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Hlai language

NameHlai
FamilycolorKradai
Fam1Kradai
Fam2Hlai
StatesPeople's Republic of China
RegionHainan
Speakers750,000 (1999)
Lc1lic|ld1=Hlai|ll1=none
Lc2cuq|ld2=Cun|ll2=Cun language

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Hlai is one of two languages of the Hlai or Li people, the other being the Jiamao "dialect". It is spoken by 600,000 people (not counting Jiamao), a quarter of them monolingual, in the mountains of central and south-central Hainan Island. It forms one of the primary branches of the family of Kradai languages.

Hlai has several dialects, some perhaps divergent enough to be considered separate languages. The main divisions are Ha 哈 (the prestige dialect), Qi Gei 杞, Meifu Moifau 美孚, and Bendi Zwn, in addition to Jiamao Kamau 加茂, which is not mutually intelligible with the others.

Hlai did not have a writing system until the 1950s, when the Latin alphabet was adopted.


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