Hello,
Sheng Jiong wrote:
Yes, I know that Cantonese has slight differences in
the order of
words compared with Mandarin.
That's like saying English has slight differences in the order of words
compared with Latin. That's part of the grammatical difference. It *is*
a different sentence structure.
But again you are mixing Mandarin with Baihuawen.
Baihuawen is more or less the Mandarin vernacular, the grammar, the
syntax, sentence structure, etc. are based on the Mandarin vernacular.
Hong Kongers speak only Cantonese, but they write in
Baihuawen.
a) Many HKers also speak a smattering of Mandarin (and English) and we
*do* write in Cantonese for memos and for online BBS, etc. The common is
practice is use baihuawen for serious/complicated articles, but that's
because it was considered proper. Just because it's a long-held
tradition doesn't mean it's inherently right.
English (Take Singapore English as a best example:
"Would you be able
to attend?" in English would become "You can go or not?" in Singlish.
Totally different grammar, but is Singlish a written language? No. It
is still a dialect in English).
I doubt "Singlish" and English is the best analogy.
little Alex