Linguists in China consider the dialect spoken in Changdong,Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County,Guangxi to be the standard. This standard is also spoken by Iu Mien in the West, however, because most arerefugees fromLaos, their dialect incorporates influences from the Lao and Thai languages.[1]
The standard spelling system for Iu Mien does not represent the stop sounds in a way that corresponds to the IPA symbols, but instead uses e.g.⟨t⟩,⟨d⟩, and⟨nd⟩ to represent/tʰ/,/t/,and/d/. This may stem from an attempt to model the Iu Mien spelling system onPinyin (used to representMandarin Chinese), where⟨t⟩ and⟨d⟩ represent/tʰ/and/t/. The Pinyin influence is also seen in the use of⟨c⟩,⟨z⟩, and⟨nz⟩ to represent the alveolar affricates/t͡sʰ/,/t͡s/,and/d͡z/ and⟨q⟩,⟨j⟩, and⟨nj⟩ for the postalveolar affricates/t͡ɕʰ/,/t͡ɕ/,and/d͡ʑ/. The use of⟨ng⟩ to represent the velar nasal/ŋ/ means that it cannot also be used to represent/ɡ/, as would be predicted; instead,⟨nq⟩ is used.
According to Daniel Bruhn,[5] the voiceless nasals are actually sequences[h̃m],[h̃n],[h̃ŋ],and[h̃ɲ] (i.e. a short nasalized/h/ followed by a voiced nasal), while the voiceless lateral is actually avoiceless lateral fricative[ɬ].
Bruhn also observed that younger-generation Iu Mien Americans were more likely to substitute the voicelessnasals and voicelesslaterals with/h/ and thealveolo-palatal affricates with their correspondingpalato-alveolar variants.[5]
UnlikeHmong, which generally prohibitscoda consonants, Iu Mien has seven single consonant phonemes that can take the coda position. These consonants are/m/,/n/,/ŋ/,[p̚],[t̚],[k̚],and/ʔ/. Some of the stops can only occur as final consonants when accompanied by certaintones; for example,/ʔ/ only occurs with the tone⟨c⟩ or⟨v⟩.
Iu Mien vowels are represented in the Iu Mien United Script using combinations of the six letters,⟨a⟩,⟨e⟩,⟨i⟩,⟨o⟩,⟨u⟩, and⟨r⟩.
According to Bruhn,[5] themonophthongs are⟨i⟩,⟨u⟩,⟨e⟩,⟨o⟩,⟨ai⟩,⟨er⟩,⟨ae⟩,⟨a⟩,⟨aa⟩, and⟨or⟩. Thediphthongs are⟨ai⟩,⟨aai⟩,⟨au⟩,⟨aau⟩,⟨ei⟩,⟨oi⟩,⟨ou⟩,⟨eu⟩. Furthermore, additional diphthongs andtriphthongs can be formed from the aforementioned vowels through/i/- or/u/-on-gliding (having/i/ or/u/ before the vowel). Such vowels attested by Bruhn include⟨ia⟩,⟨iaa⟩,⟨ie⟩,⟨io⟩,⟨iu⟩,⟨ior⟩,⟨iai⟩,⟨iaai⟩,⟨iau⟩,⟨iaau⟩,⟨iei⟩,⟨iou⟩,⟨ua⟩,⟨uaa⟩,⟨uae⟩,⟨ue⟩,⟨ui⟩,⟨uo⟩,⟨uai⟩,⟨uaai⟩, and⟨uei⟩.
The dialect studied by Bruhn, and described in the above table, has a phoneme/ɛ/ that does not have its own spelling, but is represented in various contexts either as⟨e⟩ or⟨ai⟩ (which are also used for/e/ and/aɪ/, respectively). In all cases where/ɛ/ is spelled⟨e⟩, and nearly all cases where it is spelled⟨ai⟩, it does not contrast with/e/ or/aɪ/, respectively, and can be viewed as an allophone of these sounds. The only potential exception appears to be when occurring as a syllable final by itself, where it has an extremely restricted distribution, occurring only after the(alveolo-)palatal consonants/tɕ/,/dʑ/,and/ɲ/. The sound/ɛ/ may be a secondary development from/aɪ/ in this context, although Bruhn does not discuss this issue.
