Siyi Yue

For other uses, seeSiyi (disambiguation).

Siyi
Seiyap, Sze Yup
Native to	Guangdong,China;Sze Yup Chinese communities inHong Kong,Southeast Asiaand theAmericas.
Region	Sze Yup
Native speakers	3.9 million (2010)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Yue Siyi
Dialects	Taishanese Xinhui dialect Siqian dialect Guzhen dialect Enping dialect Kaiping dialect
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None(mis)
ISO 639-6	siiy
Glottolog	siyi1236
Linguasphere	77-AAA-mb
Siyi (lower right), among other Yue andPinghuagroups in Guangxi and Guangdong
Chinese name
Chinese	Bốn ấp phương ngôn
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sìyì fāngyán Bopomofo ㄙˋ ㄧˋ ㄈㄤ ㄧㄢˊ Yue: Cantonese Jyutping sei3 jap1 fong1 jin4 other Yue Taishanese ɬi˧jip˥foŋ˧ŋun˨
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese	Bốn ấp lời nói
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sìyìhuà Bopomofo ㄙˋ ㄧˋ ㄏㄨㄚˋ Yue: Cantonese Jyutping sei3 jap1 waa2 other Yue Taishanese ɬi˧jip˥va˧˨˥

A speaker of Siyi Yue, recorded inChina.

Siyi(SeiyaporSze Yupin Cantonese;Chinese:Bốn ấp phương ngôn;pinyin:Sìyì fāngyán;Jyutping:sei3 jap1 fong1 jin4meaning "Four Hamlets" ) is a coastal branch ofYue Chinesespoken mainly inGuangdongprovince, but is also used in overseas Chinese communities. Within the province, it is mainly spoken in theprefecture-level cityofJiangmen,but pockets exist outside Jiangmen, including theDoumenandJinwandistricts inZhuhai,GuzheninZhongshanandJun'aninFoshan.Taishanese,which was one of the most important Chinese dialects inChinese Americancommunities, is considered a representative dialect.

Etymology

The name "Sze Yup"or" Seiyap "(Chinese:Bốn ấp;pinyin:Sìyì;Cantonese Yale:sei yāp;lit.'Four Counties') refers to the historical four counties of Jiangmen prefecture:Xinhui,Taishan,EnpingandKaiping.

Since a fifth county,Heshan,was added to the prefecture in 1983, this region is referred to as the "Five Counties" (Chinese:Năm ấp;pinyin:Wǔyì;Cantonese Yale:nǵh yāp) in the province; but for historical reasons, the term "Seiyap" is still used amongst the overseas Chinese communities.

It has also been calledDelta Cantonesebecause all the aforementioned counties are in thePearl River Delta.

Geographic distribution

The Siyi dialect is mainly distributed along thedrainage basinof the Tan river (Chinese:Đàm giang), as well as part of the region west of the main stream of theXi River,near to the confluence of the two rivers. Most of the region in which Siyi is spoken is administered by the prefecture-level city of Jiangmen, including theJiangmen city districtsofJianghai,Peng gian gand Xinhui, as well as thecounty-level citiesofTaishan,Kaiping,Enpingand the southeastern part ofHeshan,but the dialect is also spoken in parts ofZhuhai,the town of Guzhen inZhongshanand the town of Jun'an inFoshan.In terms of geographic extremes, Siyi is spoken furthest north in Yayao ( nhã dao ), Heshan; furthest south inXiachuan Island,Taishan; furthest east in Hongqi ( hồng kỳ ), Zhuhai; and furthest west in Naji ( kia cát ), Enping. The total geographic area of the region is approximately 9000 square kilometers and the total number of speakers is estimated at 3.9 million in 2010.

Further reading

• Cheng, Theresa M. (1973). "The phonology of Taishan".Journal of Chinese Linguistics.1:256–322.
• Lee, Gina (1993).Comparative, Diachronic and Experimental Perspectives on the Interaction Between Tone and the Vowel in Standard Cantonese(PDF)(Ph.D. thesis). Ohio State University.
• McCoy, John (1966).Szeyap Data for a First Approximation of Proto-Cantonese(Ph.D. thesis). Cornell University.