Zhuang language: Part 10 Syntax (3) Commentary
For those of you who have studied Cantonese (Guangzhou dialect, Guangdong dialect), you may have noticed that the above Zhuang gramatical expression “～過” is exactly the same as Cantonese.
In today’s Han language (Mandarin and classical Han language) “比” is used. Zhuang also uses the expression “比” but this is the influence from modern day Mandarin. As I have mentioned in Part 7, Cantonese is a language that was formed form the influence of ancient Bai Yue (古代百越) so it is thought that “～過” was borrowed from Zhuang. It is recognized that influence from Zhuang in Cantonese came from pronounciation, grammer, and words.
In regards to pronounciation, there are such things as the existance of a double consonant /kw/, conflict with long and short vowels, and a large number of tones.
In regards to vocabulary, there are a lot of words that have similarities with Zhuang such as the adverb “幾” (幾好食 = very delicious) that emphasizes adjectives, “ngaam = just/exactly”, “mau = crouch down”, “yuk = to move”, etc.
Gramatically, besides the comparative expression mentioned earlier there are the Mandarin expressions “先走 = to go first/to walk first” which becomes “行先” in Cantonese and “客人” in Mandarin and “人客” in Cantonese as well where the adverb comes after the verb and the adjective.
The modifying word comes after the non modifying word, such as “一匹馬” in Mandarin, becomes “匹馬” in Cantonese. Quantifiers (Units that count objects) follow the noun by itself without accompanying the numeral.
By contrast, there are a lot of words from Cantonese that Zhuang has borrowed. The pronounciation of the majority of vocabulary of Han that is included in Zhuang is similar. This is thought to be due historically to the fact that the Zhuang people have incorporated the Han language and culture from the Han people of Guangdong province. After the formation of the new China, it seems to be that since Zhuang and Canonese both have Mandarin influences the distance between the two has become narrower.
Tags: linguistics, Zhuang