In the Iu Mien United Script (the language's most common writing system), tones are not marked with diacritics; rather, a word's tone is indicated by a special marker letter at the end of the word. If a word lacks a marker, then it is to be pronounced with a middle tone.
Question words like those meaning 'where' generally come at the end of sentences.
Thenegative wordmaiv (often shortened tomv) may occur before verbs to negate them.
A prevalence ofcontractions. Some words consist of a contracted syllable followed by an uncontracted second syllable (in IMUS, these syllables are separated byapostrophes). One such example isga'nyorc ("spider"), a contraction ofgaeng-nyorc ("insect-spider").
In the past, the lack of analphabet caused low rates ofliteracy amongst the Iu Mien speakers. It had been written withChinese characters in China; however, this is extremely difficult for Iu Mien speakers from other countries such asLaos and from groups who now live in the West.
In an effort to address this, an Iu Mien Unified Script was created in 1984 using the Latin script, based on an earlier orthography developed in China.[8] Unlike theVietnamese language, this alphabet does not use any diacritics to distinguish tones or different vowel sounds, and only uses the 26 letters of theISO basic Latin alphabet. This orthography distinguishes 30 initials, 128 finals, and eight tones. Hyphens are used to link adjectives with the nouns they modify. The alphabet is similar to theRPA used to write theHmong language and theHanyu Pinyin transcription scheme used for Chinese.
2003 –Death of a Shaman. Directed by Richard Hall; produced by Fahm Fong Saeyang.
2010 – "Siang-Caaux Mienh". A story of a very irresponsible family man, alcoholic, and drug addict. He likes his bad friends but he does not love his family. But as he starts paying his mistakes, has become a turning point in his life.
2011 – "Mborqv Jaax Ciangv". A moving family friendly movie.
^Mao, Zongwu 毛宗武; Li, Yunbing 李云兵 (1997).Bāhēng yǔ yánjiū巴哼语研究 [A Study of Baheng [Pa-Hng]] (in Chinese). Shanghai: Shanghai yuandong chubanshe.
^Phan Hữu Dật & Hoàng Hoa Toàn (1998). "Về vấn đề xác minh tên gọi và phân loại các ngành Dao Tuyên Quang." In Phan Hữu Dật (ed).Một số vấn đề về dân tộc học Việt Nam, p.483-567. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Đại Học Quốc Gia Hà Nội. [Comparative word list of 9 Dao dialects inTuyen Quang Province from p. 524–545]
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Waters, Tony (1990). "Adaptation and Migration among the Mien People of Southeast Asia".Ethnic Groups.8:127–141.
Mao, Zongwu 毛宗武; Meng, Chaoji 蒙朝吉; Zheng, Zongze 郑宗泽, eds. (1982).Yáo yǔ jiǎnzhì瑶语简志 [Overview of the Yao Language] (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
Mao, Zongwu 毛宗武 (2004).Yáozú Miǎn yǔ fāngyán yánjiū瑶族勉语方言研究 [Studies in Mien Dialects of the Yao Nationality] (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
Zhou, Minglang (2003).Multilingualism in China: The Politics of Writing Reforms for Minority Languages, 1949–2002. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.ISBN3-11-017896-6.
Arisawa, Tatsuro Daniel (2016).An Iu Mien Grammar: A Tool for Language Documentation and Revitalisation (Ph.D. thesis). La Trobe University.hdl:1959.9/561960.
Kim, Katherine Cowy (1999).Quietly Torn: A Literary Journal by Young Iu Mien American Women Living in Richmond, California. San Francisco, CA: Pacific News Service.
Jue, Zongze 劂宗泽 (2011).Jiānghuá Miǎn yǔ yánjiū江华勉语研究 [The Mien Language of Jianghua County] (in Chinese). Beijing shi: Minzu chubanshe.ISBN978-7-105-11371-2.
