Hainanese Explained

Hainanese
Also Known As:	Qiongwen, Hainan Min
Nativename:	海南話, Hhai3 nam2 ue1, Hái-nâm-oe
Pronunciation:	pronounced as /[hai˨˩˧ nam˨˩ ue˨˧]/ (Haikou dialect)
States:	China, Singapore, Thailand
Region:	Hainan
Ethnicity:	Hainanese
Speakers:	Around 5 million in China
Date:	2002
Ref:	^[1]
Familycolor:	Sino-Tibetan
Fam2:	Sinitic
Fam3:	Chinese
Fam4:	Min
Fam5:	Coastal Min
Fam6:	Qiong–Lei
Dia1:	Haikou
Dia2:	Wenchang
Dia3:	Qionghai
Dia4:	Wanning
Dia5:	Lingshui
Dia6:	Sanya
Ancestor:	Proto-Sino-Tibetan
Ancestor2:	Old Chinese
Ancestor3:	Proto-Min
Script:	Chinese characters Hainanese PinyinHainan Romanized
Iso3:	none
Glotto:	hain1238
Glottorefname:	Hainan
Lingua:	79-AAA-k
Map:	Min dialect map.svg
Map2:	Hainan_Dialect_Variation_Map.png
Mapcaption2:	Varieties of the Hainanese spoken in Hainan.
Notice:	IPA
Iso3comment:	(is proposed^[2])

Hainanese (Hainan Romanised: Hái-nâm-oe, Hainanese Pinyin: Hhai3 nam2 ue1,), also known as Qiongwen, Qiongyu or Hainan Min ^[3] is a group of Min Chinese varieties spoken in the far southern Chinese island province of Hainan and regional Overseas Chinese communities such as in Singapore and Thailand.

In the classification of Yuan Jiahua, it was included in the Southern Min group, being mutually unintelligible with other Southern Min varieties such as Hokkien–Taiwanese and Teochew.^[4] In the classification of Li Rong, used by the Language Atlas of China, it was treated as a separate Min subgroup.^[5] Hou Jingyi combined it with Leizhou Min, spoken on the neighboring mainland Leizhou Peninsula, in a Qiong–Lei group.^[6] "Hainanese" is also used for the language of the Li people living in Hainan, but generally refers to Min varieties spoken in Hainan.

Phonology

The phonologies of the different varieties of Hainanese are highly divergent,^[7] with the Wenchang dialect being the prestige dialect, and often used as a reference.^[8]

Consonants

Below is a table for the consonants of Hainanese across the dialects of Wenchang, Haikou and Banqiao.^[7] For more information on a specific variety, please consult the relevant article.

							Glottal
Plosive		pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 爸 pa	pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 洗 toi			pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 公 kong	pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 啊 a
		pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 婆 pho	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 去 khu
		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 我 gua
		pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 北 ɓak	pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 茶 ɗei			(pronounced as /link/)
Affricate				pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 食 tsia
				pronounced as /link/
				pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 日 jit
Fricative		pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 皮 fi	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 事 sei	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 海 hai
		pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 文 vun		pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 欲 zok			pronounced as /link/
Nasal		pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 目 mak	pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 念 niam			pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 乐 ngak
Approximant		pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 发 wat	pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 老 lao		pronounced as /link/ Chinese: 肉 yok

Many of the most widely spoken varieties of Hainanese notably have a series of implosive consonants, pronounced as //ɓ// and pronounced as //ɗ//, which were acquired through contact with surrounding languages, probably Hlai. However, more conservative varieties of Hainanese such as Banqiao remain closer to Teochew and other varieties of Southern Min, lack them.^[7]

The consonant system of Hainanese corresponds well with that of Hokkien, but it has had some restructuring. In particular:^[7]

• Etymological plain stops have undergone implosivization (*p > pronounced as /[ɓ]/, *t > pronounced as /[ɗ]/) in the more innovative varieties such as Wenchang and Haikou.
• Etymological aspirated stops have spirantized (*pʰ > pronounced as /[ɸ]/, *tʰ > pronounced as /[h]/, *tsʰ > pronounced as /[ɕ]/, *kʰ > pronounced as /[h~x]/) in more innovative varieties.
• The lenition of an historic *b into pronounced as /[v]/ in Banqiao and Haikou, though not in Wenchang.
• Former *s has hardened into a stop (*s > pronounced as /[t]/), although in the more conservative Banqiao dialect some instances have only undergone fortition to (*s > pronounced as /[θ]/), and others have remained pronounced as /[s]/.
• Former *h has become pronounced as /[ɦ]/ in Wenchang.

