Early Cantonese

There have been three main views for the development of the Cantonese language. One view stated that Chinese troops in southern China mixed with the native Yue people and the two languages converged, which explained the reason for similarities between Cantonese and the modern Zhuang and Yao languages, during the Qin and Han Dynasties. A second view placed the dating after the Tang Dynasty when the region was cut off from the rest of China which would have lent to a separate linguistic tradition being formed. And the third view, pushed the time period further, in the Song Dynasty. This view stated that immigrants during the dynasty added to the linguistic differences already present, but argued that most of the features of modern Cantonese stemmed from this immigration. Although there is no way to know for certain which view is correct, by the Qing Dynasty, Cantonese was sufficiently different as to warrant a special program that would instruct candidates looking to be government officials in the ‘correct’ pronunciation of Chinese. Once the language branched off, it was only a matter of time until the script changed as well. In order to understand the origins of the Cantonese vernacular script, it is important to look at the origins of other vernacular scripts in China. Victor Mair argued that many of the languages of China owe their vernacular scripts to Buddhism, which put an emphasis on the oral tradition. The only way to accurately record selections of speech was through the use of a vernacular script. Many of the first Cantonese vernacular script texts are Buddhist in nature, with an emphasis on singing and chanting.[1] Although early attempts were made at using a Cantonese script, nothing remotely standardized. Most of the characters used were known by the creators and few others.

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[1] Snow, Donald Bruce. Cantonese as Written Language: The Growth of a Written Chinese Vernacular. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2004.

The Link

From the Shang Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese script continued to evolve to eventually produce 楷書 (Kai Shu)—the standard script. The same factors that governed the creation and standardization of earlier scripts is mirrored in the creation of the vernacular Cantonese script. This paper offers to address the differing developmental stages of the script within the historical context, to further shed light on the evolutionary process. This is completed first by explaining the narrative history surrounding the script and second by analyzing sources written in the script. Then, by setting this framework, current Hong Kong vernacular Cantonese script sources are used to show that the script’s characters are created using the same processes. The Cantonese script, like previous Chinese scripts, continues to evolve. This paper will conclude by elucidating the unstandardized nature of the Cantonese vernacular script, and explore, using the ancient Chinese sources, possible outcomes of the script. This will be done by comparing the evolution of early Chinese scripts to the evolution of the Cantonese script and projecting the outcomes of the Chinese script on the vernacular Cantonese script.