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Hainanese (Hainan Romanised: Hái-nâm-oe, Hainanese Pinyin: Hhai3 nam2 ue1, ), also known as Qiongwen (), Qiongyu () or Hainan Min () is a group of Min Chinese varieties spoken in the far southern Chinese island province of Hainan and regional overseas Chinese communities such as in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
In the classification of Yuan Jiahua, it was included in the Southern Min group, being mutually unintelligible with other Southern Min varieties such as Hokkien Chinese–Taiwanese Minnan and Teochew dialect. In the classification of Li Rong, used by the Language Atlas of China, it was treated as a separate Min subgroup. (2025). 9783110219142, Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110219142 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.
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Many of the most widely spoken varieties of Hainanese notably have a series of implosive consonants, and , which were acquired through contact with surrounding languages, probably Hlai language. However, more conservative varieties of Hainanese such as Banqiao remain closer to Teochew dialect and other varieties of Southern Min, lack them.
The consonant system of Hainanese corresponds well with that of Hokkien, but it has had some restructuring. In particular:
Additionally, is an allophone of .
These changes also make Hainanese fairly close to Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary.
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| + Tone chart of the Hainan dialect |
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