Hmongic languages

Miao (苗) is the Chinese name and the one used by Miao in China. However, Hmong is more familiar in the West, due to Hmong emigration. Hmong is the biggest subgroup within the Hmongic peoples. Many overseas Hmong prefer the name Hmong, and claim that Meo (a Southeast Asian language change from Miao) is both inaccurate and pejorative, though it is generally considered neutral by the Miao community in China.

Of the core Hmongic languages spoken by ethnic Miao, there are a number of overlapping names. The three branches are as follows,[1] as named by Purnell (in English and Chinese), Ratliff, and scholars in China, as well as the descriptive names based on the patterns and colors of traditional dress:

The Hunan Province Gazetteer (1997) gives the following autonyms for various peoples in Hunan classified by the Chinese government as Miao.

• Xiangxi Prefecture: gho Xong (果雄), ghe Xong (仡熊), (guo Chu 果楚) [ceremonial]
  • Luxi County and Guzhang County: ghao So (缩), te Suang (爽)
• Jingzhou County, Huaihua: Hmu (目), (Nai Mu 乃目)
• Chengbu County, Shaoyang: Hmao (髳)

Hmongic is one of the primary branches of the Hmong–Mien language family, with the other being Mienic. Hmongic is a diverse group of perhaps twenty languages, based on mutual intelligibility, but several of these are dialectically quite diverse in phonology and vocabulary, and are not considered to be single languages by their speakers. There are probably over thirty languages taking this into account.[2] Four classifications are outlined below, though the details of the West Hmongic branch are left for that article.

Mo Piu, first documented in 2009, was reported by Geneviève Caelen-Haumont (2011) to be a divergent Hmongic language, and was later determined to be a dialect of Guiyang Miao. Similarly, Ná-Meo is not addressed in the classifications below, but is believed by Nguyen (2007) to be closest to Hmu (Qiandong Miao).

The Hmongic languages have been written with at least a dozen different scripts,[15] none of which has been universally accepted among Hmong people as standard. Tradition has it that the ancestors of the Hmong, the Nanman, had a written language with a few pieces of significant literature. When the Han-era Chinese began to expand southward into the land of the Hmong, whom they considered barbarians, the script of the Hmong was lost, according to many stories. Allegedly, the script was preserved in the clothing. Attempts at revival were made by the creation of a script in the Qing Dynasty, but this was also brutally suppressed and no remnant literature has been found. Adaptations of Chinese characters have been found in Hunan, recently.[16] However, this evidence and mythological understanding is disputed. For example, according to Professor S. Robert Ramsey, there was no writing system among the Miao until the missionaries created them.[17] It is currently unknown for certain whether or not the Hmong had a script historically.

Around 1905, Samuel Pollard introduced the Pollard script, for the A-Hmao language, an abugida inspired by Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics, by his own admission.[18] Several other syllabic alphabets were designed as well, the most notable being Shong Lue Yang's Pahawh Hmong script, which originated in Laos for the purpose of writing Hmong Daw, Hmong Njua, and other dialects of the standard Hmong language.

In the 1950s, pinyin-based Latin alphabets were devised by the Chinese government for three varieties of Miao: Xong, Hmu, and Chuangqiandian (Hmong), as well as a Latin alphabet for A-Hmao to replace the Pollard script (now known as "Old Miao"), though Pollard remains popular. This meant that each of the branches of Miao in the classification of the time had a separate written standard.[19] Wu and Yang (2010) believe that standards should be developed for each of the six other primary varieties of Chuangqiandian as well, although the position of romanization in the scope of Hmong language preservation remains a debate. Romanization remains common in China and the United States, while versions of the Lao and Thai scripts remain common in Thailand and Laos.

Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong script was created by Reverend Chervang Kong Vang to be able to capture Hmong vocabulary clearly and also to remedy redundancies in the language as well as address semantic confusions that was lacking in other scripts. This was created in the 1980s and was mainly used by United Christians Liberty Evangelical Church, a church also founded by Vang. The script bears strong resemblance to the Lao alphabet in structure and form and characters inspired from the Hebrew alphabets, although the characters themselves are different.[20]

Due to intensive language contact, there are several language varieties in China which are thought to be mixed Miao–Chinese languages or Sinicized Miao. These include:

• Lingling (Linghua) of northern Guangxi
• The Maojia dialect (also called Aoka or Qingyi Miao) of Chengbu Miao Autonomous County, Hunan (located near Pana-speaking villages), and Ziyuan County and Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, Guangxi.
• Badong Yao 八峒瑶 of Xinning County, Hunan
• Laba 喇叭: more than 200,000 in Qinglong, Shuicheng, Pu'an, and Panxian in Guizhou; a variety of Old Xiang (also called Lou-Shao 娄邵片).[21] The people are also called Huguangren 湖广人, because they claim their ancestors had migrated from Huguang (modern-day Hunan and Hubei).[22]
• Baishi Miao 拜师苗 of Baishi District, Tianzhu County, eastern Guizhou, possibly a mixed Chinese and Miao (Hmu) language[23]
• Sanqiao, a mixed Hmu-Kam (Miao-Dong) language of southeastern Guizhou

In southwestern Hunan, divergent Sinitic language varieties spoken by Miao and Yao peoples include:[24]

• Guanxia Pinghua 关峡平话, spoken by ethnic Miao in Suining County, Hunan. Non-Sinitic substrate words include kəu213 'egg'.[25]
• Yangshi Pinghua 羊石平话, spoken by ethnic Miao in Chengbu County, Hunan. Non-Sinitic substrate words include ko11 'egg'.[26]
• Lanrong 兰蓉人话, spoken by ethnic Miao in Chengbu County, Hunan
• Wutuan 五团人话, spoken by ethnic Miao in Chengbu County, Hunan
• Malin 麻林人话, spoken by ethnic Yao in Xinning County, Hunan
• Niutou 牛头人话, spoken by ethnic Miao in Longsheng County, Guangxi

• Proto-Hmong-Mien reconstructions (Wiktionary)
• Proto-Hmongic reconstructions (Wiktionary)
• Hmong-Mien comparative vocabulary list (Wiktionary)

• Li Jinping, Li Tianyi [李锦平, 李天翼]. 2012. A comparative study of Miao dialects [苗语方言比较研究]. Chengdu: Southwest Jiaotong University Press.

• 283-word wordlist recording in Wuding Maojie Hmong (Dianxi Miao) dialect (F, 31), elicited in Standard Mandarin, archived with Kaipuleohone.