A-Hmao language

The A-Hmao (or Ahmao) language, also known as Large Flowery Miao (pinyin: Dà Huā Miáo), Hua Miao, or Northeast Yunnan Miao (Chinese: 苗语滇东北方言; pinyin: Miáoyǔ Diàndōngběi fāngyán), is a Hmongic language spoken in China. It is the language the Pollard script was designed for,^[2][3] and displays extensive tone sandhi.^[4] There is a high degree of literacy in Pollard among the older generation.

The standard written language, both in Pollard and in Latin script, is that of Shíménkǎn (石门坎) village in Weining County.

The A-Hmao language is a branch of the West Hmongic languages, also known as Chuanqiandian Miao (Chinese: 川黔滇苗; lit. 'Sichuan–Guizhou–Yunnan Miao') and Western Miao, which is a major branch of the Hmongic languages of China and Southeast Asia.

Wang Fushi (1985) grouped the Western Miao languages into eight primary divisions:^[5]

1. Chuanqiandian Miao
2. Northeast Yunnan Miao (A-Hmao language)
3. Guiyang Miao
4. Huishui Miao
5. Mashan Miao
6. Luobohe Miao
7. Chong'anjiang Miao
8. Pingtang Miao

The A-Hmao language is spoken in the northeast of Yunnan Province and in the west of Guizhou Province, particularly in Zhaotong, Kunming, Qujing, Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture, Weining Yi, Hui, and Miao autonomous county, Hezhang county, Liupanshui, and Ziyun Miao and Buyi autonomous county. There are 300,000 native speakers.^[6] The standard dialect is that of Shimenkan (石门坎), Weining County (威宁县).

Moreover, Gerner (2022) treats breathiness as a property of the onset, such as in the word lif 'two', and reports a fricative aspirated lateral , as in the word 'become'.^[7]

On the basis of the eight tones of A-Hmao, in the eastern region, the fourth, sixth, and eighth tones are broken up partially or entirely into two categories. At most, there can be up to eleven tones. Essentially, nouns and quantifiers are part of the first category, and they are higher in pitch. Other word classes are part of the second category, and they are lower in pitch.

The A-Hmao language displays extensive tone sandhi. Similar to other branches of the West Hmongic languages, the tone sandhi happens on the second syllable when the first syllable of a disyllable word is level tone (first and second tone).^[8]

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The morphology of the three branches of the Hmong language is basically the same. The following examples are from Central Miao.^[9] A-Hmao is similar to Hmong, which is an isolating language in which most morphemes are monosyllables. As a result, verbs are not overtly inflected. Tense, aspect, mood, person, number, gender, and case are indicated lexically.^[10]

Single-morpheme word

1. Monosyllable single-morpheme word. (single-morpheme words are mostly monosyllable in Hmong language)

   Example:

   naxi 'human being'

   xed 'tiger'

   et 'tree'

   wil 'I'

   mongx 'you'

   nenx 'he'

   hsangb 'thousand'

   wangs 'ten thousand'

   bat 'hundred'

   lol 'come'

   mongl go; 'leave'

2. Multisyllable single-morpheme word. (There is a small number of multisyllable single-morpheme words in the Hmong language. Mostly, they are disyllabic, and there are very few with three or more syllables.)
   1. Alliterative. Example:

      gangt git 'hurry up; quickly'

      qut qat 'itchy'

      hcud hxangd 'nausea'

   2. Vowel rhyme. Example:

      Same tone:

      bal nial 'girl'

      box jox 'run'

      bux lux 'boiling'

      daib ghaib 'star'

      dent ent 'cloud'

      vongs nongs 'dirty'

      Different tones:

      hsab ngas 'clean'

      hsangd dangl 'in case'

      kak liax 'magpie'

   3. Non-alliterative and vowel rhyme. Example:

      ak wol 'crow'

      bil hsaid 'nearly; almost'

      ghob yenl 'chair'

   4. Reiterative syllable. Example:

      gid gid 'slowly'

      seix seix 'together'

      nangl nangl 'still'

      xangd xangd 'occasionally'

Compound word

1. Coordinating
   1. Noun morpheme compound with noun morpheme. Example:

      hveb hseid 'language'

      haxub khat 'relative'

      nangx bit 'name'

      niangx hniut 'age'

   2. Verb morpheme compound with verb morpheme. Example:

      cub nul 'rebuke'

      tid xongt 'construct'

      khab job 'lesson'

   3. Adjective morpheme compound with adjective morpheme. Example:

      ghongl jangl 'bend'

      khed hxat 'poverty'

2. Modifying
   1. Noun morpheme modifying noun morpheme. Example:

      det diangx 'candle'

      det diux 'key'

      eb mais 'tears'

      gad wangx 'corn'

   2. Adjective morpheme modifying noun morpheme. Example:

      bad yut 'uncle'

      mais lul 'aunt'

3. Dominating
   1. Verb morpheme dominating noun morpheme. Example:

      dlangd wangb 'dress up'

      qet ves 'rest'

   2. Adjective morpheme dominating noun morpheme. Example:

      dad hvib 'patience'

      hvent ves 'pleasantly cool'

      mais bil 'proficiency'

      mais ves 'tired'

4. Affixes

   Mostly are prefixes, and commonly used prefixes are ghab-, diub-, hangd-, gid-, jib-, daib-, bod-, xuk-, and so on. Ghab- is the most commonly used.

