Old Yue language

The Old Yue language (Chinese: 古越語; pinyin: Gu Yueyu; Jyutping: Gu2 Jyut6 Jyu5; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kó͘-oa̍t-gí / Kó͘-oa̍t-gír / Kó͘-oa̍t-gú) is an unknown unclassified language, or groups of various languages, spoken in ancient China circa 700s BCE or later. It can refer to Yue, which was spoken in the realm of Yue during the Spring and Autumn period. It can also refer to the different languages spoken by the Baiyue. Possible languages spoken by them may have been of Kra–Dai, Hmong–Mien, Austronesian, Austroasiatic and other origins.

Knowledge of Yue speech is limited to fragmentary references and possible loanwords in other languages, principally Chinese. The longest attestation is the Song of the Yue Boatman, a short song transcribed phonetically in Chinese characters in 528 BC and included, with a Chinese version, in the Garden of Stories compiled by Liu Xiang five centuries later.

Native Nanyue people likely spoke Old Yue, while Han settlers and government officials spoke Old Chinese. Some suggest that the descendants of the Nanyue spoke Austroasiatic languages. Others suggest a language related to the modern Zhuang people. It is plausible to say that the Yue spoke more than one language. Old Chinese in the region was likely much influenced by Yue speech (and vice versa), and many Old Yue loanwords in Chinese have been identified by modern scholars.