U dont know Cantonese say so lah,,,u cannot appreciate it than its yr problem. And u dont know cantonese..so how u know its crude???,,I know hokkein, and i know its crude...
You don't Hokien and even your bastard Cantonese, and you know shit.
U dont know Cantonese say so lah,,,u cannot appreciate it than its yr problem. And u dont know cantonese..so how u know its crude???,,I know hokkein, and i know its crude...
You don't Hokien and even your bastard Cantonese, and you know shit.
You don't Hokien and even your bastard Cantonese, and you know shit.
You missed my point entirely. China was in disarray and closed up since the communists took power from 1949. China only opened up slowly since 1979, accelerating after 1992. So the question is, how did Robert learn the myriad of dialects across whole of china to come to his conclusions? To even reach his conclusions, one need to survey at least the top 20 or even 30 dialects across china. D you think he can do that in the 1970s?False argument. So a Singaporean Chinese or Russian cannot study Old English or Shakespearean English and become an expert? Only British people can be experts in English? Only ethnic Chinese can study Chinese linguistics?
Nonsense.
I didn't make those claims; linguists and phonologists studying Chinese linguistics and phonetics did. They looked at linguistic and phonetic shifts of today's dialects and compare it with Old and Middle Chinese. The more shifts, the more recent the dialect. The more conservative, the least shifts, the older the dialect.
While Beijing Mandarin has retained elements of Middle Chinese in its grammar and syntax, in pronunciation it has reduced the 8 tones of Middle Chinese to 4, lost the final plosives (p, t, k), as well the final -m.
The two language groups with the least number of shifts are the Yue and Min groups. Cantonese has retained the 8 tones and final stop consonants, but has lost the initial voiced consonants (voiced b, d, g) found in the Wu group.[SUP]1
1. Ramsey, S. Robert (1987), The Languages of China, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-01468-5.[/SUP]
You missed my point entirely. China was in disarray and closed up since the communists took power from 1949. China only opened up slowly since 1979, accelerating after 1992. So the question is, how did Robert learn the myriad of dialects across whole of china to come to his conclusions? To even reach his conclusions, one need to survey at least the top 20 or even 30 dialects across china. D you think he can do that in the 1970s?
Or do you even think you can master so many Chinese dialects without being a native Chinese speaker researching the language in china? Note that he was based in princeton, half way around the world.
My suspicion is that his exposure is largely in cantonese, and therein lies the clue to his conclusions.
Chinese is a very different language as compared to English. It is complex and not easy to learn, especially for non native speakers. So it is very hard for me to believe that Robert can master the language outside of china, and master it to the extend that he can even read ancient Chinese manuscript and compare the tens of different Chinese dialects to reach his conclusions.He also never study Pinyin too. They still call Qin 秦, Ching which is alike to 清 and Qi 气.
Anyone familiar with ancient history know that during the Warring States period in China 2,000 years ago the seven states do not include the southern regions which is today Fujian, Guangdong as well as Zhejiang & Jiangsu which at that time was ruled by the Wu kingdom. The two southern most kingdoms were known then as Nan Yue and Min Yue. Language develop and evolve over the centuries within the respective domains and today we have Mandarin Chinese (and its many variants) spoken in north and south western China (corresponding to the areas occupied by the original seven states) whereas the southern provinces managed to retain their own dialects - Wu, Yue and Min. So it is hard to imagine that Yue, Min or even Wu dialects were used during the Tang dynasty ...
I dont see your reasoning as valid. The reason why the theory that the ancient Tang language is similar to Cantonese is cause the southern regions was flooded with the Tang people escaping the collapse of the Tang Dynasty. The natives of those areas were overwhelmed by the Han Chinese going into the area.
