Hmongic languages
The Hmongic also known as Miao languages include the various languages spoken by the Miao people, Pa-Hng, and the "Bunu" languages used by non-Mien-speaking Yao people.
Name
The most common name used for the languages is Miao, the Chinese name and the one used by Miao in China. However, Hmong is more familiar in the West, due to Hmong emigration. Many overseas Hmong prefer the name Hmong, and claim that Miao is both inaccurate and pejorative, though it is generally considered neutral by the Miao community in China.Of the Hmongic languages spoken by ethnic Miao, there are a number of overlapping names. The three branches are as follows, as named by Purnell, Ma, and Ratliff, as well as the descriptive names based on the patterns and colors of traditional dress:
Glottolog | Native name | Purnell | Chinese name | Ma | Ratliff | Dress-color name |
| Ahmao* | Sichuan–Guizhou–Yunnan Miao | 川黔滇苗 Chuanqiandian Miao | Western Miao | West Hmongic | White, Blue/Green, Flowery, etc. |
| Xong | Western Hunan Miao | 湘西苗 Xiangxi Miao | Eastern Miao | North Hmongic | Red Miao/Meo |
| Hmu | Eastern Guizhou Miao | 黔东苗 Qiandong Miao | Central Miao | East Hmongic | Black Miao |
The Hunan Province Gazetteer gives the following autonyms for various peoples classified by the Chinese government as Miao.
- Xiangxi Prefecture: gho Xong, ghe Xong ; guo Chu 果楚
- Luxi County and Guzhang County: , te Suang
- Jingzhou County: Hmu,
- Chengbu County: Hmao
Writing
Around 1905, Samuel Pollard introduced the Pollard script, for the A-Hmao language, an abugida inspired by Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics, by his own admission. Several other syllabic alphabets were designed as well, the most notable being Shong Lue Yang's Pahawh Hmong script, which originated in Laos for the purpose of writing Hmong Daw, Hmong Njua, and other dialects of the standard Hmong language.
In the 1950s, pinyin-based Latin alphabets were devised by the Chinese government for three varieties of Miao: Xong, Hmu, and Chuangqiandian, as well as a Latin alphabet for A-Hmao to replace the Pollard script, though Pollard remains popular. This meant that each of the branches of Miao in the classification of the time had a separate written standard. Wu and Yang believe that standards should be developed for each of the six other primary varieties of Chuangqiandian as well, although the position of Romanization in the scope of Hmong language preservation remains a debate. Romanization remains common in China and the United States, while versions of the Lao and Thai scripts remain common in Thailand and Laos.
Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong script was created by Reverend Chervang Kong Vang to be able to capture Hmong vocabulary clearly and also to remedy redundancies in the language as well as address semantic confusions that was lacking in other scripts. This was created in the 1980s and was mainly used by United Christians Liberty Evangelical Church, a church also founded by Vang. The script bears strong resemblance to the Lao alphabet in structure and form and characters inspired from the Hebrew alphabets, although the characters themselves are different.
Classification
Hmongic is one of the primary branches of the Hmong–Mien language family, with the other being Mienic. Hmongic is a diverse group of perhaps twenty languages, based on mutual intelligibility, but several of these are dialectically quite diverse in phonology and vocabulary, and are not considered to be single languages by their speakers. There are probably over thirty languages taking this into account. Four classifications are outlined below, though the details of the West Hmongic branch are left for that article.Mo Piu, first documented in 2009, was reported by Geneviève Caelen-Haumont to be a divergent Hmongic language, and was later determined to be a dialect of Guiyang Miao. Similarly, Ná-Meo is not addressed in the classifications below, but is believed by Nguyen to be closest to Hmu.
