Hmong language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hmong
Hmoob
Spoken in: China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and USA.
Total speakers: over 4 million[1]
Language family: Hmong-Mien
 Hmong
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: hmn
ISO 639-3: variously:
hmn – Hmong (generic)
mww – Hmong Daw (Laos, China)
hmv – Hmong Do (Vietnam)
hmf – Hmong Don (Vietnam)
blu – Hmong Njua (Laos, China)
hmz – Hmong Shua (Vietnam)
hmc – Hmong Central Huishui (China)
hmm – Hmong Central Mashan (China)
hmj – Hmong Chonganjiang (China)
hme – Hmong Eastern Huishui (China)
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Hmong (RPA: Hmoob) or Mong (RPA: Moob) is the common name for a group of dialects of the West Hmongic (Chuanqiandian) branch of the Hmong-Mien/Miao-Yao language family spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.[2] The total number of speakers worldwide has been estimated to be more than 4 million, including over 200,000 Hmong Americans.[1] Some dialects are mutually intelligible while others are so distinct as to be considered separate languages.

Contents

[edit] Phonology

The two dialects described here are known as White Hmong (also called Hmong Der or Hmong Daw) and Green Mong (also called Mong Leng or Mong Njua).[3] These are the two major dialects spoken by Hmong Americans. While mutually intelligible, the dialects differ in both lexicon and certain aspects of phonology. For instance, Green Mong lacks the aspirated /m/ of Hmong Der and has a third nasalized vowel, /ã/. In English, "Hmong" is used to include both Hmong Der and Mong Leng, although some have suggested a compromise, such as: H'Mong, Mhong, or (H)Mong.

[edit] Vowels

The vowel systems of White Hmong and Green Mong are as shown in the following charts. Phonemes particular to each dialect are color coded respectively:

Monophthongs
Front Central Back
oral nasal oral nasal oral nasal
Close i ɨ u
Mid e ẽ ɔ ɔ̃
Open a ã
Diphthongs
Closing Centering
Close component is front ai iə
Close component is central aɨ  
Close component is back au uə

[edit] Consonants

Hmong makes a number of phonemic contrasts in its unfamiliar to English speakers, like aspiration, prenasalization, and lateral release. The consonant inventory of Hmong is shown in the chart below. (Consonants particular to White Hmong and Green Mong color coded respectively.)

  Bilabial Labio-
dental		 Dental Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Plain With dental
lateral release		 Central Lateral
Nasal m m̥ mˡ m̥ɬ   n n̥     ɲ ɲ̥      
Plosive Voiceless p pʰ pˡ pɬ   t tʰ tˡ tɬ ʈ ʈʰ c cʰ k kʰ q qʰ ʔ
Voiced       d dʱ            
Prenasalized mb mbʱ mbˡ mbɬ   nd ndʱ ndˡ ndɬ ɳɖ ɳɖʱ ɲɟ ɲɟʱ ŋɡ ŋɡʱ ɴɢ ɴɢʱ  
Affricate Voiceless   ts tsʰ   ʈʂ ʈʂʰ        
Prenasalized       ndz ndzʱ   ɳɖʐ ɳɖʐʱ        
Fricative v f   s   ɬ ʐ ʂ ʝ ç     h
Approximant l  

[edit] Syllable structure

Hmong syllables have a very simple structure: onsets are obligatory (except in a few particles), nuclei may consist of a monophthong or diphthong, and coda consonants are prohibited, except that a weak coda [ŋ] may accompany nasal vowels and a weak coda [ʔ] may accompany the low-falling creaky tone.

[edit] Tones

Hmong is a tone language and makes use of seven distinct tones:

Tone Example[4] Orthographic Spelling
High /pɔ́/ 'ball' pob
Mid /pɔ/ 'spleen' po
Low /pɔ̀/ 'thorn' pos
High-falling /pɔ̂/ 'female' poj
Mid-rising /pɔ̌/ 'to throw' pov
Low-falling (creaky) tone /pɔ̰/ 'to see' pom
Mid-low (breathy) tone /pɔ̤/ 'grandmother' pog

[edit] Orthography

The Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) is the most widely used script for writing White Hmong and Green Mong in the West. It was developed in Laos between 1951 and 1953 by three Western missionaries with the help of several Hmong assistants. Several other scripts have been developed, including other systems with Roman letters based on the Chinese pinyin or the Vietnamese alphabet. There is also Pahawh, a unique writing system developed by Shong Lue Yang, a Hmong spiritual leader from Laos who believed the script to be revealed by God.[5]

[edit] Grammar

Hmong is an analytic SVO language in which adjectives and demonstratives follow the noun. Noun phrases can contain the following elements (parentheses indicate optional elements):[6]

(possessive) + (quantifier) + (classifier) + noun + (adjective) + (demonstrative)

The Hmong pronominal system distinguishes between three grammatical persons and three numbers - singular, dual, and plural. They are not marked for case, that is, the same word is used to translate both "I" and "me", "she" and "her", and so forth. These are the personal pronouns of White Hmong (Hmoob Dawb):

White Hmong Pronouns
Person: First Second Third
Singular kuv koj nws
Dual wb neb nkawd
Plural peb nej lawv

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b http://hmongstudies.org/LemoineHSJ6.pdf Lemoine, Jacques. "What is the actual number of the (H)mong in the World." Hmong Studies Journal, Vol 6, 2005.
  2. ^ Ratliff, Martha (1992). Meaningful Tone: A Study of Tonal Morphology in Compounds, Form Classes, and Expressive Phrases in White Hmong. Dekalb, Illinois: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University. 
  3. ^ White Hmong phonology: Golston, Chris; Phong Yang (2001). "Hmong loanword phonology", in in: C. Féry, A. D. Green, and R. van de Vijver (eds.),: Proceedings of HILP 5, Linguistics in Potsdam 12, Potsdam: University of Potsdam, 40-57. ISBN 3-935024-27-4.  [1] Green Mong phonology: Smalley, William et.al. Mother of Writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. p. 48-51. See also: Mortensen, David. “Preliminaries to Mong Leng (Hmong Njua) Phonology” Unpublished, UC Berkeley. 2004.
  4. ^ Examples taken from: Heimbach, Ernest H. White Hmong-English Dictionary [White Meo-English Dictionary]. 2003 ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications, 1969. Note that many of these words have multiple meanings.
  5. ^ Pahawh Hmong alphabet
  6. ^ Ratliff, Martha (1997). "Hmong-Mien demonstratives and pattern persistence". Mon-Khmer Studies Journal 27: 317-328. 

[edit] Bibliography

  • Cooper, Robert, Editor. The Hmong: A Guide to Traditional Lifestyles. Singapore: Times Editions. 1998. pp. 35-41.
  • Finck, John. "Clan Leadership in the Hmong Community of Providence, Rhode Island." In The Hmong in the West, Editors, Bruce T. Downing and Douglas P. Olney. Minneapolis, MN: Southeast Asian Refugee Studies Project, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota, 1982, pp. 22-25.
  • Thao, Paoze, Mong Education at the Crossroads, New York: University Press of America, 1999, pp. 12-13.

[edit] Further reading

  • Enwall, Joakim. Hmong Writing Systems in Vietnam: A Case Study of Vietnam's Minority Language Policy. Stockholm, Sweden: Center for Pacific Asian Studies, 1995.

[edit] External links

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