Resources Conservation Project was launched, and Zhongshan Longdu dialect was one of the five endangered Chinese dialect survey sites set up in Guangdong. Recently, Nandu and N video reporters interviewed Zhang Jian, a dialect scholar and lecturer at the School of Literature of Shantou University, who is conducting research on Zhongshan Longdu dialect in Shaxi Town, Zhongshan City. He told Nandu reporters that the locals have a strong sense of identification with Longdu dialect, and many young people still speak Longdu dialect. He believes that "as long as young people are still willing to speak and still speak, Longdu dialect will have tenacious vitality." ”

Locals will refer to their fathers as "my old man" when they introduce themselves to others.

Longdu dialect, commonly known as Western rural dialect. What is Londo? Zhang Jian introduced to the Nandu reporter that in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Shaxi Town and Dachong Town were once collectively called "Longdu", and in the old days, it was also called "Longandu", and the dialect spoken by the residents was called Longdu dialect. Later, linguists referred to the Area of Shaxi and Dachong, where Min was spoken, as "Min dialect island".

According to the "Xiangshan County Chronicle", fishermen from Fujian went out to sea to fish all year round, and then migrated to Xiangshan and stayed here. This part of the Fujian people is the ancestor of the Longdu people. With the passage of time, the dialects penetrated into each other, mixed with each other, and influenced each other, and Longdu dialect absorbed the components of Cantonese in its long development, and some internal differences also appeared. Zhang Jian introduced to the Nandu reporter that the towns of Shaxi and Dachong both speak Longdu dialect, but the tones of the people in the two towns are slightly different, and the words of individual words are different.

Longdu dialect still retains the inherent characteristics of the Min dialect, which can be reflected in its pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.

"It has a lot of characteristic words in Min", Zhang Jian used the word "ren" to give an example to the Nandu reporter, and Longdu pronounced "ren" as "nong", which is a very typical Min word. In addition, Longdu dialect calls "sunshine" as "exposure", "chopsticks" as "箸", and "pot" as "Ding", all of which reflect the Min character of Longdu dialect.

Shaxi and Dachong are located in Guangfu, surrounded by cantonese dialect areas, in the long-term development, Longdu dialect inevitably integrates the color of Cantonese dialect vocabulary, absorbing many Cantonese dialect words, such as calling "Zai" as "劏", "beauty" as "beautiful", calling "East and West" as "嘢" and so on.

Because there are many overseas Chinese, Longdu dialect also absorbs foreign language elements. Zhang Jian told Nandu reporters that some words in Longdu dialect come from direct transliterations of English words, such as spanner is called "Spanner" and tomato (tomato) is represented by "Du Ma Da".

In The Longdu dialect, there are also some interesting sayings that are different from the surrounding dialects. In the course of his research, Zhang Jian found that in the title of relatives, locals would use "Lao Tzu" to refer to their fathers, which is quite rare in the Lingnan region. "When introducing their father to others, they will say 'my old man', but in person they will call their father 'Abba'. This may also come from a modern Chinese vocabulary, which is more common in other dialects but rarely heard in Canton. ”

Longdu folk songs originated from the old school singing book songs

"Walk the line, cross the ferry, Grandma buys tofu." Buy it, stumble (fall), hold a golden turtle mother. ”

"Rodless horn – long mouth."

"Barn sparrows – eat enough to catch up."

Zhang Jian found in the investigation that these longdu nursery rhymes and after-hours that are full of life and vivid and interesting are circulated in the local area, and men, women and children can say a few words.

The Longdu Crane Song, which has been popular in Shenmingting Village, Shaxi Town, since more than 600 years ago, is even more unique. The "Chronicle of Xiangshan County" records: "The Lantern Lantern is a story, and the game is thorough. Dancers beat the drum with three stanzas, and singers beat drums with seven stanzas. And the spring supper pairs up to reward each other, singing the lantern song, and singing the crane song. "It depicts the scene of the grand local crane song and crane dance performance during the festival celebration.

Nandu reporter learned that the crane song first originated from the singing song of the old school, a way for students to read poetry books, and later developed into a unique style of folk songs. It is worth mentioning that the language used by the singers of the crane song is a fusion of Cantonese, Shiqi and Longdu dialects, which are also called "Provincial Qilong" by locals.

Zhang Jian introduced that the early Longdu people only spoke Longdu dialect, but once they went out of the "house" and went to other places nearby to do business or study, they had to learn the language that could communicate with outsiders, and then the "Provincial Qilong" may come into being.

The existence of "Provincial Qilong" is also a strong proof that Longdu dialect is influenced by the powerful dialects around it. Zhang Jian found that many young people in the Shaxi and Dachong areas have become increasingly difficult to clearly distinguish the boundaries between their mother tongue, Longdu dialect and Cantonese. Although they also speak some Longdu dialects, more and more characters and words are replaced by Cantonese dialects.

Many young people still speak Longdu dialect to this day

In 2021, the second phase of the Sino-Chinese Resources Conservation Project was launched, and Zhongshan Longdu dialect was one of the five endangered Chinese dialect survey sites set up in Guangdong. Fortunately, Zhang Jian met many young people who loved the countryside during the survey, and they are still speaking Longdu dialect, and they enthusiastically signed up for the pronunciation cooperation of this survey. In them, Zhang Jian saw the young generation's strong sense of identification and closeness to the mother tongue Longdu dialect.

"The process of finding a pronunciation partner on this trip went unexpectedly smoothly, and when I heard that we came, many people enthusiastically signed up. There are Overseas Londo people, but also many young people, who are not only unwilling to give up their mother tongue, but are more willing to contribute to it. I believe that as long as young people are still willing to speak and still speak, Longdu dialect will have tenacious vitality. ”