Mai Chinese

Mai
Maihua
邁話
Native toChina
RegionHainan (Sanya)
Native speakers
15,000 (2007)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
GlottologNone

Mai or Maihua (simplified Chinese: 迈话; traditional Chinese: 邁話; pinyin: Màihuà, meaning 'Mai speech') is a variety of Chinese of uncertain affiliation spoken in the area of 崖县 Yáxiàn (Sanya) in southern Hainan, China. It was classified as Yue in the Language Atlas of China. Ouyang, Jiang & Zou (2019) consider Mai to be a divergent Yue Chinese variety with Hakka and other mixed influences. There are just over 10,000 speakers of Mai in southern Hainan.[2]

A comprehensive description of Mai was published in a monograph by Ouyang, Jiang & Zou (2019).[2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jiang2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Ouyang, Jueya 欧阳觉亚; Jiang, Huo 江荻; Zou Jiayan 邹嘉彥. 2019. Sanya maihua diaocha baogao 三亚迈话调查报告. Beijing: Minzu University Publishing House 中国民族大学出版社.