| Hmong–Mien | |
|---|---|
| Miao–Yao Yangtzean | |
| Geographic distribution | China,Southeast Asia |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primarylanguage families |
| Proto-language | Proto-Hmong–Mien |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-5 | hmx |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | hmon1336 |
 Distribution of Hmong-Mien languages | |
TheHmong–Mien languages (also known asMiao–Yao and rarely asYangtzean)[1] are a highly tonallanguage family of southernChina and northernSoutheast Asia. They are spoken in mountainous areas of southern China, includingGuizhou,Hunan,Yunnan,Sichuan,Guangxi,Guangdong andHubei provinces; the speakers of these languages are predominantly "hill people", in contrast to the neighboringHan Chinese, who have settled the more fertile river valleys.
Hmongic (Miao) andMienic (Yao) are closely related, but clearly distinct. For internal classifications, seeHmongic languages andMienic languages. The largest differences are due to divergent developments in theirphonological systems. The Hmongic languages appear to have kept the large set of initial consonants featured in theprotolanguage but greatly reduced the distinctions in the syllable finals, in particular losing all glides and stopcodas. The Mienic languages, on the other hand, have largely preserved syllable finals but reduced the number of initial consonants.
Early linguistic classifications placed the Hmong–Mien languages in theSino-Tibetan family, where they remain in many Chinese classifications. The current consensus among Westernlinguists is that they constitute a family of their own, the lexical and typological similarities among Hmong–Mien andSinitic languages being attributed to contact-induced influence.[2]
Paul K. Benedict, an American scholar, extended theAustric theory to include the Hmong–Mien languages. The hypothesis never received much acceptance for Hmong–Mien, however.[3] Kosaka (2002) argued specifically for a Miao–Dai family.[4]
The most likelyhomeland of the Hmong–Mien languages is inSouthern China between theYangtze andMekong rivers, but speakers of these languages might have migrated fromCentral China either as part of theHan Chinese expansion or as a result of exile from an original homeland by Han Chinese.[5] Migration of people speaking these languages from South China toSoutheast Asia took place during the 17th century (1600–1700). AncientDNA evidence suggests that the ancestors of the speakers of the Hmong–Mien languages were a population genetically distinct from that of the Tai–Kadai and Austronesian language source populations at a location on theYangtze River.[6] Recent Y-DNA phylogeny evidence supports the proposition that people who speak the Hmong–Mien languages are descended from a population that is distantly related to those who now speak the Mon-Khmer languages.[7]
The date ofProto-Hmong–Mien has been estimated to be about 2500 BP (500 BC) by Sagart, Blench, and Sanchez-Mazas using traditional methods employing many lines of evidence, and about 4243 BP (2250 BC) by the Automated Similarity Judgment Program (ASJP), an experimental algorithm for automatic generation of phonologically based phylogenies.[8]
The Mandarin names for these languages areMiáo andYáo.
InVietnamese, the name for Hmong isH'Mông, and the name for Mien isDao (i.e., Yao), althoughMiền is also used.
Meo,Hmu,Mong,Hmao, andHmong are local names for Miao, but since mostLaotian refugees in the United States call themselvesHmong/Mong, this name has become better known in English than the others in recent decades. However, except for some scholars who prefer the word, the term 'Hmong/Mong' is only used within certain Hmong/Miao language speaking communities in China, where the majority of the Miao speakers live. In Mandarin, despite the fact that it was once a derogatory term, the wordMiao (Chinese: 苗; the tone varies according to the Sinitic dialect) is now commonly used by members of all nationalities to refer to the language and the ethnolinguistic group.[9]
The Mandarin name Yao, on the other hand, is for theYao nationality, which is a multicultural rather than ethnolinguistic group. It includes peoples speaking Mien,Kra–Dai,Yi, and Miao languages, the latter calledBùnǔ rather thanMiáo when spoken by Yao. For this reason, theethnonymMien may be preferred as less ambiguous.
Like many languages in southern China, the Hmong–Mien languages tend to bemonosyllabic andsyntactically analytic. They are some of the most highlytonal languages in the world: Longmo and Zongdi Hmong have as many as twelve distinct tones.[10] They are notable phonologically for the occurrence ofvoicelesssonorants anduvular consonants; otherwise their phonology is quite typical of the region.
They areSVO in word order but are not as rigidlyright-branching as the Tai–Kadai languages or mostMon–Khmer languages, since they havegenitives andnumerals before the noun like Chinese. They are extremely poor inadpositions: serial verb constructions replace most functions of adpositions in languages like English. For example, a construction translating as "be near" would be used where in English prepositions like "in" or "at" would be used.[11]
Besides their tonality and lack of adpositions, another striking feature is the abundance ofnumeral classifiers and their use where other languages usedefinite articles or demonstratives to modify nouns.
Various unclassifiedSinitic languages are spoken by ethnicMiao andYao. These languages have variously been proposed as having Hmong-Miensubstrata or asmixed languages, including languages such asShe Chinese,Laba,Lingling,Maojia,Badong Yao, various Lowland Yao languages includingYeheni,Shaozhou Tuhua, and variousPinghua dialects.
Authority control databases: National |
|---|
