Jiamao (, ''Jiamao''; also ''Tái'' or ''Sāi'') is a possible

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The num ...

spoken in southern Hainan, 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 Chines ...

, 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 In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...

. Norquest (2007) identified various lexical items in Jiamao that do not reconstruct to

Proto-Hlai Proto-Hlai is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed ancestor of the Hlai languages. Proto-Hlai reconstructions include those of Matisoff (1988), Thurgood (1991), Wu (2000), Ostapirat (2004), and Norquest (2007). Phonology Peter K. Norques ...

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 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 Bǎotíng Li and Miao Autonomous County () is an autonomous county in Hainan, China. One of the six autonomous counties on the island, its postal code is 572300. Baoting spans an area of , and has a population of about 168,000 as of 2020. Histor ...

. 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

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Classification

Demographics

See also

References

Works cited

Further reading