港大中文學院

2024/25 School of Chinese Research Student Seminar

四邑粵語的特徵與分區——以雙水話的韻母為例

The Classification of Siyi Cantonese from the Perspective of Vocalism in the Finals of the Shuangshui Dialect

Abstract:

四邑粵語作為粵方言的分支，與其它粵語方言有著較大的差異。四邑粵語的語料自清代起被學者紀錄，不過就四邑話進行系統且詳細的研究並不多見。隨著四邑粵語逐漸成為研究焦點，不少學者都著手對四邑話進行研究，紀錄完整的語音、詞彙及語法分析。可是目前的方言點僅僅覆蓋城市，深入農村的方言調查目前仍然相當缺乏。

目前參考甘於恩對四邑片的分群，中心片除了新會，雙水、崖西、崖南、甚至古井同屬中心片，分群原則主要依據地理位置。即使同屬中心片，其內部差異仍然十分大，不過只有新會一點被詳細紀錄，因此我們有必要充實語料，重新釐清四邑內部的特徵。是次研究將選取十分接近新會的農村方言——雙水豪山，調查將收集四邑方言的農村方言語料，並以比較語言學的方式與其他方言點進行比對，從新語料的角度探討粵語四邑方言分群問題。

Though classified as a subgroup of the Yue dialect, Siyi Cantonese is quite different from the other Yue dialects. Various records of Siyi Cantonese have been recorded by scholars since the Qing Dynasty. But truly systematic and detailed studies of the Siyi dialects are seldom found. As Siyi Cantonese has gradually become a focus of research, many scholars have begun to investigate Siyi dialects, recording complete phonological, lexical, and grammatical data. However, the current dialect points only cover urban areas, and there is still a lack of in-depth dialect surveys in the rural areas.

In the Gan's current classification of the Siyi area, he identifies the central area as including not only Xinhui, but also Shuangshui, Yaxi, Yannan, and even Gujing. These classifications are primarily based on geographic location. While all are in the central group, there is still a great deal of variation within the group. Yet because only one point in Xinhui has previously been recorded in adequate detail, the variation is not well understood. Therefore, it is necessary to examine more detailed data in order to clarify the characteristics of the Siyi group. In this study, we have selected the rural dialect of Haoshan in Shuangshui, which is very close to Xinhui. We have thus collected data for a good representative of a rural Siyi dialect to examine against the other dialect points using comparative linguistic methodology. This allows us to analyse the problem of the subgrouping of the Siyi dialects of Cantonese from the perspective provided by the new data.