Good theory. Fact is nobody knows for sure. Interesting to note that Cantonese like to think that they are special amongst the Chinese. I have come across many Cantonese outside of mainland china who thinks that Cantonese are direct descendants of Qin and that the yue language is above mandarin in all aspects.it's speculative theory until someone gets funded and does an exhaustive scholarly study of the so called migration of "t'ang refugees" from north china to the south. and this should include visits and stay at the many migration routes, rest stops, defensive points, etc. it must also include archaelogical digs to find proof.
imo, survivors of the t'ang court might have migrated south or even to japan to escape unrest of the 5 dynasties and 10 kingdoms period, and subsequently the rise of sung. but because it was primarily a han-type dynastic transition, t'ang subjects in the north wouldn't panic and do a mass evacuation to the south. the true mass panic and evacuation happened with the northern sung, when "foreign" jin (jurchen) troops went on a rampage across the frontier and started invading china. the next panic and mass migration happened with the mongol invasion, for those who were stubborn and did not leave their redoubts.
t'ang encroachment of the south happened gradually and was part of t'ang's version of "manifest destiny" - that china had the natural and imperial ambition to spread chinese civilization westwards and southwards to new frontiers. the important t'ang province in south china with swatow (shantou today) as the capital was set up to spread t'ang imperial reach to vietnam and hainan. besides imperial push, there was also the pull factor - backward fiefdoms in the south actively sought trade and assistance from t'ang to improve themselves. there was also the pull factor from kingdoms in korea and japan as they viewed t'ang as the leading civilization to emulate.
since shantou was already a part of the t'ang sphere and a working provincial capital (the buffalo sculpture, bridge and temples are still there btw) the influence of t'ang was centered mainly in and around provincial capitals. the language spoken and passed down among survivors and descendants would be considered more t'ang than dialects and languages in the rural outskirts, such as villages and farms, where native speakers of the canto tongue still dominated. consider this.... why would teochew exist (smack) right in the middle between fujian and guangdong provinces? my theory is that teochew and hokkien are more t'ang than cantonese, as the imperial migration was southwards. moreover, all t'ang officials heading south will stay or camp in shantou, not any other guangzhou city as part of imperial protocol and show of respect for the provincial governor - to be his guest, under his hospitality and protection. it would be difficult for a local native tongue like cantonese to supplant the official tongue spoken in court while t'ang was still pre-eminent and in great power.
while the north was invaded by jurchens and later mongols in the 13th century, sung survivors find refuge south in mass numbers, and the natural path was through fujian. you will find dozens of sung-era toluo fortifications in fujian today. and the refugees were called hakka, or guest-people. i would also theorize that hakka dialects are surviving tongues of the sung, which closely resembled those of the t'ang.
Good theory. Fact is nobody knows for sure. Interesting to note that Cantonese like to think that they are special amongst the Chinese. I have come across many Cantonese outside of mainland china who thinks that Cantonese are direct descendants of Qin and that the yue language is above mandarin in all aspects.
it's speculative theory until someone gets funded and does an exhaustive scholarly study of the so called migration of "t'ang refugees" from north china to the south. and this should include visits and stay at the many migration routes, rest stops, defensive points, etc. it must also include archaelogical digs to find proof.
imo, survivors of the t'ang court might have migrated south or even to japan to escape unrest of the 5 dynasties and 10 kingdoms period, and subsequently the rise of sung. but because it was primarily a han-type dynastic transition, t'ang subjects in the north wouldn't panic and do a mass evacuation to the south. the true mass panic and evacuation happened with the northern sung, when "foreign" jin (jurchen) troops went on a rampage across the frontier and started invading china. the next panic and mass migration happened with the mongol invasion, for those who were stubborn and did not leave their redoubts.
t'ang encroachment of the south happened gradually and was part of t'ang's version of "manifest destiny" - that china had the natural and imperial ambition to spread chinese civilization westwards and southwards to new frontiers. the important t'ang province in south china with swatow (shantou today) as the capital was set up to spread t'ang imperial reach to vietnam and hainan. besides imperial push, there was also the pull factor - backward fiefdoms in the south actively sought trade and assistance from t'ang to improve themselves. there was also the pull factor from kingdoms in korea and japan as they viewed t'ang as the leading civilization to emulate.
since shantou was already a part of the t'ang sphere and a working provincial capital (the buffalo sculpture, bridge and temples are still there btw) the influence of t'ang was centered mainly in and around provincial capitals. the language spoken and passed down among survivors and descendants would be considered more t'ang than dialects and languages in the rural outskirts, such as villages and farms, where native speakers of the canto tongue still dominated. consider this.... why would teochew exist (smack) right in the middle between fujian and guangdong provinces? my theory is that teochew and hokkien are more t'ang than cantonese, as the imperial migration was southwards. moreover, all t'ang officials heading south will stay or camp in shantou, not any other guangzhou city as part of imperial protocol and show of respect for the provincial governor - to be his guest, under his hospitality and protection. it would be difficult for a local native tongue like cantonese to supplant the official tongue spoken in court while t'ang was still pre-eminent and in great power.
