Cantonese xiehouyu : sardonicism in a regional culture under threat

Humour is characteristic of Cantonese culture, a fact which assumes extra significance because the language itself is under threat. There are many forms of humour usage, including aggressive and self-defensive types. Here I highlight one form, the Cantonese xiehouyu 歇後語, that I believe does not fall into either category, and therefore I describe it as ‘sardonic’, in the sense proposed by Vladimir Propp, that is, a life-endorsing ritual humour, as will be explained in the conclusion to this paper. I shall also comment on the fraught relationship between the central government of China and the Cantonese-speaking region, on recent government campaigns to restrict the use of local dialects and languages, and on local resistance, particularly as expressed in this linguistic humour form sometimes described in English as ‘a proverb with the second part suspended’.