Cantonese originally not Chinese???

Discussions on the Cantonese language.
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Red Sultan

Re: Cantonese originally not Chinese???

Post by Red Sultan »

Oops. Double post...
eatsee

Re: Cantonese originally not Chinese??? wrong!

Post by eatsee »

: Hello everyone,
: I think that Cantonese originally weren't Chinese.
: "Why?" you might ask. Well, for starters, if you look at the maps of ancient China, the Cantonese regions weren't even taken over until the Qin dynasty. Plus, look at the similarity between the way we (the Cantonese) say "yes" compared to the Japanese.
: What do you think?

Concerning the way the Japanese say "yes" is similar to the Cantonese "yes", please refer to your Japanese teacher, as they all know that in Japanese, it should be "so" instead of "hai", but in the turn of the 20th century, the Japanese suddenly borrowed the Cantonese word "yes" and used that as their own because they found the Cantonese word "yes" was more powerful and clear for articulation purpose.
Martin Lee

Re: Cantonese originally not Chinese???

Post by Martin Lee »

It's true. The Cantonese have to free themselves from the yoke of the northerns. Long live the (soon to be) independent Cantonese people.
Sum Won (formerly Anonym

Re:

Post by Sum Won (formerly Anonym »

Maybe, you should refer to your Japanese teacher again, and find out which parts in what context of the language, "so" would mean "yes". Anyways, if any of you still don't believe me, you should read Si Ma Qian's "Shi Ji". Or, Schafer's "The Vermilion Bird: T'ang Images of the South".
*If you'd like to reply to me through e-mail, you'd probably have to send it twice, because my mail server's pretty screwed up.*
KHP

Re: Cantonese originally not Chinese???

Post by KHP »

Very possible that cantonese is not a Chinese language.....before Vietnam was conquered by China in around B.C. - A.D. changeover, the provinces of Guangdong and Guangsi were part of the Viet kingdom of Nam Viet.
hendri

Re: Cantonese originally not Chinese???

Post by hendri »

I thing chinese languge and cantonese languge are from the same root, we can see lt from how they pronounce it, the different only on the way of pronounce and intonation only.
joe

Re: Cantonese originally not Chinese???

Post by joe »

KHP:

excuse me but I think you should better clarify your post. Guangdong and Guangxi were part of the Nan Yue Kingdom not the Nam Viet. The kingdom was founded in 204 B.C. With the capital in Panyu 番禺 which happens to be in Guangdong province. The founder of this kingdom is Zhao Tuo 趙佗 some sort of official in Nanhai prefecture 南海尉 for the Qin empire. He named himself Nanyue Wuwang 南越武王 (Nanyue Martial King). The founder of this kingdom is most probably Chinese and definitely not Vietnamese yet the northern part of Vietnam 象郡 was undoubtedly a part of the Nanyue kingdom.
KHP

Re: Cantonese originally not Chinese???

Post by KHP »

um.....Nan Yue in chinese == Nam Viet in Vietnamese....=) thank you
joe

Re: Cantonese originally not Chinese???

Post by joe »

KHP:

um... what i mean is by calling it Nam Viet you are suggesting to readers that the kingdom was a Vietnamese kingdom when in fact it is a kingdom founded by Chinese.
KHP

Re: Cantonese originally not Chinese???

Post by KHP »

Do you know who named Vietnam? It has alot to do with the "Nam Viet" or "Nan Yue" kingdom.


let me ask you this....what is Chinese?

"Chinese" people never hesitate to make it known that Manchurians and Mongols were Non-Chinese. Chinese also claim the people who live in the Souther parts of present day China as "Chinese." Yet, Manchus and Mongols look much more similar to those in Beijing than the Cantonese.
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