Hmong language

Encyclopedia : H : HM : HMO : Hmong language

Hmong (Hmong: Hmoob) is a Hmong-Mien language spoken by the Hmong people native to Sichuan, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. Almost 170,000 Hmong speakers now live in the United States as well, mostly in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.http://www.mla.org/map_data_states&lang_id=722&mode=lang_tops It consists of a large number of mutually unintelligible dialects, often considered languages.

Contents

1 Phonology

1.1 Vowels
1.2 Consonants
1.3 Syllable structure
1.4 Tones

2 Orthography
3 Hmong names
4 References
5 External links

Phonology

The dialect described here is known as White Hmong or Hmong Dawb.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. There are other dialects, including Green Hmong (Hmong Ntsuab) and Striped Hmong.

Vowels

The vowel system of Hmong is as shown in the following charts:

Monophthongs	Front	Central	Back	Front	Back
Monophthongs	Oral			Nasal
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

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  p^ɬ t  tʰ
d  dʰ ʈ  ʈʰ c  cʰ k  kʰ q  qʰ ʔ
Prenasalized stop ^mb  ^mbʰ ^mbˡ  ^mb^ɬ 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  m̥^ɬ n  n̥ ɲ  ɲ̥
Fricative f  v s ʂ  ʐ ç  ʝ h
Lateral ɬ  l

	Bilabial	Bilabial with lateral release	Labiodental	Dental	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Plain stop	p pʰ	pˡ p^ɬ		t tʰ d dʰ	ʈ ʈʰ	c cʰ	k kʰ	q qʰ	ʔ
Prenasalized stop	^mb ^mbʰ	^mbˡ ^mb^ɬ		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 m̥^ɬ		n n̥		ɲ ɲ̥
Fricative			f v	s	ʂ ʐ	ç ʝ			h
Lateral				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
Mid
Low
High-falling
Mid-rising
Low-falling (creaky) tone
Mid-low (breathy) tone

Tone	Example
High
Mid
Low
High-falling
Mid-rising
Low-falling (creaky) tone
Mid-low (breathy) tone

Orthography

a – /a/
ai – /ai/
au – /au/
c – /c/
ch – /cʰ/
d – /d/
dh – /dʰ/
e – /e/
ee – /ẽ/
f – /f/
h – /h/
hl – /ɬ/
hm – /m̥/
hn – /n̥/
hnl or hml – /m̥^ɬ/
hny – /ɲ̥/
i – /i/

ia – /iə/
k - /k/
kh – /kʰ/
l – /l/
m – /m/
n – /n/
nc – /^ɲɟ/
nch – /^ɲɟʰ/
nk – /^ŋg/
nkh – /^ŋgʰ/
nl or ml – /mˡ/
np – /^mb/
nph – /^mbʰ/
npl – /^mbˡ/
nplh – /^mb^ɬ/
nq – /^ɴɢ/
nqh – /^ɴɢʰ/

nr – /^ɳɖ/
nrh – /^ɳɖʰ/
nt - /ⁿd/
nth - /ⁿdʰ/
nts - /^ɳɖʐ/
ntsh - /^ɳɖʐʰ/
ntx - /ⁿdz/
ntxh – /ⁿdzʰ/
ny – /ɲ/
o – /ɔ/
oo – /ɔ̃/
p – /p/
ph – /pʰ/
pl – /pˡ/
plh – /p^ɬ/
q – /q/
qh – /qʰ/

r - /ʈ/
rh - /ʈʰ/
s – /ʂ/
t - /t/
th – /tʰ/
ts – /ʈʂ/
tsh – /ʈʂʰ/
tx - /ts/
txh - /tsʰ/
u – /u/
ua – /uə/
v – /v/
w - /ɨ/
x – /s/
xy – /ç/
y - /ʝ/
z - /ʐ/

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), Khang (Khaab), and Lee (or Ly) (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).

References

External links

[Entry for Hmong at] Ethnologue
[Hmong Dictionary] (including audio clips)
[Saturn Hmong]: Hmong dictionaries, learning Hmong and other information
[The Hmong Language: An Oral Memory]

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