Hmong language
(Redirected from Hmong Daw language)
Categories: Hmong-Mien languages | Languages of China | Languages of Vietnam | Languages of Thailand | Languages of Laos
Hmong (Hmong: hmoob) is a Hmong-Mien language spoken by the Hmong people native to Sichuan, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. It consists of a large number of mutually unintelligible dialects, often considered languages. The dialect discussed here is known as White Hmong or Hmong Daw. Its ISO 639-2 code is hmn and its SIL code is MWW. There are other dialects, including Blue Hmong (Hmong Njua) and Black Hmong.
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Phonology
The following discussion of the phonology of Hmong is largely based on Golston and Yang 2001.
Vowels
The vowel system of Hmong is as shown in the following charts:
| Monophthongs | Oral | Nasal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Central | Back | Front | Back | ||
| Close | i | ɨ | u | |||
| Mid | e | ɔ | ẽ | ɔ̃ | ||
| Open | a | |||||
| Diphthongs | Closing | Centering |
|---|---|---|
| Close component is front | ai | iə |
| Close component is central | aɨ | |
| Close component is back | au | uə |
Consonants
Hmong uses a number of phonological features unfamiliar to English speakers, like aspiration, prenasalization, and lateral release, to make phonemic contrasts. The consonant inventory of Hmong is shown in the chart below.
| Bilabial | Bilabial with lateral release | Labiodental | Dental | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain stop | p pʰ | pˡ pɬ | t tʰ d dʰ | ʈ ʈʰ | c cʰ | k kʰ | q qʰ | ʔ | |
| Prenasalized stop | mb mbʰ | mbˡ mbɬ | nd ndʰ | ɳɖ ɳɖʰ | ɲɟ ɲɟʰ | ŋg ŋgʰ | ɴɢ ɴɢʰ | ||
| Plain affricate | ts tsʰ | ʈʂ ʈʂʰ | |||||||
| Prenasalized affricate | ndz ndzʰ | ɳɖʐ ɳɖʐʰ | |||||||
| Nasal | m m̥ | mˡ m̥ɬ | n n̥ | ɲ ɲ̥ | |||||
| Fricative | f v | s | ʂ ʐ | ç ʝ | h | ||||
| Lateral approximant | ɬ l |
Syllable structure
Hmong syllables have a very simple structure: onsets are obligatory (except in a few particles), nuclei may consist of a monophthong or diphthong, and coda consonants are prohibited, except that a weak coda [ŋ] may accompany nasal vowels and a weak coda [ʔ] may accompany the low-falling creaky tone.
Tones
Hmong is a tone language and makes use of seven distinct tones:
| Tone | Example |
|---|---|
| High | /pɔ́/ "lump" |
| Mid | /pɔ/ "pancreas" |
| Low | /pɔ̀/ "thorn" |
| High-falling | /pɔ̂/ "female" |
| Mid-rising | /pɔ̌/ "throw" |
| Low-falling (creaky) tone | /pɔ̰/ "see" |
| Mid-low (breathy) tone | /pɔ̤/ "faith" |
Orthography
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The glottal stop is not indicated in the orthography. The few truly vowel-initial words are indicated by an apostrophe.
The mid tone is not indicated in the orthography. The others are indicated by letters written at the end of the syllable.
- -b – high tone
- -s – low tone
- -j – high-falling tone
- -v – mid-rising tone
- -m – low-falling (creaky) tone
- -g – mid-low (breathy) tone
- -d - phrase-final low-rising variant of -m
Hmong names
In the United States, Hmong usually spell their names in a way so that Americans can more easily pronounce them, rather than using Hmong orthography, which they use mainly among themselves. So, rather than Xaab Vaaj for example, the name will be written Sa Vang. Other common names besides Vang are Her (Hawj in Hmong), Moua (Muas), Xiong (Xyooj), Chang (Tsab), Yang (Yaj), Lor (Lauj) and Lee (Lis). Some of these names are also found among Chinese; for example, Hawj corresponds to Chinese He or Ho (何), and Vang corresponds to Wang or Wong (王). Also, although the Vietnamese word for "gold" is vàng, it does not appear to have any connection to the Hmong name Vaaj/Vang.
Sources
- Golston, Chris, and Phong Yang. 2001. "Hmong loanword phonology". In Proceedings of HILP 5, ed. C. Féry, A. D. Green, and R. van de Vijver, 40-57. Linguistics in Potsdam 12. Potsdam: University of Potsdam.