Hainanese

Consonants

Below is a table for the consonants of Hainanese across the dialects of Wenchang, Haikou and the dialect of Banqiao Town, in Dongfang.^[9] For more information on a specific variety, please consult the relevant article.

Many of the most widely spoken varieties of Hainanese notably have a series of implosive consonants, /ɓ/ and /ɗ/, which were acquired through contact with surrounding languages, probably Hlai. However, more conservative varieties of Hainanese such as Banqiao remain closer to Leizhou Peninsula Min and other varieties, lack them.^[9]

The consonant system of Hainanese corresponds well with that of Leizhou Peninsula Min, but it has had some restructuring. In particular:^[9]

• Etymological plain stops have undergone implosivization (*p > [ɓ], *t > [ɗ]) in the more innovative varieties such as Wenchang and Haikou.
• Etymological aspirated stops have spirantized (*pʰ > [ɸ], *tʰ > [h], *tsʰ > [ɕ], *kʰ > [h~x]) in more innovative varieties.
• The lenition of an historic *b into [v] in Banqiao and Haikou, though not in Wenchang.
• Former *s has hardened into a stop (*s > [t]), although in the more conservative Banqiao dialect some instances have only undergone fortition to (*s > [θ]), and others have remained [s].
• Former *h has become [ɦ] in Wenchang.

Additionally, [ʑ] is an allophone of /j/.

These changes also make Hainanese fairly close to Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary.

Vowels

Hainanese has seven phonemic vowels.^{[citation needed]}

Tones

Hainanese Pinyin

Hainanese Pinyin (海南话拼音方案) is a phonetic system announced by the Education Administration Department of Guangdong Province in September 1960. It marks tones with numbers.