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Be (), also known as Ong Be, Bê, or ''Vo Limgao'' (Mandarin 臨高 ''Lín'gāo''), is a pair of languages spoken by 600,000 people, 100,000 of them monolingual, on the north-central coast of
Hainan Island 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 slightly l ...
, including the suburbs of the provincial capital
Haikou Haikou (; ), also spelled as Hoikow is the capital and most populous city of the Chinese province of Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River. The northern part of the city is on the H ...
. The speakers are counted as part of the
Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive var ...
nationality in census. According to '' Ethnologue'', it is taught in primary schools.


Names

Be speakers refer to themselves as ', with ' being the prefix for persons and ' meaning 'village' (Liang 1997:1). Liang (1997) notes that it is similar to the autonym ' (from ' 'person' and ' 'village'), by which Gelong 仡隆 (
Cun language Cun (Chinese: 村話; meaning "village language/speech") or Gelong (仡隆语 / 哥隆语) or Ngan-Fon is a Kra–Dai language spoken on Hainan Island. It is a part of the Hlai languages branch and has a lexical similarity with standard Hlai at ...
) speakers refer to themselves.


Classification

Be is a Kra–Dai language, but its precise relationship to other branches within the Kra-Dai family has yet not been conclusively determined. Hansell (1988) considers Be to be a
sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer t ...
of the Tai branch based on shared vocabulary, and proposes a ''Be–Tai'' grouping. Based on toponymic evidence from place names with the prefix ''dya''- (调 diao), Jinfang Li considers Be to have originated from the
Leizhou Leizhou () is a county-level city in Guangdong Province, China. It is under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Zhanjiang Zhanjiang (), historically spelled Tsamkong, is a prefecture-level city at the southwestern end of G ...
peninsula of
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
province. Weera Ostapirat (1998), analyzing data from Zhang (1992), notes that Be and Jizhao share many lexical similarities and sound correspondences, and that Jizhao may be a remnant Be-related language on the Chinese mainland.


Dialects

Be consists of the Lincheng 临城 (Western) and Qiongshan 琼山 (Eastern) dialects (Liang 1997). Liang (1997:32) documents the following varieties of Be. * Lingao County (including Lincheng 临城镇 and Xinying 新盈镇 towns) *Bailian 白莲,
Chengmai County Chéngmài County ( postal: Tsingmai; ) is an administrative district in Hainan, China. It is one of four counties of Hainan. Its postal code is 571900. In 2002, its population was 490,800. History The first record of Chengmai County is in 110 BC ...
*Longtang Township 龙塘镇,
Qiongshan District Qiongshan District, alternately romanized as Kiungshan, is one district in Haikou City, Hainan. History As Qiongzhou, formerly romanized as Kiungchow, the district was formerly a separate city which served as the center of Chinese administr ...
Be of Chengmai is intermediate between the Lincheng and Qiongshan dialects, and has features of both (Liang 1997). Chen (2018) contains extensive comparative lexical data for the Be dialects of Changliu (長流), Yongxing (永興), Longtang (龍塘), Qiaotou (橋頭), Huangtong (皇桐), and Xinying (新盈). The Qiaotou, Huangtong, and Xinying dialects are unintelligible with the Changliu, Yongxing, Longtang, and Shishan (石山) dialects. Chen (2018) also reconstructs Proto-Ong-Be on the basis of this comparative lexical data.


Classification

Chen (2018: 82) classifies the Ong-Be dialects into two groups, which are mutually unintelligible with each other. ;Western Ong-Be *Qiaotou 橋頭 *Huangtong 皇桐 *Maniao 馬裊 *Lincheng 臨城 *Jialai 加來 *Meiliang 美良 *Xinying 新盈 ;Eastern Ong-Be *Longtang 龍塘 *Longqiao 龍橋 *Longquan 龍泉 (formerly Shizilu 十字路) *Yongxing 永興 *Shishan 石山 *Changliu 長流 *Laocheng 老城


Phonology


Consonants


Initials

* is mainly heard in finals, rarely in initials. * can also be heard as in free variation. * can be heard as in the dialect of Xindengyi.


Finals


Vowels

* Vowels in word-initial position are phonetically heard beginning with a glottal . * An open-mid vowel occurs in the Chengmai and Qiongshan dialects. * A near-open central vowel sound also occurs in the Qiongshan dialect.


History

Liang (1997:16) considers Be to have migrated to Hainan from the
Leizhou Peninsula The Leizhou Peninsula, alternately romanized as the Luichow Peninsula, is a peninsula in the southernmost part of Guangdong province in South China. History Qing naval forces were stationed at the Leizhou Peninsula. During the 19th century, ...
of
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
about 2,500 years ago during the
Warring States Period The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...
, but not over 3,000 years ago. Liang & Zhang (1996:21–25) also believe that Be had migrated from the Leizhou Peninsula to northern Hainan about 2,500 years ago during the
Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...
.


See also

* List of Proto-Ong-Be reconstructions (Wiktionary)


References


Works cited

* *


External links


ABVD: Ong Be word list

Ong Be–language Swadesh vocabulary list of basic words
(from Wiktionary'
Swadesh-list appendix
{{authority control Kra–Dai languages Languages of China