Wow nice write up teochews are special.
Wat is min nan language? Oh hokkein..the crude n vulger dialect?
Good theory. Fact is nobody knows for sure. Interesting to note that Cantonese like to think that they are special amongst the Chinese. I have come across many Cantonese outside of mainland china who thinks that Cantonese are direct descendants of Qin and that the yue language is above mandarin in all aspects.
I love it when the prc folks think that I don't know what they are saying. In this way I stand an advantage in knowing what shit they are planning to do.Why cant the urines learn english and speak the language properly, makes life that much easier.
We have better things to wrry about than where mandarin came from, for all we know, it came from the urinals in some urine emperors jamban
It grates me when urine workers start chingy chong chingy chong in front of me and think I dont understd.
silly urines and their urine languages.
it's speculative theory until someone gets funded and does an exhaustive scholarly study of the so called migration of "t'ang refugees" from north china to the south. and this should include visits and stay at the many migration routes, rest stops, defensive points, etc. it must also include archaelogical digs to find proof.
imo, survivors of the t'ang court might have migrated south or even to japan to escape unrest of the 5 dynasties and 10 kingdoms period, and subsequently the rise of sung. but because it was primarily a han-type dynastic transition, t'ang subjects in the north wouldn't panic and do a mass evacuation to the south. the true mass panic and evacuation happened with the northern sung, when "foreign" jin (jurchen) troops went on a rampage across the frontier and started invading china. the next panic and mass migration happened with the mongol invasion, for those who were stubborn and did not leave their redoubts.
t'ang encroachment of the south happened gradually and was part of t'ang's version of "manifest destiny" - that china had the natural and imperial ambition to spread chinese civilization westwards and southwards to new frontiers. the important t'ang province in south china with swatow (shantou today) as the capital was set up to spread t'ang imperial reach to vietnam and hainan. besides imperial push, there was also the pull factor - backward fiefdoms in the south actively sought trade and assistance from t'ang to improve themselves. there was also the pull factor from kingdoms in korea and japan as they viewed t'ang as the leading civilization to emulate.
since shantou was already a part of the t'ang sphere and a working provincial capital (the buffalo sculpture, bridge and temples are still there btw) the influence of t'ang was centered mainly in and around provincial capitals. the language spoken and passed down among survivors and descendants would be considered more t'ang than dialects and languages in the rural outskirts, such as villages and farms, where native speakers of the canto tongue still dominated. consider this.... why would teochew exist (smack) right in the middle between fujian and guangdong provinces? my theory is that teochew and hokkien are more t'ang than cantonese, as the imperial migration was southwards. moreover, all t'ang officials heading south will stay or camp in shantou, not any other guangzhou city as part of imperial protocol and show of respect for the provincial governor - to be his guest, under his hospitality and protection. it would be difficult for a local native tongue like cantonese to supplant the official tongue spoken in court while t'ang was still pre-eminent and in great power.
while the north was invaded by jurchens and later mongols in the 13th century, sung survivors find refuge south in mass numbers, and the natural path was through fujian. you will find dozens of sung-era toluo fortifications in fujian today. and the refugees were called hakka, or guest-people. i would also theorize that hakka dialects are surviving tongues of the sung, which closely resembled those of the t'ang.
The chinese has other major sea ports that were operational since ancient times. Ningbo, Shanghai, Dalian etc. In fact, Song dynasty's Zheng He's fleet came largely from Nanjing and Fuzhou.Also do not forget tat Canton was the main port of the Tang Empire. Roads there from Chang An should have been well developed. Anyway as i said b4. The tang and other Han chinese from the north went tonthe south n diplaced the natives there. Hence the Tang language was bought into the south. The Tang n other han chinese need not assimilate the native language. Tang language replaced the southern natives. Hence tat is y Tang Poems etc sound better in Cantonese is because it is the closes language to the Tang. Southern languages did not replace the Tang. Its the Tang language replacing the southern languages.