Hlai languages
| Hlai | |
|---|---|
| Li | |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Hainan |
| Ethnicity | Li people |
Native speakers | (700,000 cited 1987–1999)[1] |
Kra–Dai
| |
Early form | Proto-Hlai (reconstructed)
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:lic – Hlaicuq – Cun |
| Glottolog | nucl1241 |
The Hlai languages (Chinese: 黎语; pinyin: Lí yǔ) are a primary branch of the Tai–Kadai language family spoken in the mountains of central and south-central Hainan in China. They include Cun, whose speakers are ethnically distinct.[2] A quarter of Hlai speakers are monolingual. None of the Hlai languages had a writing system until the 1950s, when the Latin script was adopted for Ha.
Classification
Norquest (2007) classifies the Hlai languages as follows.[3] Individual languages are highlighted in bold. There are some 750,000 Hlai speakers.
- Proto-Hlai
- Bouhin (Heitu 黑土) – 73,000
- Greater Hlai
- Ha Em 哈 (Zhongsha 中沙) – 193,000, the basis of the literary language
- Central Hlai
- East Central Hlai – 344,000
- Lauhut (Baoding 保定) – 166,000
- Qi 杞 aka Gei – 178,000
- Tongzha (Tongshi 通什) – 125,000
- Zandui (Qiandui 堑对) – 29,000
- Baoting 保亭 – 24,000
- North Central Hlai – 136,500
- Northwest Central Hlai – 62,500
- Northeast Central Hlai – 74,000
- Meifu 美孚 (Moifau) – 30,000
- Changjiang 昌江
- Moyfaw (Xifang 西方)
- Run (Zwn) aka Bendi – 44,000
- Baisha 白沙 – 36,000
- Yuanmen 元门 – 8,000
- Meifu 美孚 (Moifau) – 30,000
- East Central Hlai – 344,000
The Fuma 府玛 dialect is spoken in 1 village north of Changcheng 昌城, Hainan. It had by 800 speakers in 1994.[4]
Jiamao 加茂 (52,000), although ethnically Hlai, is not a Hlai language. It is currently unclassified.
Reconstruction
See also
Notes
- ^ Hlai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Cun at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ Ethnologue mistakenly lists Cun among the Kra languages.
- ^ Norquest, Peter K. (2007). A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai (Ph.D. dissertation). Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona.
- ^ http://asiaharvest.org/wp-content/themes/asia/docs/people-groups/China/chinaPeoples/F/Fuma.pdf
References
- Ostapirat, Weera (2005). "The Cun Language, by Ouyang Jueya. Shanghai Far East Publishers. 1998" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 28 (1).
- Ouyang Jueya 欧阳觉亚 & Zheng Yiqing 郑贻青. 1983. Liyu diaocha yanjiu 黎语调查研究. Beijing: Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Chubanshe 中国社会科学出版社.