Languages hmong-mien

The languages hmong-mien or miao-yao are an small family of languages of China of the south and Indo-China. They are spoken in the mountainous regions about China about the south, in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi and Hubei, where the “people of the hills were relegated”, whereas the Hans settled in the more fertile valleys. During three to four thousand last years, the populations Hmong and unquestionable Mien emigrated towards the Thailand, the Laos, the Vietnam and the Burma (Myanmar). The successive wars in Indo-China led many Hmong to leave the Southeast Asia for the Australia, the the United States of America, and other countries Western.

Relationship

The languages hmong (miao) and mien (yao) are definitely distinct, although genetically close relations. The position of the language Ho nte ( shē in Mandarin) is not clear; it is thought however that it is closer to the branch mien. The difficulty of classification comes partly from the strong influence exerted by the close languages. One will find below a proposal for a classification of the languages hmong-mien.

Old classifications placed the languages hmong-mien in the family of the Langues sino-Tibetans, where many Chinese classifications place them besides still, but the current consensus among the Western linguists gives them a statute of separate family. The hmong-mien family is originating in the south or perhaps center in China. If the area where one finds the greatest number of speakers currently lies between the rivers Yangzi Jiang and Mekong, there are reasons to think that they migrated there since of the areas located more at north, following the arrival of populations han.

Certain linguists put forth the assumption that the languages hmong-mien could belong to a austric super-family “”, but no proof was still brought from there.

Names

In Mandarin, these languages are called miáo and yáo .

The names meo , hmu , mong and hmong are various local names for miáo . The name hmong, that are given the majority of the Laotian refugees, is employed the most in Occident. One must note however that this name is not used in China, where live the majority of Miao.

As for the Chinese name yáo , it is also used for the nationality yao, which is more one cultural group that a group ethnolinguistic. It includes/understands populations speaking the language mien, of the Langues tai-kadai, yi and hmong. For these reasons, it is preferable to use the Ethnonyme Mien , less ambiguous.

The words hmong and mien , meaning both nobody , are related.

Characteristics

Like many languages of China of the south, the languages hmong-mien are strongly monosyllabic. They are also among the languages more tonal of the world. Some suggested that they could have been at the origin of the use of tons; thus the Chinese, others Languages tibéto-Burmeses like the Us, and the Langues tai-kadai could have developed their system of tons under the hmong-mien influence, and later the Vietnamese under the influence Thai.

History

It seems that Hans remained confined in the high valley of the Huang He (yellow river) during the Dynastie Zhou. They were there perhaps only immigrants of fresh date; if it is the case, the question of the identity of the people of the Dynastie Shang is open. Hmong-Mien are a possibility, but it is as possible as Shang did not leave any linguistic descent. A thing is however certain, the Chinese legends introduce the people hmong-mien like one of the founders of China. Excavations Japan eases of “Chinese” cities old such as Pengtoushan showed the possibility that their inhabitants were of ethnos group hmong-mien; an argument in favor of this theory is brought by palynologic studies , proving the presence of Liquidambar S , usually employed like trees with prayers in the villages hmong-mien.

If Hmong-Mien had one day such a great extension, the greatest part of their diversity was lost. The current languages would be then the only branch of the family to have survived; by comparison with the Indo-European Languages, it would be as so only the Celtic Langues remained at our time.

Proposal for a classification

Ethnologist thirty-five list languages hmong-mien, but number of them are mutually understandable. Classification below takes again Matisoff (2001).

  • Languages hmong (miao)

    • ? Septentrional “Gelo”
    • hmong
      • miao of Xiangxi (hmong red)
    • hmong Western
      • miao of Libo
      • miao of Weining
      • miao Yi
      • hmong itself (the green hmong Hmong njua includes, the white hmong Hmong daw and the black and white miao)
    • hmong central
      • miao of (hmong black) the
      • miao of Longli
    • hmong Eastern (Guizhou)
    • patengic
      • Pa-hng
      • yongcong

Moreover, the position of Ho nte is obscure.

Reference

Blench one the languages off Clouded (document pdf)

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