Additionally, pronounced as /[ʑ]/ is an allophone of pronounced as //j//.

These changes also make Hainanese fairly close to Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary.

			Haikou Hainanese	Sino-Vietnamese
	xié	siâ	dia2	da
	xiān	sian	din1	tiên
	sàn	suànn	dan4	tàn
	jì	jiak	di1	tích
	shén	sîn	din2	thần
	chī	chi	si1	si

Vowels

Hainanese has seven phonemic vowels .

			Back
Close	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Close-mid	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Open-mid	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Open		pronounced as /link/

Tones

Tone chart of the Hainan dialect

Tone number			Example
1	yin ping (Chinese: 阴平)	pronounced as /˨˦/ (24)	Chinese: 诗
2	yang ping (Chinese: 阳平)	pronounced as /˨˩/ (21)	Chinese: 时
3	yin shang (Chinese: 阴上)	pronounced as /˨˩˩/ (211)	Chinese: 死
4	yin qu (Chinese: 阴去)	pronounced as /˧˥/ (35)	Chinese: 四
5	yang qu (Chinese: 阳去)	pronounced as /˧/ (33)	Chinese: 是
6	yin ru (Chinese: 阴入)	pronounced as /˥/ (5)	Chinese: 失
7	yang ru (Chinese: 阳入)	pronounced as /˧/ (3)	Chinese: 实
8	chang ru (Chinese: 长入)	pronounced as /˥/ (55)	Chinese: 视

Romanization

Hainanese Pinyin

See main article: Hainanese Transliteration Scheme. Hainanese Pinyin (Chinese: 海南话拼音方案) is a phonetic system announced by the Education Administration Department of Guangdong Province in September 1960. It marks tones with numbers.

Initials

			Example
pronounced as /link/	b	b	Chinese: 北
pronounced as /link/	b	p	Chinese: 波
pronounced as /link/	p	ph	Chinese: 坡
pronounced as /link/	p	f	Chinese: 皮
pronounced as /link/	m	m	Chinese: 摩
pronounced as /link/	v	b	?
pronounced as /link/	v	v	Chinese: 无
pronounced as /link/	d	t	Chinese: 装
pronounced as /link/	dd	d	Chinese: 刀
pronounced as /link/	n	n	Chinese: 挪
pronounced as /link/	l	l	Chinese: 罗
pronounced as /link/	g	k	Chinese: 哥
pronounced as /link/	ng	g	Chinese: 俄
pronounced as /link/	h	kh	Chinese: 可
pronounced as /link/	hh	h	Chinese: 号
pronounced as /link/	gh	g	Chinese: 我
pronounced as /link/	z	c	Chinese: 支
pronounced as /link/	s	s	Chinese: 妻
pronounced as /link/	y	j	Chinese: 余

Finals

			Example
pronounced as /link/	a	a	Chinese: 亚
pronounced as /link/	o	o	Chinese: 荷
pronounced as /link/	e	e	Chinese: 摩
pronounced as /link/	i	i	Chinese: 医
pronounced as /link/	u	u	Chinese: 呜
ai	ai	ai	Chinese: 哀
ɔi	oi	oi	Chinese: 鞋
au	ao	au	Chinese: 喉
ia	ia	ia	Chinese: 也
iɔ	io	io	Chinese: 腰
ua	ua	oa	Chinese: 换
ue	ue	oe	Chinese: 话
ui	ui	oi	Chinese: 威
uai	uai	oai	Chinese: 坏
ɔu	ou	ou	Chinese: 黑
iu	iu	iu	Chinese: 柚
iau	iao	iau	Chinese: 妖
iam	iam	iam	Chinese: 厌
im	im	im	Chinese: 音
am	am	am	Chinese: 暗
an	an	an	Chinese: 安
in	in	in	Chinese: 烟
un	un	un	Chinese: 温
uan	uan	oan	Chinese: 弯
aŋ	ang	ag	Chinese: 红
eŋ	eng	eg	Chinese: 英
ɔŋ	ong	og	Chinese: 翁
iaŋ	iang	iag	Chinese: 央
uaŋ	uang	oag	Chinese: 汪
iɔŋ	iong	iog	Chinese: 匈
ip	ib	ib	Chinese: 邑
iap	iab	iab	Chinese: 协
at	ad	at	Chinese: 遏
it	id	it	Chinese: 乙
ut	ud	ut	Chinese: 核
uat	uad	oat	Chinese: 挖
ak	ag	ak	Chinese: 鹤
ek	eg	ek	Chinese: 益
ok	og	ok	Chinese: 喔
iok	iog	iok	Chinese: 育
uak	uag	oak	Chinese: 廓
-ʔ	-h	-h	Chinese: 不

