| Language name: | HMONG |
| UPSID number: | 2519 |
| Alternate name(s): | MIAO |
| Classification: | Sino-Tibetan, Hmong-Mien |
| This language has | 56 segments |
| Its Frequency index is | 0.208465315 (average percentage of segments; 0.1: many very rare segments; 0.39: average; 0.7: many common segments) |
| The language has these sounds: | p tD k q ph tDh kh qh mp ntD Nk Nq mph ntDh Nkh Nqh tDs tS t.s tDsh tSh t.sh ntS ntDs nt.s ntDsh ntSh nt.sh f h v sD S s. Z z. m nD n_ N hm hnD hn_ l hl w i "e a a_) "o u ai au Euu @u |
| Comment: | Dananshan dialect, Xianjin Xiang, Guizhou. Miao dialects are spoken in quite widely scattered areas of Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan in China and in northern parts of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. The dialect represented here is described in the Miao Language Team article (1962) and by Wang (1983, 1985). It is described with 8 tones, transcribed on the Chinese 5-point scale as 55, 44, 33, 43, 31, 24, 21, 13. Aspirated stops, voiceless nasals and voiceless fricatives only occur with the first 4 tones in this list. Unaspirated stops, voiced nasals and voiced fricatives occur with all eight tones but become breathy voiced ("voiced aspirates") with the last two tones (low-fall and low rise). An alternative analysis might add breathy voiced segments to the consonant inventory and reduce the number of tones but the consonants undergo an alternation when tone sandhi results in the 13 tone replacing another tone. Hence breathy voicing is treated as an attribute of these tones. /l/ clusters with labial stops and with /t/ and /th/ initially. Native words seem to have mostly simple vocalism but more complex vowel nuclei have been borrowed from Chinese. Only dental and velar nasals occur as syllable final consonants. |
| Source(s): | Wang, Fushi. 1985. Miaoyu jianzhi. Brief guide to Miao language. Minzu Chubanshe, Beijing. Wang, Fushi. 1983. Miaoyu fangyan huafen wenti (On the division of Miao dialects). Minzu Yuwen, 1983.5: 1-22. Purnell, H.C. (editor) 1972. Miao and Yao Linguistic Studies, Selected articles in Chinese, translated by Chang Yu-hung and Chu Kwo-ray. Linguistics Series VII. Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca. |