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| Huang Di (1200BC) |
上星期和蘭亭人淺談廣東話, 大膽地把聽過有關廣東話是很古老的語言這「傳說」提出,
有什麼理據, 真是自己也要「谷歌」一吓, 不能估估吓.
以下是花了幾天的粗略探討, 敬希有識之士指正.
唐話, 白話, 廣東話,廣州話, 廣府話, 這些名詞,
都是指我們在粵語長片所聽到的說話. 其主要來源，是古代漢語.
這古代漢語, 追溯到以黃帝爲首, 聚居黃河流域的華夏部落聯盟, 所使用的原始華夏語, 經歷周, 春秋戰國, 成爲中原一帶的民族共同語言.
孔子說：“子所雅言，詩書執禮皆雅言也。
”
孔子指當時文武百官，文人說客，祭天祀祖, 都使用雅言. 所指雅言,
就是古粤語.
但既然這種古粤語源自黃河流域, 為何會只保留在南方兩廣地區, 而絕跡北方?
這就拜秦始皇所赐了.
秦統一後, 為避免六國在原地重整勢力, 再度崛起反秦, 便徵丁到嶺南作“墾卒”, 這些墾卒分別來自六國，他們需要用一套共通語言溝通, 雅言便大派用場.
墾卒來到嶺南地區, 就是廣信（今封開和梧州）. 廣信又是嶺南早期的商貿重鎮, 文化中心。海上絲綢之路, 奇珍異寶由河道經廣信輸往中原. 廣信的官绅商賈, 採用雅言作溝通, 逐漸這古粤語便在兩廣地區的平民百姓中, 廣泛流傳.
反之在北方, 自晉朝以來, 先有八王之亂, 永嘉之亂, 然後接下來便是長達270餘年的南北分治, 文化和語言都受到巨大的衝擊, 外來文化令共同語的雅言逐漸消失. 在這一時期，嶺南地區保持較爲穩定的局面，由中原雅言演變而成的粵語沒有發生中原漢語那樣的變化，一直保持著原來古漢語成分。
古廣信 (封開縣) 作为嶺南的首府長達400年，珠江文化形成, 粤語便成為嶺南地区文化發展的媒體. 一直沿用至今.
語言反映一個民族或一個地區人民在思想模式、生産方式、生活和風俗習慣、宗教信仰等方面特有的精神，是這個民族或這個地區傳統文化的結晶.
屈指一算, 粤語的歷史, 约從西周算起, 至今已有三千一百多年, 悠悠立於天地間, 仍保留著古代音韻特色, 唯有香港和廣東廣西兩省.
＜蘭亭雅聚＞會員來自新加坡, 馬來西亞, 越南, 香港, 中國, 台灣及澳洲本地非華裔人士. 亞裔會員很多都懂粤語. 所以都會以粤語交談. 並很感谢其他會員對此容忍.
只希望這古老的語言能在澳洲華人社區活潑地傳承下去, 不使一種漢語獨大, 淹沒其他多姿多采的方言如客家話, 閩南話等等.
Cantonese, a dialect that is popular in the
Southern part of China, is a
very ancient language. It can be dated back to the Huang Di era, which was 1200BC. At that time, the farming tribes
were active in the Yellow River. The dialect was a
common language for the
different tribal people.
It was then hanged down to the Zhou dynasty, and to
the Warriors States.
Then why it became widely used in the South later on?
It is due to one person---Qin Shi Huang, the first
emperor of the Qin
Dynasty (221- 206 BC).
In order to prevent the warrior states to overturn
the new empire, Qin
Shi Huang removed the
people from their land and relocated them in Feng
Kai County (封開縣) in the south, which was the meeting point of the sea silk road.
Cantonese thus became the official language of the
county, helping to
develop the cultural of the
southern regions.
Whilst in the central China, it went through
torments of barbarian
invasions from the north and
internal upheavals within the country. Its own
language was much affected by wars and unrest.
Cantonese has since been the main dialect in the
southern provinces of
China.
The only place that Cantonese is the main spoken
language in the
community is Hong Kong. In
other southern provinces of China, the influence of
Cantonese is being weakened by the influx of
migrants from other provinces.
From the cultural heritage point of view, it would
be desirable that Cantonese and
other Chinese
dialects can be used be remain active in Australia.
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