A-Hmao language

The A-Hmao (or Ahmao) language, also known as Large Flowery Miao ( zh, 大花苗, p=Dà Huā Miáo), Hua Miao, or Northeast Yunnan Miao (), is a Hmongic language spoken in China. It is the language the Pollard script was designed for, and displays extensive tone sandhi. 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 () village in Weining County.

Classification

The A-Hmao language is a branch of the West Hmongic languages, also known as Chuanqiandian Miao ( zh, c=川黔滇苗, l=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:
# Chuanqiandian Miao
# Northeast Yunnan Miao (A-Hmao language)
# Guiyang Miao
# Huishui Miao
# Mashan Miao
# Luobohe Miao
# Chong'anjiang Miao
# Pingtang Miao

Geographic distribution

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. The standard dialect is that of Shimenkan (), Weining County ().

Phonology

Consonants

Moreover, Gerner (2022) treats breathiness as a property of the onset, such as ʱin the word ʱi¹¹'two', and reports a fricative aspirated lateral �ʰ as in the word �ʰi¹¹'become'.

Vowels

Tones

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).

Grammar

Morphology and vocabulary

The morphology of the three branches of the Hmong language is basically the same. The following examples are from Central Miao. 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.

Single-morpheme word

# Monosyllable single-morpheme word. (single-morpheme words are mostly monosyllable in Hmong language)
#: Example:
#:: 'human being'
#:: 'tiger'
#:: 'tree'
#:: 'I'
#:: 'you'
#:: 'he'
#:: 'thousand'
#:: 'ten thousand'
#:: 'hundred'
#:: 'come'
#:: go; 'leave'
# 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.)
## Alliterative. Example:
##: 'hurry up; quickly'
##: 'itchy'
##: 'nausea'
## Vowel rhyme. Example:
##: Same tone:
##:: 'girl'
##:: 'run'
##:: 'boiling'
##:: 'star'
##:: 'cloud'
##:: 'dirty'
##: Different tones:
##:: 'clean'
##:: 'in case'
##:: 'magpie'
## Non-alliterative and vowel rhyme. Example:
##:: 'crow'
##:: 'nearly; almost'
##:: 'chair'
## Reiterative syllable. Example:
##:: 'slowly'
##:: 'together'
##:: 'still'
##:: 'occasionally'

Compound word

# Coordinating
## Noun morpheme compound with noun morpheme. Example:
##: 'language'
##: 'relative'
##: 'name'
##: 'age'
## Verb morpheme compound with verb morpheme. Example:
##: 'rebuke'
##: 'construct'
##: 'lesson'
## Adjective morpheme compound with adjective morpheme. Example:
##: 'bend'
##: 'poverty'
# Modifying
## Noun morpheme modifying noun morpheme. Example:
##: 'candle'
##: 'key'
##: 'tears'
##: 'corn'
## Adjective morpheme modifying noun morpheme. Example:
##: 'uncle'
##: 'aunt'
# Dominating
## Verb morpheme dominating noun morpheme. Example:
##: 'dress up'
##: 'rest'
## Adjective morpheme dominating noun morpheme. Example:
##: 'patience'
##: 'pleasantly cool'
##: 'proficiency'
##: 'tired'
# Affixes
#: Mostly are prefixes, and commonly used prefixes are , and so on. is the most commonly used.
## 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:
##: 'body'
##: 'ear'
##: 'root'
##: 'leaf'
##: 'living room'
##: 'kicken'
##: 'soul'
##: 'destiny'
## means location. Example:
##: 'provincial capital'
##: on the street
##: at home
## means aspect and direction. Example:
##: aspect of eating and wearing
##: 'here'
##: 'there'
##: 'where'
## means aspect and direction. Example:
##: 'above'
##: 'below'
##: 'outside'
##: 'inside'
## means person. Example:
##: 'child'
##: 'grandchild'
##: 'man'
## means person and some kinship terminology. Example:
##: 'girl'
##: 'man, boy, husband'
##: 'uncle'
## means round object. Example:
##: 'stone'
##: 'knee'
##: 'fist'
## means uncertain quantity.
##: 'a handful of'

Classifier inflections

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

Syntax

As with other Hmongic languages, the basic word order of A-Hmao is SVO. Within the noun phrase, possessors precede possessed nouns, while relative clauses precede the nouns they modify. Noun phrases have the form as (possessive) + (quantifier) + (classifier) + noun + (adjective) + (demonstrative). 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.

Overview

A-Hmao exhibits the grammatical patterns as in the table below.

Question formation

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:

Writing system

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.

References

Sources

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Further reading

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* ig Flowery Miao 大花苗 of Sapushan 洒普山, Wulong Village 乌龙村, Shishan Town 狮山镇, Wuding County, Yunnan]

External links

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.
KG2-003KG2-019

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West Hmongic languages
Languages of Yunnan