See also

• Hainanese culture
• Hainanese people

Further reading

• Comparative Min phonology . Chang . Kuang-yu . University of California, Berkeley . PhD thesis . 1986 .
• Book: Hǎikǒu fāngyán cídiǎn . zh:海口方言詞典 . Haikou dialect dictionary . Chen . Hongmai . Nanjing . Jiangsu Education Press . 1996 . . 16 . 978-7-5343-2886-2 .
• Karen . Huang . Contact-induced changes in the languages of Hainan . Annual Student Conference of the College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature . University of Hawaii .
• The role of language strata in language evolution: three Hainan Min dialects . Kwok . Bit-chee . Journal of Chinese Linguistics . 2006 . 34 . 2 . 201–291 . 23754124 .
• Miyake, Marc. 2008. Hainanese articles.
• Miyake, Marc. 2008. Hainanese -om and -op.
• The Kienyang Dialect of Fukien . Jerry Lee . Norman . Jerry Norman (sinologist) . University of California, Berkeley . PhD thesis . 1969 . includes a description of the phonology of the Ding'an dialect.
• Linguistic Contact in Ancient South China: The Case of Hainan Chinese, Be, and Vietnamese . David B. . Solnit . Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society . 8 . 1982 . 219–230 . 10.3765/bls.v8i0.2041 . free.
• A synchronic phonology of Hainan dialect: Part I . Woon . Wee-Lee . Journal of Chinese Linguistics . 1979a . 7 . 1 . 65–100 . 23753034 . describes Wenchang dialect.
• A synchronic phonology of Hainan dialect: Part II . Woon . Wee-Lee . Journal of Chinese Linguistics . 1979b . 7 . 2 . 268–302 . 23752923 .
• Book: Margaret Mian . Yan . Introduction to Chinese Dialectology . LINCOM Europa . 2006 . 978-3-89586-629-6 .

External links

• Learn hainanese

Notes and References

1. Book: Hou . Jingyi 侯精一 . Xiàndài Hànyǔ fāngyán gàilùn . zh:现代汉语方言概论 . An Introduction to Modern Chinese Dialects . Shanghai Educational Press 上海教育出版社 . 2002 . 207–208.
2. Web site: Change Request Documentation: 2021-045 . 31 August 2021 . 30 May 2022.
3. Web site: 为新加坡琼属"寻根"的热心人——王振春 . Hainan.gov . 中新海南网 . 22 March 2020 . zh . 他组织演出琼语话剧《海南四条街》，搬上新琼舞台，引起两地海南人的共鸣。 . 22 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200322180304/http://www.hainan.gov.cn/hn/zjhn/dfts/dwjlyhz/hnqqqw/201504/t20150402_1542361.html . dead .
4. Book: Gary F. . Simons . Charles D. . Fennig . Ethnologue: Languages of the World . Dallas, Texas . SIL International . 20th . 2017 . Chinese, Min Nan .
5. Book: Kurpaska . Maria . Chinese Language(s): A Look Through the Prism of "The Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects" . . 2010 . 978-3-11-021914-2 . 54–55, 86 .
6. Book: Hou . Jingyi 侯精一 . Xiàndài Hànyǔ fāngyán gàilùn . zh:现代汉语方言概论 . An Introduction to Modern Chinese Dialects . Shanghai Educational Press 上海教育出版社 . 2002 . 238 .
7. Karen . Huang . Contact-induced changes in the languages of Hainan . Annual Student Conference of the College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature . University of Hawaii . 2006 .
8. "Chinese: 其中文昌话语音清晰，影响较大，被视为海南话的标准语，是海南广播电台、电视台与社会使用的主要方言。" From Web site: 《文昌县志·第二十九编 社会习俗·第三章 方言》 . 2023-10-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20150518073528/http://www.hnszw.org.cn/data/news/2015/04/77216/ . 2015-05-18 . dead.