Bookniverse
Home
Category
book search
download appDownload App
bookniverse languageENarrow right
Register
Login
Cantonese as Written Language: The Growth of a Written Chinese VernacularCantonese as Written Language: The Growth of a Written Chinese Vernacular

Cantonese as Written Language: The Growth of a Written Chinese Vernacular - Don Snow - Bookniverse

Cantonese as Written Language: The Growth of a Written Chinese Vernacular

Don Snow
US $30.40
US $38.00
publisher date
2004/10
|
isbn
9789882200531
|
book format
PDF
|
publisher name
香港大學出版社
copycopy

About this book

View more
文學 > 中國文學 > 當代文學
Cantonese is the only dialect of Chinese which has developed a widely known and used written form. It has played a role in publishing in the Guangdong region since the late Ming dynasty when various types of verses using Cantonese were published as mu yu shu (‘wooden fish books’). In the early twentieth century these dialect texts were joined by Cantonese opera scripts, published as popular reading material. However, it was only after the end of the Second World War that written Cantonese came to be widely used in popular newspapers and magazines, advertising, and in the private communications. Cantonese as Written Language examines this development in the broader context of diglossia, and also of the patterns by which spoken vernaculars have developed written forms in other societies. Based on primary source research, including interviews with publishers and writers who played an important role in the growth of written Cantonese, the author argues that this move of Cantonese into the realm of written language is closely associated with Hong Kong’s distinct local culture and identity. The growth of the written vernacular also reflects the territory’s evolving cultural distinctiveness from mainland China, first as a British colony, and now as a Special Administrative Region of China.

About the author(s)

View more
Don Snow
Don Snow is a professor in the Department of English at Nanjing University, China.

About the publisher

View more
香港大學出版社成立於1956年,隸屬於亞洲最具影響力的英語學府——香港大學。出版社每年出版逾三十種新書,且中文書的比例持續增加,現已超過四分之一。憑藉香港獨特的國際地位,香港大學出版社的書籍深入探討、審視並彰顯亞洲在世界中的角色。我們在中國歷史與文化、法律、公共衛生、社會工作、電影與媒體研究、藝術,以及建築與城市規劃等領域的出版物尤為享有盛譽。

Reading information

Install the Bookniverse app for Android and iPad/iPhone . It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Bookniverse
Discover great books and enjoy reading with
the Bookniverse app - download it now!
facebookinsyoutube
apple downloadgoogle download
© 2025 Bookniverse Limited. All rights reserved