Hainanese


Hainanese, also known as Qióngwén or Qióngyǔ, is a group of Min Chinese varieties spoken in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan. In the classification of Yuan Jiahua, it was included in the Southern Min group, although it is mutually unintelligible with Southern Min varieties such as Hokkien–Taiwanese and Teochew. In the classification of Li Rong, used by the Language Atlas of China, it was treated as a separate Min subgroup. Hou Jingyi combined it with Leizhou Min, spoken on the neighboring mainland Leizhou Peninsula, in a Qiong–Lei group. "Hainanese" is also used for the language of the Li people living in Hainan, but generally refers to Min varieties spoken in Hainan.

Phonology

Hainanese has seven phonemic vowels.
FrontCentralBack
Close/i//u/
Close-mid/e//o/
Open-mid/ɛ//ɔ/
Open/a/

Hainanese notably has a series of implosive consonants, which it acquired through contact with surrounding languages, probably Hlai.
The phonological system of Hainanese corresponds well with that of Hokkien, but it has had some restructuring. In particular, etymological *anterior plain stops have undergone implosivization, and etymological *s have hardened into stops, and *h >. Additionally, some dialects have, and is allophonic with.