Two Divergent Southern Min Dialects of the Sanxiang District, Zhongshan, Guangdong

本文比較平湖和大布這兩個村子的音韻和調彙。這兩個地方相距一千米左右，都屬於閩南語，但元音頗不相同，詞彙也略有差別。聲調系統幾乎完全一樣。平湖方言和簡圖（第二圖）裏的其他村子相似，大布方言卻自成一系。用這兩種方言來互相交談毫無困難。說各種閩南方言都會說和標準粵語極相近的中山粵語。本文說明閩語大量從中山粵語借入，尤其是現代漢語一般適用的詞彙，還有日常生活所用的語詞。粵語語法的影響也相當明顯。

In this paper a comparison is made of the phonology and lexicon of two villages, Pha-O (平湖 Mandarin Ping-hu) and Tio-Pou (大布 Mandarin Da-bu). The two places are only about one kilometer apart, and both belong to Southern Min, yet they differ considerably in voacalism and somewhat in lexicon. Their tonal systems are virtually identical. The dialect of Pha-0 and the other villages shown in the sketch map (Figure 2) are very similar but the dialect of Tio-Pou stands apart. Mutual comprehension is almost perfect. All speakers of the Southern Min varieties likewise speak the Zhongshan Cantonese dialect which is very close to Standard Cantonese. The paper shows that the Min dialects have borrowed extensively from this type of Cantonese, especially in the modern Pan-Chinese technical vocabulary. Borrowing has taken place as well in many ordinary and homely spheres, and the influence of Cantonese syntax is also apparent.