Lexical Borrowing and Multilingual Contact in Hainan: Evidence from Hainanese and Li

Abstract

Hainan Island constitutes a historically significant contact frontier between Sinitic and Tai–Kadai language communities within the South China Sea region. This study investigates lexical interaction between Hainanese (Southern Min) and Li (Hlai) through a stratified contact framework integrating contact-induced change theory and Proto-Hlai comparative reconstruction. Drawing on documented lexical sources and phonological descriptions, the analysis demonstrates that borrowing between the two systems is systematically layered rather than incidental. Ecological terminology likely reflects early settlement-phase adaptation, trade-related vocabulary corresponds to intensified maritime exchange, and administrative lexicon indexes later institutional consolidation. Comparative phonological evidence, particularly in initial consonant substitution and tonal reassignment, reveals structured adaptation mechanisms that correlate with borrowing depth. These patterns support a model of multilingual ecological equilibrium characterized by functional differentiation rather than structural convergence or language shift. By situating Hainan within broader South China Sea diffusion networks, the study reframes the island as a nodal interface in regional linguistic history rather than a peripheral dialect zone. The findings contribute to contact linguistics by proposing tonal integration and phonological opacity as relative chronological indicators in frontier multilingual systems. Future empirical testing through dialect geography and corpus-based frequency analysis is suggested to refine the stratification model.