Weitou dialect

The Weitou dialect or Wai Tau dialect^[1][2] (simplified Chinese: 围头话; traditional Chinese: 圍頭話; Jyutping: wai4 tau4 waa2; lit. 'walled (village) language') is a dialect of Yue Chinese. It forms part of the Guan–Bao (莞宝片; 莞寶片, Dongguan–Bao'an) branch of Yuehai. It is spoken by older generations in Luohu and Futian districts in Shenzhen, and by those in the New Territories, Hong Kong.

The Weitou dialect can be heard in Hong Kong TV dramas and movies, and is usually used to depict characters who come from walled villages. For example, in the 1992 movie Now You See Love, Now You Don't, the chief character, played by Chow Yun-fat who himself grew up in Lamma Island, consistently speaks the Weitou dialect.

In a more general sense, Weitouhua can refer to any variety of Chinese spoken in the villages of Hong Kong, including Hakka and rural Yue dialects. In contrast, most Hong Kong residents speak standard Cantonese, while most Shenzhen residents speak Mandarin.

Zhang & Zhuang (2003:21-4) records the phonological systems of three varieties of the Weitou dialect spoken in Hong Kong. Following is Fan Tin's (蕃田), San Tin (in IPA).

There are four tone contours, when the "entering tones" (stopped syllables) are ignored:

• (in Chinese) Chang, Song Hing; Zhuang, Chusheng (2003). 香港新界方言 [Dialects of the New Territories]. Commercial Press. ISBN 962-07-1682-5.

• (in Chinese) 黄建全. "深圳方言分布". Archived from the original on 11 September 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
• (in Chinese) "深圳方言分布". SZ News. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2006.