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Be
Lingao
Native to	China
Region	Hainan
Native speakers	600,000 (2000)
Language family	Kra–Dai Kam–Tai? Be–Tai? Be–Jizhao? Be
Language codes
ISO 639-3	onb
Glottolog	ling1270

Be (native pronunciation: [ʔɑŋ˧ɓe˧]), also known as Ong Be, Bê, or Vo Limgao (Mandarin: 临高话 Lín'gāohuà), is a pair of languages spoken by 600,000 people, 100,000 of them monolingual, on the north-central coast of Hainan Island, including the suburbs of the provincial capital Haikou. The speakers are counted as part of the Han Chinese nationality in census. According to Ethnologue, it is taught in primary schools.

Names

Be speakers refer to themselves as ʔaŋ³³vo³³, with ʔaŋ³³ being the prefix for persons and vo³³ meaning 'village'. Liang (1997) notes that it is similar to the autonym ŋaːu¹¹fɔːn¹¹ (from ŋaːu¹¹ 'person' and fɔːn¹¹ 'village'), by which Gelong 仡隆 (Cun language) speakers refer to themselves.

Classification

The Be languages are a pair of Kra–Dai languages, but its precise relationship to other branches within the Kra-Dai family has yet not been conclusively determined. Hansell (1988) considers Be to be a sister of the Tai branch based on shared vocabulary, and proposes a Be–Tai grouping.

Based on toponymic evidence from place names with the prefix dya- (调 diao), Jinfang Li considers Be to have originated from the Leizhou peninsula of Guangdong province. Liang (1997:16) considers Be to have migrated to Hainan from the Leizhou Peninsula of Guangdong about 2,500 years ago during the Warring States Period, but not over 3,000 years ago. Liang & Zhang (1996:21–25) also believe that Be had migrated from the Leizhou Peninsula to northern Hainan about 2,500 years ago during the Warring States period.

Weera Ostapirat (1998), analyzing data from Zhang (1992), notes that Be and Jizhao share many lexical similarities and sound correspondences, and that Jizhao may be a remnant Be-related language on the Chinese mainland.

Dialects

Be consists of the Lincheng 临城 (Western) and Qiongshan 琼山 (Eastern) dialects. Liang (1997:32) documents the following varieties of Be.

• Lingao County (including Lincheng 临城镇 and Xinying 新盈镇 towns)
• Bailian 白莲, Chengmai County
• Longtang Township 龙塘镇, Qiongshan District

Be of Chengmai is intermediate between the Lincheng and Qiongshan dialects, and has features of both.

Chen (2018) contains extensive comparative lexical data for the Be dialects of Changliu (長流), Yongxing (永興), Longtang (龍塘), Qiaotou (橋頭), Huangtong (皇桐), and Xinying (新盈). The Qiaotou, Huangtong, and Xinying dialects are unintelligible with the Changliu, Yongxing, Longtang, and Shishan (石山) dialects. Chen (2018) also reconstructs Proto-Ong-Be on the basis of this comparative lexical data.

Classification

Chen (2018: 82) classifies the Ong-Be dialects into two groups, which are mutually unintelligible with each other.

• Ong-Be
  • Western Ong-Be
    • Qiaotou 桥头
    • Huangtong 皇桐
    • Maniao 马尿
    • Lincheng 凌城
    • Jialai 加來
    • Meiliang 美良
    • Xinying 新盈
  • Eastern Ong-Be
    • Longtang 龙塘
    • Longqiao 龙橋
    • Longquan 龙泉 (formerly Shizilu 十字路)
    • Yongxing 永兴
    • Shishan 石山
    • Changliu 长流
    • Laocheng 老城

Schmitz (2024) suggests three dialects:

• Ong-Be (Lingao)
  • Lingao County Lingao
    • Bohou 博厚
    • Jialai 加来
    • Lincheng 临城
  • Chengmai County Lingao
  • Haikou City Lingao

Phonology

Consonants

Initials

• is mainly heard in finals, rarely in initials.
• /s/ can also be heard as in free variation.
• /f/ can be heard as in the dialect of Xindengyi.

Finals

Vowels

• Vowels in word-initial position are phonetically heard beginning with a glottal .
• An open-mid vowel occurs in the Chengmai and Qiongshan dialects.
• A near-open central vowel sound also occurs in the Qiongshan dialect.

See also

• List of Proto-Ong-Be reconstructions (Wiktionary)

References

1. Be at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. ^ Hansell, Mark (1988). "The Relation of Be to Tai: Evidence from Tones and Initials". In Edmondson, Jerold A.; Solnit, David B. (eds.). Comparative Kadai: Linguistic Studies Beyond Tai. Publications in Linguistics No. 86. Summer Institute of Linguistics and The University of Texas at Arlington. pp. 239–288.
3. Ostapirat, W. (1998). A Mainland Bê Language? / 大陆的Bê语言？. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 26(2), 338-344
4. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2023-07-10). "Glottolog 4.8 - Beic". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7398962. Archived from the original on 2023-10-20. Retrieved 2023-10-19.
5. "Lingao". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
6. Liang 1997, p. 1.
7. Tan, Xiaoshu 谭晓舒 (2015-04-22). "Lǐ Jǐnfāng jiàoshòu: "Bīnwēi yǔyán jízhào huà yánjiū"" 李锦芳教授：“濒危语言吉兆话研究”. Wén xuéyuàn 文学院. Archived from the original on 2021-06-13. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
8. Liang, Min 梁敏; Zhang, Junru 张均 (1996). Dòng-Tái yǔzú gàilùn 侗台语族概论 [An Introduction to the Kam–Tai Languages] (in Chinese). Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe. ISBN 7-5004-1681-4.
9. Ostapirat, Weera (1998). "A Mainland Bê Language? / Dàlù de bê yǔyán?". Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 26 (2): 338–344. JSTOR 23756759.
10. Zhang, Zhenxing 张振兴 (1992). "Guǎngdōngshěng wúchuān fāngyán jì lüè" 广东省吴川方言记略. Fāngyán 方言 (in Chinese). 1992 (3).
11. ^ Liang 1997.
12. Zhang, Yuansheng; Ma, Jialin; Wen, Mingying; Wei, Xinglang (1985). Hǎinán Língāo huà 海南临高话 (in Chinese). Nanning: Guangxi minzu chubanshe.

Works cited

• Liang, Min 梁敏 (1997). Língāo yǔ yánjiū 临高语研究 [A Study of Lingao] (in Chinese). Shanghai: Shanghai yuandong chubanshe 上海远东出版社.
• Chen, Yen-ling (2018). Proto-Ong-Be (PDF) (Ph.D. dissertation). University of Hawaii at Manoa.

• Schmitz, Timo. 2024. Family Tree: Tai-Kadai Languages. {url=https://www.academia.edu/114687690/Family_Tree_Tai_Kadai_Languages}

Further reading

• Zhang, Yuansheng 张元生. 1985. Hainan Lingaohua 海南临高话. Nanning: Guangxi People's Publishing House 广西民族出版社.

External links

• ABVD: Ong Be word list
• Ong Be–language Swadesh vocabulary list of basic words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)

• Kra–Dai languages
• Languages of Hainan