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Malaysian Cantonese (Chinese:馬來西亞廣東話;Jyutping:maa5 loi4 sai1 aa3 gwong2 dung1 waa6) is a local variety ofCantonese spoken inMalaysia. It is thelingua franca amongChinese throughout much of the central portion ofPeninsular Malaysia, being spoken in the capitalKuala Lumpur,Perak (Kinta Valley,Batang Padang,Hulu Perak,Kuala Kangsar,Bagan Datoh,Hilir Perak andPerak Tengah),Pahang,Selangor,Putrajaya andNegeri Sembilan, it is also widely understood to varying degrees by many Chinese people throughout the country, regardless of their ancestrallanguage.

Malaysian Cantonese is not uniform throughout the country, with variation between individuals and areas. It is mutually intelligible with Cantonese spoken in bothHong Kong andGuangzhou in mainland China but has distinct differences in vocabulary and pronunciation which make it unique.

Cantonese is widely spoken amongstMalaysian Mandarin in the capitalKuala Lumpur^[1] and throughout much of the surroundingKlang Valley (Petaling Jaya,Gombak,Ampang,Cheras,Rawang,Putrajaya,Selayang,Sungai Buloh,Puchong,Shah Alam,Kajang,Bangi,Semenyih andSubang Jaya) excludingKlang itself whereHokkien predominates. It is also widely spoken in the town ofSekinchan in theSabak Bernam district of northernSelangor. It is also used or widely spoken in northeast and central areas as well as parts of southernPerak, especially in the state capitalIpoh and the surrounding towns of theKinta Valley region (Gopeng,Batu Gajah andKampar) as well as the towns ofTapah andBidor in theBatang Padang district of southernPerak and to a lesser extent in the districts ofKuala Kangsar,Perak Tengah,Hilir Perak,Bagan Datoh andHulu Perak (Cantonese of Kwongsai origins fromGuangxi).^[2][3][4] InPahang, it is spoken in the state capital town ofKuantan and also widely found or spoken amongst the local Chinese populace in other districts such asRaub,Maran,Jerantut,Bentong,Rompin,Kuala Lipis,Bera,Pekan,Temerloh andCameron Highlands.^[5][6] Cantonese is also spoken throughout most ofNegeri Sembilan, particularly in the state capitalSeremban (but a lesser extent also widely spoken by the local Chinese in other towns of the state such asJempol,Kuala Pilah,Tampin,Rembau,Port Dickson,Gemas and alsoBahau with a special exception inJelebu, where theHakka dialect predominates mostly along with the towns ofNilai andMantin, which are outer suburbs of Seremban city).^[7] It is widely spoken inSandakan,Sabah and Cantonese speakers can also be found in other areas such asSegamat,Johor,Keningau,Sabah,Sarikei,Sarawak,Batu Pahat,Johor,Miri,Sarawak andMersing,Johor.^[8]

Due to its predominance in the capital city, Cantonese is highly influential in local Chinese-language media and is used in commerce by Malaysian Chinese.^[9][10] As a result, Cantonese is widely understood and spoken with varying fluency by Chinese throughout Malaysia, regardless of their language group. This is in spite ofHokkien being the most widely spoken variety andMandarin being the medium of education atChinese-language schools. The widespread influence of Cantonese is also due in large part to the popularity ofHong Kong media, particularlyTVB dramas.

A sizeable portion of Malaysian Cantonese speakers, including native speakers, are not ofCantonese ancestry, with many belonging to different ancestral language groups such asHakka,Hokkien andTeochew. The historical and continued influence of their original language has produced variation and change in the pronunciation of particular sounds in Malaysian Cantonese when compared to "standard" Cantonese.^[11] Depending on theirancestral origin andeducational background, some speakers may not exhibit the unique characteristics described below.

