Jiamao | |
---|---|
Sai 塞 | |
Tai 台 | |
Native to | China |
Region | Hainan |
Native speakers | (50,000 cited 1987) [1] |
Kra-Dai or language isolate
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
jio |
Glottolog |
jiam1236 |
Jiamao ( Chinese: 加茂; pinyin: Jiāmào; also 台 Tái or 塞 Sāi) is a divergent Kra-Dai language or possible language isolate [2] spoken in southern Hainan, China. [3] Jiamao speakers' autonym is tʰai1. [4] [5]
Jiamao is often classified one of the Hlai languages, which constitute a primary branch of the Kra–Dai language family, but Norquest (2007, 2015) and others note that Jiamao has a non-Hlai substratum.
Graham Thurgood (1992) suggested that Jiamao 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. [6] Hsiu (2018) notes that Jiamao also contains various words borrowed from an unknown, currently extinct Tibeto-Burman branch. [7]
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. [8]
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). [9] In Lingshui County, Jiamao is known as Tái (台), and is also known as Sāi (塞) or Jiāwǒ (加我).[ citation needed]
There are four Jiamao dialects, [10] 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.[ citation needed]
The Liaoergong (廖二弓) dialect is documented in Huang (2011). [11]
Jiamao has 8 distinct tone categories (Norquest 2015:311):
Tone category | High register tone | Low register tone |
---|---|---|
A (open) | /55/ (tone 1) | /11/ (tone 4) |
X (glottalized) | /51/ (tone 5) | /31/ (tone 2) |
DL (long closed) | /53/ (tone 9) | /31/ (tone 8) |
DS (short closed) | /55/ (tone 7) | /22/ (tone 10) |
Like Proto- Be, [12] Jiamao does not distinguish between tone categories B and C, but rather only has an X category.
As noted by Thurgood (1992) and Norquest (2015), these do not correspond to Hlai tones, but rather initials in Proto-Hlai. High register tones are derived from unvoiced initials, and low register tones from voiced initials.
Jiamao | |
---|---|
Sai 塞 | |
Tai 台 | |
Native to | China |
Region | Hainan |
Native speakers | (50,000 cited 1987) [1] |
Kra-Dai or language isolate
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
jio |
Glottolog |
jiam1236 |
Jiamao ( Chinese: 加茂; pinyin: Jiāmào; also 台 Tái or 塞 Sāi) is a divergent Kra-Dai language or possible language isolate [2] spoken in southern Hainan, China. [3] Jiamao speakers' autonym is tʰai1. [4] [5]
Jiamao is often classified one of the Hlai languages, which constitute a primary branch of the Kra–Dai language family, but Norquest (2007, 2015) and others note that Jiamao has a non-Hlai substratum.
Graham Thurgood (1992) suggested that Jiamao 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. [6] Hsiu (2018) notes that Jiamao also contains various words borrowed from an unknown, currently extinct Tibeto-Burman branch. [7]
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. [8]
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). [9] In Lingshui County, Jiamao is known as Tái (台), and is also known as Sāi (塞) or Jiāwǒ (加我).[ citation needed]
There are four Jiamao dialects, [10] 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.[ citation needed]
The Liaoergong (廖二弓) dialect is documented in Huang (2011). [11]
Jiamao has 8 distinct tone categories (Norquest 2015:311):
Tone category | High register tone | Low register tone |
---|---|---|
A (open) | /55/ (tone 1) | /11/ (tone 4) |
X (glottalized) | /51/ (tone 5) | /31/ (tone 2) |
DL (long closed) | /53/ (tone 9) | /31/ (tone 8) |
DS (short closed) | /55/ (tone 7) | /22/ (tone 10) |
Like Proto- Be, [12] Jiamao does not distinguish between tone categories B and C, but rather only has an X category.
As noted by Thurgood (1992) and Norquest (2015), these do not correspond to Hlai tones, but rather initials in Proto-Hlai. High register tones are derived from unvoiced initials, and low register tones from voiced initials.