Strecker (1987)
Strecker's classification is as follows:- Hmongic
- *West Hunan = Xong = Xiangxi
- *East Guizhou = Mhu = Qiandong
- *Pa Hng
- *Hm Nai = Wunai
- *Kiong Nai = Jiongnai
- *Yu Nuo = Younuo
- *Sichuan–Guizhou–Yunnan = Chuanqiangdian
Matisoff (2001)
Matisoff followed the basic outline of Strecker 1987, apart from consolidating the Bunu languages and leaving She unclassified:- Hmongic
- * Bunu
- ** Younuo
- ** Wunai
- ** Bu-Nao: Pu No, Nao Klao, Nu Mhou, Nunu, Tung Nu
- ** Jiongnai
- * Chuanqiangdian Miao
- * Pa-Hng
- * Qiandong Miao
- * Xiangxi Miao
Wang & Deng (2003)
- She
- *
- **Jiongnai
- **
- ***Western Hunan
- ***Younuo–Pa-Hng
- *
- **Eastern Guizhou
- **
- ***Bu-Nao
- ***Western Hmongic
- ****A-Hmao
- ****Hmong
Matisoff (2006)
- Northern Hmong = West Hunan
- Western Hmong
- Central Hmong
- *Longli Miao
- *Guizhu
- Eastern Guizhou
- *Daigong
- *Kaili
- *Lushan
- *Taijiang
- *Zhenfeng
- *Phö
- *Rongjiang
- Patengic
- * Pateng
- * Yongcong
Ratliff (2010)
The Hmongic classification below is from Martha Ratliff.- Hmongic
- *Pa-Hng – 32,000 speakers
- *Main branch
- **Kiong Nai – 1,100 speakers
- **She – 910 speakers
- **Core Hmongic
- ***West Hmongic
- ****Hmong – 3,712,000 speakers
- ****Gha-Mu - 84,000 speakers
- ****A-Hmao – 300,000 speakers in Guizhou and Yunnan
- ****Bu-Nao – 390,000 speakers in Guangxi
- ****Gejia - 60,000 speakers
- ****A-Hmyo - 61,000 speakers
- ****Mashan - 140,000 speakers
- ****Guiyang - 190,000 speakers
- ****Huishui - 180,000 speakers
- ****Pingtang - 24,000 speakers
- ***Xong – 900,000 speakers mostly in Hunan
- ***Hmu – 2,100,000 speakers mostly in Guizhou
Taguchi (2012)
Yoshihisa Taguchi's computational phylogenetic study classifies the Hmongic languages as follows.;Hmongic
- Pahngic
- *Pa Hng
- Northern
- *Xong
- Core Hmongic
- *Central
- **Hmu
- *Western
- **Hmong–Hmyo
- ***Hmong
- ***Hmyo
- **Pu Nu – Nao Klao
- ***Pu Nu
- ***Nao Klao
- *Eastern
- **Kiong Nai
- **Ho Ne – Pana
- ***Ho Ne
- ***Pana
Hsiu (2015, 2018)
;Hmongic
- Pahengic: Pa Hng, Hm Nai
- Xiongic
- *Western
- *Eastern
- Sheic
- *She–Jiongnai
- *Younuo
- *Pana
- Hmuic
- *North-East
- *West
- *South
- West Hmongic
- *Bu-Nao
- **Bunu
- **Nunu
- **Numao
- *Hmong
- *
Mixed languages
- Lingling of northern Guangxi
- The Maojia dialect of Chengbu Miao Autonomous County, Hunan and Ziyun, Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, Guangxi, which is located near Pana-speaking villages.
- Badong Yao 八峒瑶 of Xinning County, Hunan
- :zh:喇叭苗话|Laba 喇叭: more than 200,000 in Qinglong, Shuicheng, Pu'an, and Panxian in Guizhou; possibly a mixed Xiang Chinese and Miao language. The people are also called Huguangren 湖广人, because they claim their ancestors had migrated from Huguang.
- Baishi Miao 拜师苗 of Baishi District, Tianzhu County, eastern Guizhou, possibly a mixed Chinese and Miao language
- Sanqiao, a mixed Hmu-Kam language of southeastern Guizhou
Numerals