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.
Classification
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]
Moreover, Gerner (2022) treats breathiness as a property of the onset, such as [lʱ] in the word lif [lʱi11] 'two', and reports a fricative aspirated lateral [ɬʰ], as in the word [ɬʰi11] '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]
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'
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:
gangt git 'hurry up; quickly'
qut qat 'itchy'
hcud hxangd 'nausea'
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'
Non-alliterative and vowel rhyme. Example:
ak wol 'crow'
bil hsaid 'nearly; almost'
ghob yenl 'chair'
Reiterative syllable. Example:
gid gid 'slowly'
seix seix 'together'
nangl nangl 'still'
xangd xangd 'occasionally'
Compound word
Coordinating
Noun morpheme compound with noun morpheme. Example:
hveb hseid 'language'
haxub khat 'relative'
nangx bit 'name'
niangx hniut 'age'
Verb morpheme compound with verb morpheme. Example:
cub nul 'rebuke'
tid xongt 'construct'
khab job 'lesson'
Adjective morpheme compound with adjective morpheme. Example:
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.
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:
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'
Gid- means aspect and direction. Example:
gid waix 'above'
gid dab 'below'
gid gux 'outside'
gid niangs 'inside'
Jib- means person. Example:
jib daib 'child'
jib hlangb 'grandchild'
jib bad 'man'
Daib- means person and some kinship terminology. Example:
daib pik 'girl'
daib jangs 'man, boy, husband'
daib nenl 'uncle'
Bod- means round object. Example:
bod vib 'stone'
bod ghof jus 'knee'
bod liul 'fist'
Xuk- means uncertain quantity.
xuk laix '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,[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]
Overview
A-Hmao exhibits the grammatical patterns as in the table below.[13][16]
Grammatical Relations by Element Order in A-Hmao
Relation Type
First Element
Second Element
Possessive
Possessor Noun
Possessed Noun
Restrictive adjectival
Adjective
Noun
Non-restrictive adjectival
Noun
Adjective
Nominalization
Relative clause
Noun
Adpositional
Preposition
Noun phrase
Predicational
Predicate
Arguments
Predicational
Adjunct
Predicate
Negation
Negative particle
Verb
TAM
Verb
Auxiliary
Subordination
Complementizer
Embedded clause
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:[15]
ʦɑ⁵⁵ndɑɯ³³
TsaDaw
ɑ²¹n̥ɑɯ²¹
yesterday
ntʂɿ⁵³
met
qɑ²¹ndy²²
who
ʦɑ⁵⁵ndɑɯ³³ ɑ²¹n̥ɑɯ²¹ ntʂɿ⁵³ qɑ²¹ndy²²
TsaDaw yesterday met who
'Who did TsaDaw meet yesterday?'
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.[17]
^Smalley, William A.; Vang, Chia Koua; Yang, Gnia Yee (1990). Mother of Writing: The Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script. University of Chicago Press.
^Duffy, John (2007). Writing from These Roots: Literacy in a Hmong-American Community. University of Hawaii Press.
^Mortensen, David. 2005. "A-Hmao Echo Reduplication as Evidence for Abstract Phonological Scales". LSA Annual Meeting
^Wang, Fushi 王辅世 (1985). Miáoyǔ jiǎnzhì 苗语简志 [A Brief History of the Miao Language] (in Chinese). Minzu chubanshe.
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.
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.
