Guiyang Miao language

Guiyang Miao
Hmong
Native to	China
Region	Guizhou
Native speakers	(190,000 cited 1995)[1]
Language family	Hmong–Mien Hmongic West Hmongic Guiyang Miao
Dialects	Mo Piu?
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: huj – Northern hmy – Southern hmg – Southwestern
Glottolog	guiy1235

Guiyang Miao, also known as Guiyang Hmong, is a Miao language of China. It is named after Guiyang, Guizhou, though not all varieties are spoken there. The endonym is Hmong, a name it shares with the Hmong language.

Classification

Guiyang was given as a subgroup of Western Hmongic in Wang (1985).^[2] Matisoff (2001) separated the three varieties as distinct Miao languages, not forming a group. Wang (1994) adds another two minor, previously unclassified varieties.^[3]

• Northern
• Southern
• Southwestern
• Northwestern (Qianxi 黔西)
• South-Central (Ziyun 紫云)

Mo Piu, spoken in northern Vietnam, may be a divergent variety of Guiyang Miao.^[4]

Representative dialects of Guiyang Miao include:^[5]

• Baituo 摆托, Huaxi District, Guiyang
• Tieshi 铁石, Qianxi County
• Zhongba 中坝, Changshun County

Demographics

Below is a list of Miao dialects and their respective speaker populations and distributions from Li (2018),^[6] along with representative datapoints from Wang (1985).^[7]

Dialect	Speakers	Counties	Representative datapoint (Wang 1985)
North	70,000	Guiyang (in Huaxi, Xiaohe, Baiyun, Wudang districts), Qingzhen, Kaiyang, Xifeng, Xiuwen, Anshun, Pingba, Zhenning, Qianxi, Jinsha, Zhijin, Longli, Guiding	Baituo 摆托寨, Qingyan Township 青岩乡, Huaxi District 花溪区, Guiyang City
South	20,000+	Anshun, Zhenning	Wangjiashan 汪家山, Huayan Township 华严乡, Anshun City
Southwest	60,000	Guiyang (in Huaxi, Wudang, Baiyun districts), Qingzhen, Anshun, Pingba, Ziyun, Changshun	Kaisa Village 凯洒村, Machang Township 马场乡, Pingba County
Northwest	6,000	Qingzhen, Qianxi, Longlin	Tieshi Township 铁石苗族彝族乡, Qianxi County
South-Central	6,000	Ziyun, Zhenning	Hongyanzhai 红岩寨, Baiyun Township 白云乡, Ziyun County

According to Sun (2017), the northern dialect of Guiyang Miao is spoken in the following locations by a total of approximately 60,000 speakers.^[8]

• Pingba County: Linka 林卡
• Qianxi County: Chongxin 重新, Shiping 石平
• Jinsha County: Musha 木沙, Bijia 笔架, Zongping 宗平, Dayuan 大员, Xinxi 新西, Anmin 安民, Taoyuan 桃园
• Zhenning County: Xinchang 新场
• Kaiyang, Xifeng, Xiuwen, Guiding, and other counties

References

1. Northern at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Southern at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Southwestern at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Wang, Fushi 王辅世, ed. (1985). Miáoyǔ jiǎnzhì 苗语简志 (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
3. Li, Yunbing 李云兵 (2000). Miáoyǔ fāngyán huàfēn yíliú wèntí yánjiū 苗语方言划分遗留问题研究 (in Chinese). Beijing Shi: Zhongyang minzu daxue chubanshe.
4. Ly Van Tu, Jean-Cyrille; Vittrant, Alice (2014). Place of Mơ Piu in the Hmong Group: A Proposal. Presented at SEALS 24, Yangon, Myanmar – via Academia.edu.
5. Mortensen, David (2004). "The Development of Tone Sandhi in Western Hmongic: A New Hypothesis" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-07-24 – via pitt.edu.
6. Li, Yunbing 李云兵 (2018). Miao Yao yu bijiao yanjiu 苗瑶语比较研究 (A comparative study of Hmong-Mien languages). Beijing: The Commercial Press. ISBN 9787100165068. OCLC 1112270585.
7. Wang Fushi 王辅世. 1985. Miaoyu jianzhi 苗语简志. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe 民族出版社.
8. Sun, Hongkai 孙宏开; Ting, Pang-hsin 丁邦新, eds. (2017). Hanzangyu yuyin he cihui 汉藏语语音和词汇. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe 民族出版社. p. 40. ISBN 9787105142385.