Danzhou dialect

The Danzhou dialect (simplified Chinese: 儋州话; traditional Chinese: 儋州話; pinyin: Dānzhōuhuà), locally known as Xianghua (simplified Chinese: 乡话; traditional Chinese: 鄉話; pinyin: xiānghuà; lit. 'village speech'), is a Chinese variety of uncertain affiliation spoken in the area of Danzhou in northwestern Hainan, China.^[2] It was classified as Yue in the Language Atlas of China,^[3][4] but in more recent work, it is treated as an unclassified southern variety.^[5]

Danzhou
儋州話
Native to	China
Region	Hainan (Danzhou)
Native speakers	700,000 (2010)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Yue? Danzhou
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Linguist List	1mk-dan
Glottolog	None
Linguasphere	79-AAA-naa

History

The Danzhou people's ancestors came initially from old Gaozhou and Wuzhou prefectures. The Yue language they brought with them was combined with the native popular language, and by the time of the Tang Dynasty, the Danzhou dialect was officially formed.^[1]

Varieties

Regional varieties are Bei'an 北岸音, Shuinan 水南音, Zhoujia 昼家音, Shanshang 山上音, Haitou 海头音, and Wuhu 五湖音.^{[citation needed]}

Distribution

The Danzhou dialect is spoken in the following areas of Hainan (Hainan 1994:253).^[6]

• most of Danzhou 儋州市 except for the southeastern part of Danzhou
• Changjiang Li Autonomous County 昌江县 (northern coast)
  • Nanluo 南罗 and Haiwei 海尾 area
  • Xiyuan 西缘, Shiluo Town 石碌镇, Changjiang city
• northern Baisha Li Autonomous County 白沙县 (in just over 10 villages near the border with Danzhou)
• peripheral villages of Dongfang 东方市, Ledong 乐东, Qiongzhong 琼中, and Sanya 三亚

See also

• Mai Chinese