The Weitou dialect (simplified Chinese: 围头话; traditional Chinese: 圍頭話; lit. 'walled (village) language'; Jyutping: wai4 tau4 waa6-2) is a dialect of Yue Chinese. It forms part of the Guan–Bao (莞寶片; 莞宝片, DongguanBao'an) branch of Yuehai. It is spoken by older generations in Luohu and Futian districts in Shenzhen, and by those in the New Territories, Hong Kong.

Weitou dialect
圍頭話
Native toGuangdong
Sino-Tibetan
Language codes
ISO 639-3
GlottologNone
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Weitou dialect
Traditional Chinese圍頭話
Simplified Chinese围头话
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinWéitóuhuà
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingwai4 tau4 waa6-2

The Weitou dialect can be heard in Hong Kong TV dramas and movies, and is usually used to depict characters who come from walled villages. For example, in the 1992 movie Now You See Love, Now You Don't, the chief character, played by Chow Yun-fat who himself grew up in Lamma Island, consistently speaks the Weitou dialect.

In a more general sense, Weitouhua can refer to any variety of Chinese spoken in the villages of Hong Kong, including Hakka and rural Yue dialects. In contrast, most Hong Kong residents speak standard Cantonese, while most Shenzhen residents speak Mandarin.

Phonology

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Zhang & Zhuang (2003:21-4) records the phonological systems of three varieties of the Weitou dialect spoken in Hong Kong. Following is Fan Tin's (蕃田), San Tin (in IPA).

The 21 onsets
p b f w
t d l
tʃʰ ʃ j
k ɡ h
kʷʰ ɡʷ
The 37 rimes
a œ ɔ ɛ i u y
ai ɐi ɵy
au ɐu eu
am ɐm em m
æŋ ɐŋ œŋ ɛŋ yœŋ ŋ
ɵŋ
ap ɐp ep
æk ɐk œk ɛk yœk
ɵk ok ek

There are four tone contours, when the "entering tones" (stopped syllables) are ignored:

The 4 tones
tone name contour description
Yin Ping ˨˧ (23) or ˥ (55) low rising or high
Yang Ping ˨˩ (21) low
Shang ˧˥ (35) high rising
Qu ˧ (33) mid

References

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  • (in Chinese) Zhang Shaungqing 張雙慶 & Zhuang Chusheng 莊初昇 (2003). Xianggang xinjie fangyan (香港新界方言 "The Dialects of the New Territories, Hong Kong"). Hong Kong: Commercial Press. ISBN 962-07-1682-5.
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