Jiamao (, ''Jiamao''; also ''Tái'' or ''Sāi'') is a possible language isolate spoken in southern

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slight ...

, China. Jiamao speakers' autonym is ''¹''.See Proto-Tai_language#Tones for an explanation of the tone codes.

Classification

Jiamao was long thought to be one of the

Hlai languages 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 Ch ...

, which are a subgrouping of the Kra–Dai family, but its many divergent words eventually lead Graham Thurgood (1992) to suggest that it might have an Austroasiatic substratum. Norquest (2007) identified various lexical items in Jiamao that do not reconstruct to Proto-Hlai and later firmly established it as a non-Hlai language. Hsiu (2018) notes that Jiamao also contains various words borrowed from an unknown, currently extinct

Tibeto-Burman The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people spe ...

branch.

Demographics

In the 1980s, Jiamao was spoken by 50,000 people in central and south-central Hainan, mostly in Jiamao Township (加茂镇) in Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County. It shares less than half of its lexicon with the Hlai languages. In Lingshui Li Autonomous County, Jiamao is spoken in Benhao (本号), Nanping (南平), Wenluo (文罗), Zuguan (祖关), Longguang (隆广), and Tianzi (田仔). In Lingshui County, Jiamao is known as ''Tái'' (台), and is also known as ''Sāi'' (塞) or ''Jiāwǒ'' (加我). In

Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County is an autonomous county in Hainan, China. It is one of 6 autonomous counties of the upper highlands of Hainan. Its postal code is 572900, and in 1999 its population was 196,581 people, largely made up of t ...

, it is spoken in Zhongping Town (中平镇) and Shengpo Farm (乘坡农场), in a total of 30 villages. There are four Jiamao dialects, namely Jiamao (加茂), Liugong (六弓), Tianzi (田仔), and Qunying (群英). Jiamao is spoken in the following villages and townships of southern Hainan. *Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County (保亭黎族苗族自治县) **Jiamao Township (加茂乡) **Liugong Township (六弓乡) **Shiling Town (什玲镇, in Jie 介村 and Shisheng 什胜村 villages) *Lingshui Li Autonomous County (陵水黎族自治县) **Longguang Town (隆广镇) **Benhao Town (本号镇) * Sanya (三亚市) **Haitangwan Town (海棠湾镇, northeastern part: in Longtoucai 龙头菜村, Xiepei 协配村, and Maohou 毛喉村 villages) The Liaoergong (廖二弓) dialect is documented in Huang (2011).

References

Works cited

* * *

Classification

Demographics

See also

References

Works cited

Further reading