Names
In English, the term "Cantonese" is ambiguous. Cantonese proper is the language native to the city of Canton, which is the traditional English name of Guangzhou, and later brought to Hong Kong and Macau; this narrow sense may be specified as "Canton language" or "Guangzhou language" in English.
However, "Cantonese" may also refer to the primary branch of Cantonese which contains Cantonese proper as well as Taishanese and Gaoyang; this broader usage may be specified as "Yue" (粤). In this article, "Cantonese" is used for Cantonese proper.
Customarily, speakers call their language "Guangzhou speech" (Guǎngzhōu huà, 广州话 or 廣州話). In Guangdong province people also call it "Provincial Capital speech". In Hong Kong and Macau, people usually call it "Guangdong speech" (廣東話), or just "Chinese" (中文 zung1 man2). In Guangdong, people also call it "Baak6 Waa2" (plain speech) (白話)..
Due to its status as a prestige dialect, it is often called "Standard Cantonese" (simplified Chinese: 标准粤语; traditional Chinese: 標準粵語; Jyutping: biu1zeon2 jyut6jyu5; Guangdong Romanization：Biu1 zên2 yud6 yu5). (With simplified tone markers: biu zeon/ jyut_ jyu= / biu zên/ yud_ yu=).
Read more about this topic: Cantonese
Famous quotes containing the word names:
“I introduced her to Elena, and in that life-quickening atmosphere of a big railway station where everything is something trembling on the brink of something else, thus to be clutched and cherished, the exchange of a few words was enough to enable two totally dissimilar women to start calling each other by their pet names the very next time they met.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Publicity in women is detestable. Anonymity runs in their blood. The desire to be veiled still possesses them. They are not even now as concerned about the health of their fame as men are, and, speaking generally, will pass a tombstone or a signpost without feeling an irresistible desire to cut their names on it.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“Holding myself the humblest of all whose names were before the convention, I feel in especial need of the assistance of all.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)