• Many Malaysians have difficulty with the⟨eu⟩ sound and will substitute it with other sounds where it occurs. Often these changes brings the pronunciation of most words in line with their Hakka pronunciation, and for many words their Hokkien pronunciations as well.
  • Words that end with⟨-eung⟩ &⟨-euk⟩ (pronounced [œːŋ] & [œːk̚] instandard Cantonese) such as香hēung,兩léuhng,想séung and著jeuk,腳geuk,約yeuk may be pronounced as [iɔŋ] & [iɔk̚], which by local spelling conventions may be written as⟨-iong/-eong⟩ &⟨-iok/-eok⟩ respectively, e.g.香hīong,兩líohng,想síong and著jiok,腳giok,約yok.^[11] This change brings the pronunciation of most words in line with their Hakka pronunciation, and for many words their Hokkien pronunciations as well.
  • Words with final⟨-eun⟩ &⟨-eut⟩ (pronounced [ɵn] & [ɵt̚] in "Standard" Cantonese) such as春chēun and出chēut may be pronounced as⟨-un⟩ [uːn] &⟨-ut⟩ [uːt̚] respectively.
  • Words with final⟨-eui⟩ (pronounced [ɵy] in "Standard" Cantonese) such as水séui and去heui may be pronounced as⟨-oi⟩ [ɔːy],⟨-ui⟩ [uːy] or even⟨-ei⟩ [ei] depending on the word.
• Many Malaysians also have difficulty with the⟨yu⟩ sound (pronounced as [yː] in "Standard" Cantonese) which occurs in words such as豬jyū,算syun,血hyut. This sound may be substituted with [iː] which in the case of some words may involvepalatalisation of the preceding initial [◌ʲiː].
• Some speakers, particularly non-native speakers may not differentiate the long and short vowels, such as⟨aa⟩ [aː] and⟨a⟩ [ɐ].
• Due to the influence of Hong Kong media, Malaysian Cantonese is also affected by so-called "Lazy Sounds" (懶音láahn yām) though to a much lesser degree than Hong Kong Cantonese.
  • Many younger and middle-aged speakers pronounce some⟨n-⟩ initial words with an⟨l-⟩ initial. For many, this process is not complete, with the initial⟨n-/l-⟩ distinction maintained for other words. e.g.你néih →léih.
  • Generally, the ⟨ng-⟩ initial has been maintained, unlike in Hong Kong where it is being increasingly dropped and replaced with the null initial. Instead, among some speakers, Malaysian Cantonese exhibits the addition of the⟨ng-⟩ initial for some words that originally have a null initial. This also occurs in Hong Kong Cantonese as a form ofhypercorrection of "Lazy Sounds", e.g.亞a →nga.
  • Some speakers have lost labialisation of the⟨gw-⟩ &⟨kw-⟩ initials, instead pronouncing them as⟨g-⟩ &⟨k-⟩, e.g.國kwok →kok.

Malaysian Cantonese is in contact with many other Chinese languages such asHakka,Hokkien andTeochew as well other languages such as Malay and English.^[11] As a result, it has absorbed many loanwords and expressions that may not be found in Cantonese spoken elsewhere. Malaysian Cantonese also preserves some vocabulary that would be considered old-fashioned or unusual in Hong Kong but may be preserved in other Cantonese speaking areas such asGuangzhou.^[12] Not all of the examples below are used throughout Malaysia, with differences in vocabulary between different Cantonese speaking areas such as Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur and Sandakan. There may also be differences based on the speaker's educational background and native dialect.

• Use of愛/唔愛oi/mh oi instead of要/唔要yiu/mh yiu to refer to "want/don't want", also meaning "love/like". Also used in Guangzhou and is similar to the character's usage in Hakka.
• More common use of曉híu to mean "to be able to/to know how to", whereas會wúi/識sīk would be more commonly used in Hong Kong. Also used in Guangzhou and is similar to the character's usage to Hakka.
• Use of冇móuh at the end of sentences to create questions, e.g.你愛食飯冇?néih oi sihk faahn móuh?, "Do you want to eat?"
• Some expressions have undergone a change in meaning such as仆街pūk gāai, literally "fall on the street" which is commonly used in Malaysia to mean "broke/bankrupt" and is not considered a profanity unlike in Hong Kong where it is used to mean "drop dead/go to hell".^[13]
• Some English educated speakers may use十千sahp chīn instead of萬maahn to express 10,000, e.g. 14,000 might be expressed as十四千sahp sei chīn instead of一萬四yāt maahn sei.
• Use of expressions which would sound outdated to speakers in Hong Kong, e.g.冇相干móuh sēung gōn to mean "never mind/it doesn't matter", whereas冇所謂móuh só waih/唔緊要mh gān yiu would be more commonly used in Hong Kong. Some of these expressions are still in current use in Guangzhou.
• Word order, particularly the placement of certain grammatical particles may differ, e.g.食飯咗sihk faahn jó instead of食咗飯sihk jó faahn for "have eaten."
• Unique expression's such as我幫你講ngóh bōng néih góng to mean "I'm telling you" where我同你講ngóh tùhng néih góng/我話你知ngóh wah néih jī would be used in Hong Kong.
• Malaysian Cantonese is also characterised by the extensive use of sentence ending particles, to an even greater extent than occurs in Hong Kong Cantonese.

• Malaysian Chinese
• Cantonese people
• Cantonese

• Cantonese language
• Languages of Malaysia
• Chinese-Malaysian culture

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