# Jiamao language

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**Jiamao** (; also 台 *Tái* or 塞 *Sāi*) is a divergent [Kra-Dai](/source/Kra-Dai_languages) language or possible language isolate[1] spoken in southern [Hainan](/source/Hainan), China.[2] Jiamao speakers' [autonym](/source/Exonym_and_endonym) is *tʰai1*.[3][4]

## Classification

Jiamao is often classified one of the [Hlai languages](/source/Hlai_languages), which constitute a primary branch of the [Kra–Dai language family](/source/Kra%E2%80%93Dai_languages), but Norquest (2007, 2015) and others note that Jiamao has a non-Hlai substratum.

[Graham Thurgood](/source/Graham_Thurgood) (1992) suggested that Jiamao might have an [Austroasiatic](/source/Austroasiatic_languages) [substratum](/source/Substrata_(linguistics)). [Norquest](/source/Peter_K._Norquest) (2007) identified various lexical items in Jiamao that do not reconstruct to [Proto-Hlai](/source/Proto-Hlai_language) and later firmly established it as a non-Hlai language.[5] Hsiu (2018) notes that Jiamao also contains various words borrowed from an unknown, currently extinct [Tibeto-Burman](/source/Tibeto-Burman_languages) branch.[6]

Ostapirat (2026) suggests that Jiamao originated in northern Vietnam before migrating to southern Hainan.[7]

## 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](/source/Baoting_Li_and_Miao_Autonomous_County). It shares less than half of its lexicon with the Hlai languages.[8]

In [Lingshui Li Autonomous County](/source/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]

- [Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County](/source/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](/source/Lingshui_Li_Autonomous_County) (陵水黎族自治县) - Longguang Town (隆广镇) - Benhao Town (本号镇)
- [Sanya](/source/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).[11]

## Phonology

### Tones

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](/source/Be_language),[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](/source/Proto-Hlai_language). High register tones are derived from unvoiced initials, and low register tones from voiced initials.

## See also

- [Jiamao vocabulary lists](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix%3AJiamao_vocabulary_lists) (Wiktionary)

## References

1. (Norquest 2015)

1. Miyake, Marc (September 20, 2011). ["11.9.20.22:04: Is Jiamao Hlai?"](http://www.amritas.com/110924.htm#09202204). *www.amritas.com*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20190804112844/http://www.amritas.com/110924.htm#09202204) August 4, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 25, 2018.

1. See [Proto-Tai language § Tones](/source/Proto-Tai_language#Tones) for an explanation of the tone codes.

1. Liu, Yuanchao 刘援朝 (2008). "Líyǔ Jiāmàohuà gàikuàng" (in Chinese). *Mínzú yǔwén*. **5**

1. (Norquest 2015, p. 3)

1. Hsiu, Andrew (December 2017). ["The Origins of Jiamao"](https://sites.google.com/site/msealangs/home/blog/jiamao). *MSEA Languages*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20201009124542/https://sites.google.com/site/msealangs/home/blog/jiamao) 2020-10-09 at the Wayback Machine.

1. Ostapirat, Weera (2026). ["Kra-Dai Migration and Austro-Tai Numerals"](https://brill.com/display/book/9789004762077/BP000011.xml). *Establishing Spatiotemporal Linguistics: Toward an Interdisciplinary Approach to the History of Language and of Human Movement*. Kikusawa, Ritsuko; Okamoto, Susumu; Suzuki, Hiroyuki (eds.). Brill. p. 41–54. [doi:10.1163/9789004762077-004](https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004762077-004). ISBN 978-90-04-76207-7.

1. (Norquest 2007)

1. Lang, Alang 郎啊朗 (2006-09-27). [""Bǎotíng Jiāmào Lízú" shì zhēn dí Lízú ma?"](https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141425/http://bbs.tianya.cn/post-360-1314-1.shtml) (in Chinese). *Tiānyá shèqū*. Archived from [the original](http://bbs.tianya.cn/post-360-1314-1.shtml) on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-06-10.

1. Xin, Shibiao 辛世彪 (2009-02-14). ["Jiāmào Líyǔ de sìdà fāngyán"](http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_49d8b2980100c9nf.html) [The Four Dialects of Jiamao] (in Chinese). *Xīnlàng bókè*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222722/http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_49d8b2980100c9nf.html) 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-12-30.

1. Yang, Yiqi 杨遗旗 (2014). "Líyǔ héxīn rénchēng dàicí yánjiū" [A Study of Core Personal Pronouns in Li Language] (in Chinese). *Hǎinán shīfàn dàxué xuébào (Shèhuì kēxué bǎn)*. **27** (7): 118–123. [doi:10.16061/j.cnki.cn46-1076/c.2014.07.051](https://doi.org/10.16061/j.cnki.cn46-1076/c.2014.07.051)

1. Chen, Yen-ling (2018). [*Proto-Ong-Be*](https://web.archive.org/web/20230605121229/http://ling.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/ChenYenlingFinal.pdf) (Ph.D. dissertation). University of Hawaii at Manoa. Archived from [the original](http://ling.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/ChenYenlingFinal.pdf) on 2023-06-05. Retrieved 2023-04-27.

## Works cited

- Thurgood, Graham (1992). "The Aberrancy of the Jiamao Dialect of Hlai: Speculation on its Origins and History". *Papers from the First Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society*. Ratliff, Martha S. & Schiller, E. (eds.). Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 417–433.
- Norquest, Peter Kristian (2007). *A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai* (PhD dissertation). University of Arizona. [hdl:10150/194203](https://hdl.handle.net/10150/194203)
- Norquest, Peter K. (2015). [*A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai*](https://books.google.com/books?id=d6i8CgAAQBAJ). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-30052-1.

## Further reading

- Huang, Quan 黄权 (2011). *Hàn-Lí zìdiǎn (Sài fāngyán)* [Chinese-Hlai Dictionary (Sai Dialect)] (in Chinese). Yunnan minzu chubanshe. ISBN 978-75367-4971-9.
- Wú, Yàn [吴艳] (2024). *Hǎinán Bǎotíng Líyǔ Jiāmòhuà* [海南保亭黎语加茂话]. Beijing: [Commercial Press](/source/Commercial_Press) [商务印书馆].
- Yang, Wenping 杨文平 (2016). *Hàn-Lí zìdiǎn: Tái fāngyán (Língshuǐ)* [Chinese-Hlai Dictionary: Tai Dialect (Lingshui)] (in Chinese). Nanhai chuban gongsi. ISBN 978-7-5442-8130-0.
- Zeng, Kewen 曾科文 & Liang, Zhenzhen 梁珍珍 (2016). *Lízú: Sài fāngyán* [The Li Ethnic Group: Sai Dialect] (in Chinese). Nanhai chuban gongsi. ISBN 978-7-5442-8364-9.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jiamao language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiamao_language) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiamao_language?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.