Hainanese
Hainanese (Hainan Romanised: Hái-nâm-oe, simplified Chinese: 海南话; traditional Chinese: 海南話; pinyin: Hǎinán huà), also known as Qióng Wén (simplified Chinese: 琼文; traditional Chinese: 瓊文) or Qióng yǔ (瓊語/琼语), is a group of Min Chinese varieties spoken in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan. In the classification of Yuan Jiahua, it was included in the Southern Min group, though is mutually unintelligible with Southern Min varieties such as Teochew and Hokkien–Taiwanese. In the classification of Li Rong, used by the Language Atlas of China, it was treated as a separate Min subgroup. It is sometimes combined 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.
Phonology
Hainanese has a simple vowel system .
Hainanese notably has a series of implosive consonants, which it acquired through contact with surrounding languages, probably Hlai.
Hainan people
The people of Hainan (Chinese: 海南人), known as Hainanese and Hainan people, usually refers to people who originate from Hainan, the southernmost and smallest Chinese province. The term "Hainanese" was frequently used by Hainanese-speaking Han (Chinese: 海南漢人), who are the majority in the island, to identify themselves overseas. Nevertheless, other natives of the island such as Hlai (Chinese: 黎族), Yao (Chinese: 苗族 "Miao people") and Utsuls also use the term.
History
Most Hainanese Han people were originally fishermen from the Fujian and Guangdong provinces who later settled in Hainan, while the Li natives came to the island earlier and were descendants of the Yue tribe, from the mainland. The ancestors of the Min Hainanese-speaking people came from Fujian, and the ancestors of the Danzhou-speaking people came from Guangdong.
Similarly to Fujian and Guangdong province, Hainan has been the source for much migration. Towards the turn of the 20th century, many Hainanese migrated to various Southeast Asian countries, where they worked as cooks, restaurateurs, coffee shop owners, sailors, and hoteliers. Chan Sing, one of the "villain" movie stars that dotted the Hong Kong movie industry was of Hainanese roots, as was the bartender who invented the world-famous Singapore Sling at the renowned Singapore Raffles Hotel, Mr. Ngiam Tong Boon. In Thailand, singer Nichkhun, media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul, the politically influential Sarasin family, as well as two of the wealthiest business families, the Chirathivats and the Yoovidhyas, trace their ancestry to Hainan.
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