As tensions between Hong Kong and mainland China escalate, a distinct sense of identity is growing – particularly among young people -- in the former British colony. Key to that feeling is the language spoken by seven million people in the city, says Lau Chaak-ming, a lecturer in Cantonese at the University of Hong Kong.

Mr. Lau, 30, is setting out to compile a new Cantonese-to-Cantonese dictionary after he realized that no such reference book exists. His dictionary -- which functions in a similar way to how the Oxford English Dictionary serves English speakers -- is a work in progress and is available online at words.hk.

Cantonese is the spoken vernacular of Guangdong province in south China, as well as of Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese diaspora communities around the world. Its status has been a contentious political issue. Protests broke out in 2010 in Guangzhou after the government tried to phase out Cantonese programming on TV in favor of Mandarin. There is also a mounting sense of concern among many in Hong Kong that increasing political and cultural influence from the mainland could erode the use of Cantonese in the city.

In an interview with China Real Time, Mr. Lau discussed his project and the political meaning of Cantonese. Edited excerpts follow:

What made you decide to launch this project?

I decided to embark on this project in 2014 because there is currently no Cantonese-Cantonese dictionary, only dictionaries that translate Cantonese into other languages, such as Cantonese into English. Some languages have even fewer people speaking it, like Icelandic or Norwegian, and they have their own dictionaries.

We have about 120 volunteers who are helping compile the dictionary. Our short-term goal is to have about 30,000 basic words in it by the end of this year.

A screenshot from the words.hk online Cantonese dictionary. Illustration: words.hk

Why do you think no such dictionary has ever been produced?

Traditionally, people have held a kind of derogatory attitude towards Cantonese. For example, in schools children speak Cantonese but are not allowed to write in Cantonese because it isn’t considered as refined as Mandarin Chinese. It’s a bit like in the past when English was the vernacular in England, but Latin was used for more official or academic purposes.

As kids in school, we felt we were constantly being disciplined if we ever used Cantonese words. For example, in Cantonese we use the character 食 (sik) for eating, rather than the character 吃 (chi) which is used in Mandarin, but we couldn’t use that in writing. Chinese teachers wanted the Chinese we wrote to be understood by everyone in China.

The dictionary's main search page.

What are some of the difficulties involved in your project?

Not all Cantonese words have a written form. So in the past, people have come up with their own characters for certain Cantonese words. If there’s no agreed way to write something, we will just use the romanized version of it in the dictionary. One example is the word pronounced hea, which describes someone as “carefree” or “slothful” and is also a verb meaning to “slack off” or “be idle”.

How many people speak Cantonese in the world?

Some estimates put it at around 60 million but I think that is quite conservative. I believe it is somewhere between 70 to 100 million, including standard Cantonese and other southern Chinese dialects belonging to the yue family, which would include the Toisan, or Taishan, dialect for example.

What are your thoughts on the current status of Cantonese?

I don’t think Cantonese is too threatened right now. It is “safer” than other Chinese dialects. The awareness of Cantonese is very strong in Guangdong province, because they directly feel the threat from the government. There has always been this feeling that they have been under threat from the north of China.

This is unlike in Shanghai, where I heard anecdotes from friends that for example, in 1980 if you stepped outside to ask for directions in Shanghainese, people would understand you. But now that isn’t the case anymore, almost everyone speaks Mandarin.

I’m optimistic, but very cautious. Cantonese has many advantages -- many people speak Cantonese and use it in their everyday communication. There is a thriving Cantonese media in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong province.

An image from the Facebook page of words.hk.

How is Chinese taught in Hong Kong schools now?

About 70% of elementary schools use Mandarin as the language of instruction in Chinese class in some capacity. Other classes such as math or science will be conducted in Cantonese. Schools receive funding for adopting Mandarin instruction. You can already see that more kids these days are injecting Mandarin words into their everyday conversations in Cantonese. I would draw a parallel with Luxembourg, where the vernacular is Luxembourgish but students are taught in German and French.

What are some examples of languages that you think have been well preserved?

Manx on the Isle of Man is a good example, as is Hebrew, but that’s a very particular case as it literally died out and was resurrected.

I think Taiwan has done a good job of keeping the Minnan tongue alive in Taiwan, thanks to strong support from the government there. Many people in the younger generation there speak it. There was a huge push in around 2000 to promote Minnan. There are many sub-dialects in Minnan, and different parts of Taiwan have their own Minnan teaching materials.

--Isabella Steger. Follow her on Twitter @stegersaurus.