The A-Hmao language, also known as Large Flowery Miao (Chinese: 大花苗) or Northeast Yunnan Miao (Diandongbei, Chinese: 苗语滇东北方言), is a Hmongic language spoken in China. It is the language the Pollard script was designed for,[2][3] and displays extensive tone sandhi.[4] There is a high degree of literacy in Pollard among the older generation.
Miao Language (A-Hmao) | |
---|---|
Large Flowery Miao | |
ad Hmaob lul A-hmaos | |
Native to | China |
Region | Guizhou, Yunnan |
Ethnicity | A-Hmao |
Native speakers | (300,000 cited 1995)[1] |
Language family | Hmong–Mien
|
Writing system | Latin, Pollard |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | hmd |
Glottolog | larg1235 |
The standard written language, both in Pollard and in Latin script, is that of Shíménkǎn (石门坎) village in Weining County.
The A-Hmao language is a branch of the West Hmongic languages, also known as Chuanqiandian Miao (川黔滇方言: Sichuan–Guizhou–Yunnan Miao) and Western Miao, is the major branch of the Hmongic languages of China and Southeast Asia.
Wang Fushi (1985) grouped the Western Miao languages into eight primary divisions.[5]
The Miao was descended from the "Jiuli" tribe in the period of Yan Di and Huang Di, "Sanmiao" in the period of Yao and Shun. "Jiuli" is a tribe, which lived in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River more than five thousand years ago. Then, the "Jiuli" tribe were defeated at the Battle of Zhuolu by the military coalition of Huang Di and Yan Di. Chiyou, the leader of the "Jiuli" tribe, was caught and killed by Huang Di. The rest of the "Jiuli" tribe retreated to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and formed the "Sanmiao" tribe, the established Sanmiao Country.
Four thousand years ago, the Huaxia tribe of the North led by Yao, Shun, and Yu had been fighting with "Sanmiao" for nearly one thousand years. In the end, Xiayu defeated "Sanmiao" Country. After they were defeated, some of the "Sanmiao" were banished to "Sanwei" (the border of present provinces of Shanxi and Gansu). Then, they were forced to migrate to the southeast. After a long time, they entered into the north of Sichuan, northeast of Yunnan, and northwest of Guizhou. Later, the present Western Miao was developed. The descendant of "Sanmiao" which stationed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Central Plains Area, some of them merged with Huaxia tribe, and others developed to what was called "Nanman" in Shang and Zhou Dynasty.
Those who lived in the middle reaches of Han River were called "Jingchu barbarians". Later, the advanced "Jingchu barbarians" gradually developed to Chu tribe, which was developed. The less advanced part continued to immigrate to the adjacent mountainous area of Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hubei and Henan Provinces and became the ancestors of present East and Central Miao.[6]
The A-Mao language is distributed in Zhaotong, Kunming, Qujing and Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture in the Northeast of Yunnan Province. And also Weining Yi, Hui, and Miao autonomous county, Hezhang county, Liupanshui, and Ziyun Miao and Buyi autonomous county in the West of Guizhou Province. There are 300,000 native speakers.[7] The standard dialect is that of Shimenkan (石门坎), Weining County (威宁县).
