Xiguan dialect

The Xiguan dialect, or Sai Kwan dialect, is the prestige dialect of Cantonese originated from Xiguan, Guangzhou.

Differences with downtown accent

Differences in the pronunciation of some characters

Confusion of consonants ''n'' & ''l''

Due to Xiguan's near geographical position to Nanhai, both accents spoken in Xiguan and Nanhai feature n-l merger, in which /n/ and /l/ are merged into /l/. However, the feature is less prominent in the Xiguan accent.

Consonant ''ng''

Speakers of Xiguan Accents pronounce the zero consonant as the consonant ng, for instance, "屋 " as "nguk7" and "壓 " as "ngaat8".

Vowels ''i'' & ''ei'' / ''ai''

Speakers of Xiguan Accents pronounce vowels ei and ai as i. The phenomenon also lies in Nanhai Accents, such as:

Character	Xiguan Accent	Downtown Accent	English
使	si2	sai2	to make, to cause, to use
死	si2	sei2	to die
四	si3	sei3	four
嘶	si1	sai1	neigh, hiss

Dental consonant

Additionally, speakers of Xiguan Accents enhance dental consonants. That is to say, downtown people pronounce "知", "雌" and "斯" as, and . To be precise, dental consonants are similar to the consonants of 左", "初" and "所" in Downtown Accents. In summary, speakers of Xiguan Accents pronounce, and as, and. A saying representing Xiguan Accents goes that Servant, take some money to buy some seadless kaki fruits.

Status

Relationship with downtown accents (especially Dongshan accents)

Xiguan lies to the west of Taiping Gate. Xiguan is the suburb of Guangzhou and it was administered by Nanhai County rather than Panyu County. Therefore, it was not regarded as part of the capital of Guangdong Province. Therefore, Xiguan Dialect should be regarded as suburban accents, distinguished from Downtown Accent, esp. Dongshan Accents. Notwithstanding, Xiguan lies close to the provincial capital, so the gap is narrow.