Comments by "Peter Jacobsen" (@pjacobsen1000) on "Why do Hongkongers care so much about Cantonese?" video.

Perhaps because they feel it is under threat, so out of stubbornness they focus on it more.
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@AgakAgakEngineer The main language in HK is Cantonese, so perhaps migrants into the city just adopted the language of the city. 'Stamping out'? Are you saying there was a concerted effort to eliminate other dialects? By who?
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@AgakAgakEngineer But the vast majority already there spoke Cantonese. And many of the newer arrivals were from Guangdong, where they already speak Cantonese. After 1949, a lot of wealthy Shanghainese moved to HK, as can be seen in Wong Kar Wai's movie 花样年华, where the other residents in the building speak Shanghainese. But their children probably switched to Cantonese because their friends and classmates spoke it.
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@AgakAgakEngineer Fair point. So what is your claim? That Teochew and Hokkien dialects were suppressed? If so, how and by who?
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@AgakAgakEngineer "People speaking other dialects were subjected to othering". Ok, if you want to call that 'suppression'. But this is what happens everywhere in the world, including in Shanghai and Beijing, where migrants slowly adapt to the local language. I wouldn't call that 'suppression', unless you're suggesting that the Beijing government should go out and protect Henan dialect speakers in the city.
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@AgakAgakEngineer Here you compare China to HK, when it would be fair to compare HK to Shanghai, or Beijing, or Chengdu. Even if there are no smaller dialects in HK they will still exist in many places in China. Yes, they may die out in HK, but they will also die out in Shanghai, Beijing, etc. Don't worry, these dialects will probably stay alive and well in their places of origin in China for a long, long time to come.
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@MeiinUK Try to make some notes and then write a comment that is concise, coherent, and clearly expresses your point. This stream of consciousness is not easy to find head or tail of.
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@kimeli Yeah, it's an interesting question. Are you a Hong Kong person? Are you familiar with any surveys documenting the use of different dialects in Hong Kong homes? There should also be some use of Shanghainese, given the number of people who left that city for HK just around 1949.
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