Hlai languages
Kra–Dai language family of China
title: "Hlai languages" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["hlai-languages", "languages-of-hainan"] description: "Kra–Dai language family of China" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hlai_languages" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Kra–Dai language family of China ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Hlai |
| altname | Li |
| states | China |
| region | Hainan |
| ethnicity | Hlai |
| speakers | 667,000 |
| date | 1999 |
| ref | e18 |
| familycolor | Tai–Kadai |
| fam2 | Hlai–Jiamao? |
| protoname | Proto-Hlai (reconstructed) |
| script | Latin |
| lc1 | lic |
| ld1 | Hlai |
| lc2 | cuq |
| ld2 | Cun |
| glotto | nucl1241 |
| glottorefname | Nuclear Hlaic |
| notice | IPA |
| :: |
| name = Hlai | altname = Li | states = China | region = Hainan | ethnicity = Hlai | speakers = 667,000 | date = 1999 | ref = e18 | familycolor = Tai–Kadai | fam2 = Hlai–Jiamao? | protoname = Proto-Hlai (reconstructed) | script = Latin | lc1 = lic | ld1 = Hlai | lc2 = cuq | ld2 = Cun | glotto = nucl1241 | glottorefname = Nuclear Hlaic | notice = IPA
The Hlai languages () are a primary branch of the Kra–Dai language family spoken in the mountains of central and south-central Hainan in China by the Hlai people, not to be confused with the colloquial name for the Leizhou branch of Min Chinese (). They include Cun, whose speakers are ethnically distinct. 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. There are some 750,000 Hlai speakers.
- Proto-Hlai
- Bouhin (cmn 黑土) – 73,000
- Greater Hlai
- Ha Em 哈炎 (cmn 中沙) – 193,000
- Central Hlai
- East Central Hlai – 344,000
- Lauhut (cmn 保定) – 166,000, the basis of the literary language
- Qi 杞 (also known as Gei) – 178,000
- Tongzha (cmn 通什) – 125,000
- Zandui (cmn 堑对) – 29,000
- cmn 保亭 – 24,000
- North Central Hlai – 136,500
- Northwest Central Hlai – 62,500
- Cun 村语 (Ngan Fon, cmn 仡隆) – 60,000
- cmn 那斗 (cmn 东方) – 2,500
- Northeast Central Hlai – 74,000
- cmn 美孚 (Moifau) – 30,000
- cmn 昌江
- Moyfaw (cmn 西方)
- cmn 润 (Zwn; also known as cmn 本地) – 44,000
- cmn 白沙 – 36,000
- cmn 元门 – 8,000
- cmn 美孚 (Moifau) – 30,000
- Northwest Central Hlai – 62,500
- East Central Hlai – 344,000
Nadou is spoken by approximately 4,000 people in the two villages of cmn 那斗村 (in cmn Town 新龙镇) and cmn 月村 (in cmn Town 八所镇), in Dongfang, Hainan. Speakers refer to themselves as lai¹¹ and are officially classified by the Chinese government as ethnic Han Chinese.
cmn 加茂 (52,000 speakers) is a divergent Kra-Dai language with a Hlai superstratum and a non-Hlai substratum.
Reconstruction
Main article: Proto-Hlai language
The Proto-Hlai language is the reconstructed ancestor of the Hlai languages. Proto-Hlai reconstructions include those of Matisoff (1988), Thurgood (1991), Ostapirat (2004), and Norquest (2007).
Phonology
The following displays the phonological features of the modern Hlai dialects:
Consonants
::data[format=table] | Bilabial | Labio- dental | Alveolar | Alveolo- palatal | Velar | Glottal | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | pal. | Plosive | voiceless | aspirated | voiced | implosive | Affricate | voiceless | aspirated | Fricative | voiceless | voiced | lateral | Nasal | Trill | Approximant | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | () | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::
- , mainly occur word-initially among various dialects. may also be realized as .
- [], [] mainly occur among the Xifang dialects.
- can also occur as an allophone of .
- , , are pronounced as alveolo-palatal sounds , , , among other various dialects.
- can have allophones as .
- For a brief period of time Yuanmen distinguished and after became which soon merged with .
Vowels
::data[format=table]
| Front | Central | Back | High | Mid | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
- Among other Hlai dialects, can have allophones of .
- Vowel sounds and are common among the Baisha and Jiamao dialects.
- occurs among some dialects.
History
Liang & Zhang (1996:18–21) conclude that the original homeland of the Hlai languages was the Leizhou Peninsula, and estimate that the Hlai had migrated across the Hainan Strait to Hainan Island about 4,000 years before present.
Notes
References
References
- Ethnologue mistakenly lists Cun among the [[Kra languages]].
- Norquest, Peter K.. (2007). "A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai". University of Arizona.
- Fu, Changzhong 符昌忠. (2020). "Nadouyu yanjiu 那斗语研究". Minzu chubanshe 民族出版社.
- Ostapirat, Weera. (2008). "The Tai-Kadai Languages". Routledge.
- (1994). "Líyǔ yǔfǎ gāngyào". Zhongyang minzu daxue chubanshe .
- Ouyang, Jueya 欧阳觉亚. (1980). "Líyǔ jiǎnzhì". Minzu chubanshe .
- [https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/194203/azu_etd_2517_sip1_m.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Norquest (2007)], p. 106
- Liang, Min 梁敏. (1996). "Dòng tái yǔzú gàilùn". Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe .
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