Yuehai

Yuehai
粵海方言
Native to	China
Region	Guangdong
Native speakers	13 million? (1998)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Chinese Yue Yuehai
Dialects	Guangfu Sanyi Zhongshan Guan-Bao
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	(none)
Glottolog	yueh1236
Linguasphere	79-AAA-ma
The four Yuehai dialects, at right, are marked with a 'Y'

Yuehai (粵海方言) is the main branch of Yue Chinese, spoken in Guangdong province, Hong Kong, Macau, and oversea Chinese communities. It is commonly called Cantonese, though that name is more precisely applied to the Guangfu dialect of Yuehai.

Yuehai is divided into four principal dialects, each of which contains various subdialects. Cantonese is the prestige form.