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Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||||
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plain | sibilant | lateral | plain | sibilant | lateral | ||||||||
Plosive / Affricate |
plain | plain | b /p/ | d /t/ | z /ts/ | dl /tl̥/ | dr /ʈ/ | zh /ʈʂ/ | j /tɕ/ | g /k/ | gh /q/ | /ʔ/ | |
prenasal | nb /ᵐp/ | nd /ⁿt/ | nz /ⁿts/ | ndl /ⁿtl̥/ | ndr /ᶯʈ/ | nzh /ᶯʈʂ/ | nj /ⁿtɕ/ | ng /ᵑk/ | ngh /ᶰq/ | ||||
aspirated | plain | p /pʰ/ | t /tʰ/ | c /tsʰ/ | tl /tl̥ʰ/ | tr /ʈʰ/ | ch /ʈʂʰ/ | q /tɕʰ/ | k /kʰ/ | kh /qʰ/ | |||
prenasal | np /ᵐpʰ/ | nt /ⁿtʰ/ | nc /ⁿtsʰ/ | ntl /ⁿtl̥ʰ/ | ntr /ᶯʈʰ/ | nch /ᶯʈʂʰ/ | nq /ⁿtɕʰ/ | nk /ᵑkʰ/ | nkh /ᶰqʰ/ | ||||
voiced | plain | b /b/ | d /d/ | z /dz/ | dl /dl/ | dr /ɖ/ | zh /ɖʐ/ | j /dʑ/ | g /ɡ/ | gh /ɢ/ | |||
prenasal | nb /ᵐb/ | nd /ⁿd/ | nz /ⁿdz/ | ndl /ⁿdl/ | ndr /ᶯɖ/ | nzh /ᶯɖʐ/ | nj /ⁿdʑ/ | ng /ᵑɡ/ | ngh /ᶰɢ/ | ||||
Fricative / Lateral |
voiceless | f /f/ | s /s/ | hl /l̥/ | sh /ʂ/ | hlr /ɭ̊/ | x /ɕ/ | hx /x/ | (h /χ/) | h /h/ | |||
voiced | v /v/ | r /z/ | l /l/ | rh /ʐ/ | lr /ɭ/ | y /ʑ/ | hy /ɣ/ | ||||||
Nasal | voiced | m /m/ | n /n/ | nr /ɳ/ | ni /n̠ʲ/ | ngg /ŋ/ | |||||||
voiceless | hm /m̥/ | hn /n̥/ | hni /n̠̥ʲ/ | hng /ŋ̊/ | |||||||||
Semivowel | voiced | w /w/ |
Front | Central | Back | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | ||
Close | i /i/ | yu /y/ | w /ɯ/ | u /u/ | |
Mid | e /e/ | e /ə/ | o /o/ | ||
Open | a /ɑ/ | ||||
Diphthong | ai /ai̯/, ao /ɑu̯/, ang /ɑɯ̯/, eu /œy̯/, ia /i̯ɑ/, ie /i̯e/, io /i̯o/, iu /i̯u/, iw /i̯ɯ/ | ||||
Triphthong | iai /i̯ai̯/, iao /i̯ɑu̯/, iang /i̯ɑɯ̯/ |
Tone | Symbol | Value |
---|---|---|
1 | b | ˥˧ 54 |
2 | x | ˧˥ 35 |
3 | d | ˥ 55 |
4 | l | ˩ 11 |
5 | t | ˨ 33 |
6 | s | ˧˩ 31 |
7 | k | ˩ 11 |
8 | f | ˧˩ 31 |
The morphology of the three branches of the Hmong language is basically the same. The following examples are from Central Miao.[9] A-Hmao is similar to Hmong, which is an isolating language in which most morphemes are monosyllables. As a result, verbs are not overtly inflected. Tense, aspect, mood, person, number, gender, and case are indicated lexically.[10]
Single-morpheme word
Compound word
The syntax of Hmong languages, regardless of the type of part of speech or phrase and the division of constituents of the sentence and the sentence types, are basically the same.[11] The basic word order of Hmong is SVO. Within the noun phrase, possessors precede possessed nouns, and adjectives and relative clauses follow the nouns they modify. Noun phrases have the form as (possessive) + (quantifier) + (classifier) + noun + (adjective) + (demonstrative).[12] As in Chinese, question formation does not involve word order change. For wh- questions, the wh- word does not occupy a sentence-initial position in Hmong as in many other languages. (e.g. the English sentence ‘What are you doing?’ would be rendered ‘you do what’ in Hmong)[9]
The A-Hmao have no indigenous writing system. In the beginning of the 20th century, missionary Samuel Pollard invented the Pollard script, which was based on the decorative symbols on their clothing. Before the introduction of the Pollard script, the A-Hmao people recorded their history through their ancient songs and weaving the history of their memories on their clothes. Those images formed a history of the A-Hmao.[13]
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