   1. Ghab- means human or animal body and part, plant part and things related to plants, natural objects, things related to buildings, utensils and abstract objectives. Example:

      ghab jid 'body'

      ghab naix 'ear'

      ghab ghaib 'root'

      ghab nex 'leaf'

      ghab qangb 'living room'

      ghab sot 'kicken'^[spelling?]

      ghab dliux 'soul'

      ghabnangs 'destiny'

   2. Diub- means location. Example:

      diub senx 'provincial capital'

      dioub ghaib on the street

      diub zaid at home

   3. Hangd-/khangd- means aspect and direction. Example:

      hangd nongx hangd nangl aspect of eating and wearing

      hangd nongd 'here'

      hangd momgx 'there'

      hangd deis 'where'

   4. Gid- means aspect and direction. Example:

      gid waix 'above'

      gid dab 'below'

      gid gux 'outside'

      gid niangs 'inside'

   5. Jib- means person. Example:

      jib daib 'child'

      jib hlangb 'grandchild'

      jib bad 'man'

   6. Daib- means person and some kinship terminology. Example:

      daib pik 'girl'

      daib jangs 'man, boy, husband'

      daib nenl 'uncle'

   7. Bod- means round object. Example:

      bod vib 'stone'

      bod ghof jus 'knee'

      bod liul 'fist'

   8. Xuk- means uncertain quantity.

      xuk laix 'a handful of'

One unusual feature of A-Hmao morphology is the existence of inflecting classifiers, i.e., classifiers that change form.

As with other Hmongic languages,^[11] the basic word order of A-Hmao is SVO.^[12] Within the noun phrase, possessors precede possessed nouns, while relative clauses precede the nouns they modify.^[13] Noun phrases have the form as (possessive) + (quantifier) + (classifier) + noun + (adjective) + (demonstrative).^[14] Question formation in Ahmao does not involve word order change: question words generally remain in situ, rather than appear in sentence-initial position, and pseudo-clefting is also generally used in questions.^[15]

A-Hmao exhibits the grammatical patterns as in the table below.^[13][16]

Questions are typically formed with the wh- question word in situ, i.e., it appears where the corresponding noun would in the sentence, rather than appear sentence-initially:^[15]

The A-Hmao have no indigenous writing system. In the beginning of the 20th century, missionary Samuel Pollard invented the Pollard script, which was based on the decorative symbols on their clothing. Before the introduction of the Pollard script, the A-Hmao people recorded their history through their ancient songs and weaving the history of their memories on their clothes. Those images formed a history of the A-Hmao.^[17]

• Chang, Melody Ya-Yin (2010). ""Sluicing" in Hmong (A-Hmao)". In Clemens, L.E.; Liu, C.-M. L. (eds.). Proceedings of the 22nd North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-22) & the 18th International Conference on Chinese Linguistics (IACL-18). Vol 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. pp. 102–116.
• Gerner, Matthias (2019). Highlights from three Language Families in Southwest China. Duisburg, Germany: Research Foundation Language and Religion.
• Gerner, Matthias (2022). "Typologically rare properties of Miao languages". In Shei, Chris; Li, Saihong (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics. London: Routledge. pp. 47–71.
• Li, Jinping 李锦平 (2002). Miáozú yǔyán yǔ wénhuà 苗族语言与文化 [Miao Language and Culture]. Guìzhou minzu xueyuan xueshu.
• Liu, Yuanchao 刘援朝 (1993). "Wēiníng Miáoyǔ gǔ diào zhí gòunǐ" 威宁苗语古调值构拟. Zhōngyāng mínzú xuéyuàn xuébào 中央民族学院学报 (in Chinese). 1993 (3): 85–91. doi:10.15970/j.cnki.1005-8575.1993.03.019.
• Wang, Fushi 王辅世; Mao, Zongwu 毛宗武 (1995). Miáo-Yáoyǔ gǔyīn gòunǐ 苗瑶语古音构拟 (in Chinese). Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe.

• Ji, Hongli 季红丽 (2021). Dianbei Miaoyu yanjiu 滇北苗语研究. Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Press. OCLC 1294549562.
• Li, Hongli 季红丽 (2018). "Diānběi Dàhuā Miáo Miáoyǔ gàikuàng" 滇北大花苗苗语概况 [A Sketch Grammar of Dianbei Ahmao]. Mínzú yǔwén 民族语文. 2018 (5): 86–97. Archived from the original on 2021-08-11. Retrieved 2021-08-11.

• A-Hmao (Diandongbei) basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
• 283-word wordlists in Wuding Jiyi A-Hmao 花苗 dialect, elicited in Standard Mandarin, archived with Kaipuleohone. (KG2-003, KG2-019)