Hmong or Mong ( ; RPA: , Chữ Hmông Việt: Hmôngz, Nyiakeng Puachue: , Pahawh: , ) is a dialect continuum of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmongic languages spoken by the Hmong people of Southwestern China, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. There are an estimated 4.5 million speakers of varieties that are largely mutually intelligible, including over 280,000 Hmong Americans as of 2013. Over half of all Hmong speakers speak the various dialects in China, where the Dananshan dialect forms the basis of the standard language.Not of Chinese Miao as a whole for which the standard language is based on Hmu However, Hmong Daw and Mong Leng are widely known only in Laos and the United States; Dananshan is more widely known in the native region of Hmong.
Varieties Mong Leng () and Hmong Daw () are part of a dialect cluster known in China as (), called the "Chuanqiandian cluster" in English (or "Miao cluster" in other languages) since West Hmongic is also called . The variety spoken from Sichuan in China to Thailand and Laos is referred to in China as the "First Local Variety" () of the cluster. Mong Leng and Hmong Daw are just those varieties of the cluster that migrated to Laos. The names Mong Leng, Hmong Dleu/Der, and Hmong Daw are also used in China for various dialects of the cluster.
Ethnologue once distinguished only the Laotian varieties (Hmong Daw, Mong Leng), Sinicized Miao (Hmong Shua), and the Vietnamese varieties (Hmong Dô, Hmong Don). The Vietnamese varieties are very poorly known; population estimates are not even available. In 2007, Horned Miao, Small Flowery Miao, and the Chuanqiandian cluster of China were split off from Mong Leng [blu].
These varieties are as follows, along with some alternative names. Hmong/Mong/Chuanqiandian Miao macrolanguage (China, Laos, also spoken by minorities in Thailand and the United States), including: Hmong Daw (Hmong Der, , , , 'White Hmong'; Chinese: , , 'White Miao'), Mong Leng (, , , 'Blue/Green Hmong'; Chinese: , , 'Blue-Green Miao'), Hmong Shua (; 'Sinicized Miao'), Hmo or A-Hmo (Chinese: , , 'Horned Miao'), Small Flowery Miao, and the rest of the Chuanqiandian Miao cluster located in China. Hmong languages of Vietnam, not considered part of the China/Laos macrolanguage and possibly forming their own distinct macrolanguage — they are still not very well classified even if they are described by Ethnologue as having vigorous use (in Vietnam) but without population estimates; they have most probably been influenced by Vietnamese, as well as by French (in the former Indochina colonies) and later American English, and they may be confused with varieties spoken by minorities living today in the United States, Europe or elsewhere in Asia (where their varieties may have been assimilated locally, but separately in each area, with other Hmong varieties imported from Laos and China): Hmong Dô (Vietnam), Hmong Don (Vietnam, assumed).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that the White and Leng dialects "are said to be mutually intelligible to a well-trained ear, with pronunciation and vocabulary differences analogous to the differences between British and American English.""Chapter 2. Overview of Lao Hmong Culture." (Archive) Promoting Cultural Sensitivity: Hmong Guide. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. p. 14. Retrieved on 5 May 2013.
Several Chinese varieties may overlap with or be more distinct than the varieties listed above: Dananshan Miao (, ; called in Northern Hmong), the basis of the Chinese standard of the Chuanqiandian cluster Black Miao (subgroups: , /; Chinese: , )Note however that "Black Miao" is more commonly used for Hmu. Southern Hmong (subgroups: , , , ; includes Mong Leng) Northern Hmong (subgroups: , /, ) Western Sichuan Miao (Chinese: , )
In the 2007 request to establish an ISO code for the Chuanqiandian cluster, corresponding to the "first local dialect" () of the Chuanqiandian cluster in Chinese, the proposer made the following statement on mutual intelligibility:
Varieties in Laos According to the CDC, "although there is no official preference for one dialect over the other, White Hmong seems to be favored in many ways": the Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) most closely reflects that of White Hmong (Hmong Daw); most educated Hmong speak White Hmong because White Hmong people lack the ability to understand Mong Leng; and most Hmong dictionaries only include the White Hmong dialect. Furthermore, younger generations of Hmong are more likely to speak White Hmong, and speakers of Mong Leng are more likely to understand White Hmong than speakers of White Hmong are to understand Mong Leng.
Varieties in the United States Most Hmong in the United States speak White Hmong (Hmoob Dawb) and Mong Leng (Moob Leeg), with around 60% speaking White Hmong and 40% Mong Leng. The CDC states that "though some Hmong report difficulty understanding speakers of a dialect not their own, for the most part, Mong Leng seem to do better when understanding both dialects."
Phonology The three dialects described here are Hmong Daw (also called White Miao or Hmong Der), Mong Leeg (also called Blue/Green Miao or Mong Leng),Smalley, William et al. Mother of Writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. p. 48-51. See also: Mortensen, David. “Preliminaries to Mong Leng (Mong Njua) Phonology” Unpublished, UC Berkeley. 2004. and Dananshan (Standard Chinese Miao).王辅世主编，《苗语简志》，民族出版社，1985年。 Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg are the two major dialects spoken by Hmong Americans. Although mutually intelligible, the dialects differ in both lexicon and certain aspects of phonology. For instance, Mong Leeg lacks the voiceless/aspirated of Hmong Daw (as exemplified by their names) and has a third nasalized vowel, ; Dananshan has a couple of extra diphthongs in native words, numerous Chinese loans, and an eighth tone.
