The Xiguan dialect, or Sai Kwan dialect (), is the prestige dialect of Cantonese originated from Xiguan (Sai Kwan), Guangzhou.
Differences with downtown accent
Differences in the pronunciation of some characters Xiguan AccentDowntown AccentEnglish han3 (close to the ancient pronunciation of "") fan3 to sleepji1 ji4 nowji1 ni1 this, these
Confusion of consonants n & l Due to Xiguan's near geographical position to Nanhai, both accents spoken in Xiguan and Nanhai feature n-l merger, in which /n/ and /l/ are merged into /l/. However, the feature is less prominent in the Xiguan accent.
Consonant ng Speakers of Xiguan Accents pronounce the zero consonant as the consonant ng, for instance, " (uk7)" as "nguk7" and " (aat8)" as "ngaat8".
Vowels i & ei / ai Speakers of Xiguan Accents pronounce vowels ei and ai as i. The phenomenon also lies in Nanhai Accents, such as: CharacterXiguan AccentDowntown AccentEnglish si2sai2to make, to cause, to usesi2sei2to diesi3sei3foursi1sai1 (increasingly read as si1 rather than sai1, influenced by Mandarin)neigh, hiss
Dental consonant Additionally, speakers of Xiguan Accents enhance dental consonants. That is to say, downtown people pronounce "", "" and "" as , and (comparatively relaxed in the oral area, close to , and in IPA; and yet Speakers of Xiguan Accents pronounce , and (The tip of tongue pushes up against upper teeth and blocks up air current. Tense in the oral area, similar to zh, ch and sh in Mandarin without rolling tongue). To be precise, dental consonants are similar to the consonants of 左", "初" and "所" (i.e., , and ) in Downtown Accents. In summary, speakers of Xiguan Accents pronounce , and as , and . A saying representing Xiguan Accents goes that Servant, take some money to buy some seadless kaki fruits ().
Status
Relationship with downtown accents (especially Dongshan accents) Xiguan lies to the west of Taiping Gate (). Xiguan is the suburb of Guangzhou and it was administered by Nanhai County rather than Panyu County (covering former Yuexiu District and former Dongshan District). Therefore, it was not regarded as part of the capital of Guangdong Province. Therefore, Xiguan Dialect should be regarded as suburban accents, distinguished from Downtown Accent (), esp. Dongshan Accents (). Notwithstanding, Xiguan lies close to the provincial capital, so the gap is narrow.
References