Xiguan dialect

The Xiguan dialect, or Sai Kwan dialect , is the prestige dialect of Cantonese originated from Xiguan (Sai Kwan), Guangzhou.

Speakers
People living in Xiguan have generally lost a Xiguan accent; what they are actually speaking with is the lazy pronunciation of Xiguan Dialect.

Confusion of consonants n & l
Due to Xiguan's near geographical position to Nanhai, both accents spoken in Xiguan and Nanhai feature n-l merger, in which /n/ and /l/ are merged into /l/. However, the feature is less prominent in the Xiguan accent.

Consonant ng
Speakers of Xiguan Accents pronounce zero consonant as the consonant ng, for instance, "屋(uk7)" as "nguk7" and "壓(aat8)" as "ngaat8".

Vowels i & ei / ai
Speakers of Xiguan Accents pronounce vowels ei and ai as i. The phenomenon also lies in Nanhai Accents, such as:

Dental consonant
Additionally, speakers of Xiguan Accents enhance dental consonants. That is to say, downtown people pronounce "知", "雌" and "斯" as,  and  (comparatively relaxed in the oral area, close to ,  and  in IPA; and yet Speakers of Xiguan Accents pronounce ,  and  (The tip of tongue pushes up against upper teeth and blocks up air current. Tense in the oral area, similar to zh, ch and sh in Mandarin without rolling tongue). To be precise, dental consonants are similar to the consonants of 左", "初" and "所" (i.e.,, and ) in Downtown Accents. In summary, speakers of Xiguan Accents pronounce ,  and  as ,  and . A saying representing Xiguan Accents goes that Servant, take some money to buy some seadless kaki fruits.

Relationship with downtown accents (especially Dongshan accents)
Xiguan lies to the west of Taiping Gate. Xiguan is the suburb of Guangzhou and it was administered by Nanhai County rather than Panyu County (covering former Yuexiu District and former Dongshan District). Therefore, it was not regarded as part of the capital of Guangdong Province. Therefore, Xiguan Dialect should be regarded as suburban accents, distinguished from Downtown Accent, esp. Dongshan Accents. Notwithstanding, Xiguan lies close to the provincial capital, so the gap is narrow.