Pingtang Miao, named after Pingtang County (平塘 Píngtáng) in which it is spoken, is a group of Miao language varieties of China.
Classification The four varieties of Pingtang were listed as unclassified branches of Chuanqiandian Miao (Western Hmongic) in Wang (1983). Li (2000) classified them together as one of eight branches of Western Hmongic, a position maintained in Wu and Yang (2010).
Varieties According to Li, there are four varieties of Pingtang (2000): North (Strecker's Pingtang Miao), 11,000 speakers East (Strecker's Dushan Miao), 4,000 speakers South (Strecker's Luodian Pingyan Miao), 6,000 speakers West (Strecker's Wangmo–Luodian Miao Mhang), 3,000 speakers
These are at approximately the distance of the varieties of the other branches of West Hmongic, which Ethnologue assigned separate ISO codes.
Demographics Below is a list of Miao dialects and their respective speaker populations and distributions from Li (2018), along with representative datapoints from Wang (1985).Wang Fushi 王辅世. 1985. Miaoyu jianzhi 苗语简志. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe 民族出版社.
Dialect Speakers Counties Representative datapoint (Wang 1985) North 10,000+ Pingtang Shanglin village 上林村, Yuanjiatong Township 原甲桐乡, Pingtang County East 4,000 Dushan Caozhai 草寨, Xinmin Township 新民乡, Dushan County South 6,000 Luodian, Pingtang, Nandan Pingyan Township 平岩乡, Luodian County West 3,000 Wangmo Youmai Village 油迈村, Youmai Township 油迈乡, Wangmo County
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