Vowels The vowel systems of Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg are as shown in the following charts. (Phonemes particular to Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg are color-coded and indicated by a dagger or double dagger respectively.)
1st Row: IPA, Hmong RPA 2nd Row: Nyiakeng Puachue 3rd Row: Pahawh +MonophthongsFrontCentralBackoralnasaloralnasaloralnasalClose ⟨i⟩ ⟨w⟩ ⟨u⟩ Mid ⟨e⟩ ~ ⟨ee⟩ ⟨o⟩ ~ ⟨oo⟩ Open ⟨a⟩ ~ ⟨aa⟩ + Diphthongs Closing Centering Close component is front ⟨ai⟩ ⟨ia⟩ Close component is central ⟨aw⟩ Close component is back ⟨au⟩ ⟨ua⟩
The Dananshan standard of China is similar. Phonemic differences from Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg are color-coded and marked as absent or added. + Dananshan Miao vowelsFrontCentralBackoralnasaloralnasaloralnasalClose () (added) Mid Open + Diphthongs Closing Centering Close component is front (absent) Close component is back (added) Dananshan occurs only after non-palatal affricates, and is written , much like Mandarin Chinese. is pronounced after palatal consonants. There is also a triphthong , as well as other i- and u-initial sequences in Chinese borrowings, such as .
Consonants Hmong makes a number of phonemic contrasts unfamiliar to English speakers. All non-glottal stops and affricates distinguish aspirated and unaspirated forms, and most also distinguish prenasalization independently of this. The consonant inventory of Hmong is shown in the chart below. (Consonants particular to Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg are color-coded and indicated by a dagger or double dagger respectively.)
1st Row: IPA, Hmong RPA 2nd Row: Nyiakeng Puachue 3rd Row: Pahawh + Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg consonants Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal plain lateral plainsibilant lateralplainsibilantNasal voiceless () voiced () ( marginal) Plosive/Affricate tenuis () () aspirated () () voiced murmured prenasalized () () () () Continuant voiceless ~ voiced ~ Approximant
The Dananshan standard of China is similar. (Phonemic differences from Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg are color-coded and marked as absent or added. Minor differences, such as the voicing of prenasalized stops, or whether is an affricate or is velar, may be a matter of transcription.) Aspirates, voiceless fricatives, voiceless nasals, and glottal stop only occur with yin tones (1, 3, 5, 7). Standard orthography is added in angled brackets. The glottal stop is not written; it is not distinct from a zero initial. There is also a , which occurs only in foreign words. + Dananshan Miao consonants Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal plain lateral plainsibilant lateralplainsibilantNasal voiceless (absent) voiced (absent) (added)Plosive/ Affricate tenuis () () () aspirated () () voiced (absent) prenasalized () (absent) () (absent) Continuant voiceless voiced ~ ()
The status of the consonants described here as single phonemes with lateral release is controversial. A number of scholars instead analyze them as biphonemic clusters with as the second element. The difference in analysis (e.g., between and ) is not based on any disagreement in the sound or pronunciation of the consonants in question, but on differing theoretical grounds. Those in favor of a unit-phoneme analysis generally argue for this based on distributional evidence (i.e., if clusters, these would be the only clusters in the language, although see below) and dialect evidence (the laterally released dentals in Mong Leeg, e.g. , correspond to the voiced dentals of White Hmong), whereas those in favor of a cluster analysis tend to argue on the basis of general phonetic principles (other examples of labial phonemes with lateral release appear extremely rare or nonexistentEven the landmark book The Sounds of the World's Languages specifically describes lateral release as involving a homorganic consonant.).
Some linguists prefer to analyze the prenasalized consonants as clusters whose first element is . However, this cluster analysis is not as common as the above one involving .
Only used in Hmong RPA and not in Pahawh Hmong, since Hmong RPA uses Latin script and Pahawh Hmong does not. For example, in Hmong RPA, to write , the order Consonant + Vowel + Tone (CVT) must be followed, so it is k + ee + b = , but in Pahawh Hmong, it is just "" (3rd-Stage Version).
Syllable structure Hmong syllables have simple structure: all syllables have an onset consonant (except in a few particles), nuclei may consist of a monophthong or diphthong, and the only coda consonants that occur are nasals. In Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg, nasal codas have become nasalized vowels, though they may be accompanied by weakly articulated . Similarly, a short may accompany the low-falling creaky tone.
Dananshan has a syllabic (written ) in Chinese loans, such as 'two' and 'child'.
Tones Hmong is a tonal language and makes use of seven (Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg) or eight (Dananshan) distinct tones. Tone Hmong Daw exampleExamples 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. Hmong/Mong RPA spellingVietnamese Hmong spelling Nyiakeng Puachue Pahawh Hmong High 'ball' pob poz Mid 'spleen' po po Low 'thorn' pos pos High-falling 'female' poj pox Mid-rising 'to throw' pov por Low checked (creaky) tone (phrase final: long low rising ) 'to see' pom pov Mid-falling breathy tone 'grandmother' pog pol
The Dananshan tones are transcribed as pure tone. However, given how similar several of them are, it is likely that there are also phonational differences as in Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg. Tones 4 and 6, for example, are said to make tenuis plosives breathy voiced (), suggesting they may be breathy/murmured like the Hmong g-tone. Tones 7 and 8 are used in early Chinese loans with entering tone, suggesting they may once have marked checked syllables.
Because voiceless consonants apart from tenuis plosives are restricted to appearing before certain tones (1, 3, 5, 7), those are placed first in the table: