The A-Hmao language, also known as Large Flowery Miao or Northeast Yunnan Miao, is a Hmongic language spoken in China. It is the language the Pollard script was designed for, and displays extensive tone sandhi. There is a high degree of literacy in Pollard among the older generation. The standard written language, both in Pollard and in Latin script, is that of Shíménkǎn village in Weining County.
Classification
The A-Hmao language is a branch of the West Hmongic languages, also known as Chuanqiandian Miao and Western Miao, is the major branch of the Hmongic languages of China and Southeast Asia. Wang Fushi grouped the Western Miao languages into eight primary divisions.
Chuanqiandian Miao
Northeast Yunnan Miao
Guiyang Miao
Huishui Miao
Mashan Miao
Luobohe Miao
Chong'anjiang Miao
Pingtang Miao
History
The Miao was descended from the "Jiuli" tribe in the period of Yan Di and Huang Di, "Sanmiao" in the period of Yao and Shun. "Jiuli" is a tribe, which lived in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River more than five thousand years ago. Then, the "Jiuli" tribe were defeated at the Battle of Zhuolu by the military coalition of Huang Di and Yan Di. Chiyou, the leader of the "Jiuli" tribe, was caught and killed by Huang Di. The rest of the "Jiuli" tribe retreated to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and formed the "Sanmiao" tribe, the established Sanmiao Country. Four thousand years ago, the Huaxia tribe of the North led by Yao, Shun, and Yu had been fighting with "Sanmiao" for nearly one thousand years. In the end, Xiayu defeated "Sanmiao" Country. After they were defeated, some of the "Sanmiao" were banished to "Sanwei". Then, they were forced to migrate to the southeast. After a long time, they entered into the north of Sichuan, northeast of Yunnan, and northwest of Guizhou. Later, the present Western Miao was developed. The descendant of "Sanmiao" which stationed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Central Plains Area, some of them merged with Huaxia tribe, and others developed to what was called "Nanman" in Shang and Zhou Dynasty. Those who lived in the middle reaches of Han River were called "Jingchu barbarians". Later, the advanced "Jingchu barbarians" gradually developed to Chu tribe, which was developed. The less advanced part continued to immigrate to the adjacent mountainous area of Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hubei and Henan Provinces and became the ancestors of present East and Central Miao.
On the basis of the 8 tones of A-Hmao language, in the eastern region, the 4th, 6th, and 8th tones are broken up partially or entirely into two categories. At most, it can be up to 11 tones. Basically, nouns and quantifiers are part of the first category, and they are higher in pitch. Other word classes are part of the second category, and they are lower in pitch.
The A-Hmao language displays extensive tone sandhi. Similar to other branches of the West Hmongic languages, the tone sandhi happens on the second syllable when the first syllable of a disyllable word is level tone.
The morphology of the three branches of the Hmong language is basically the same. The following examples are from Central Miao. A-Hmao is similar to Hmong, which is an isolating language in which most morphemes are monosyllables. As a result, verbs are not overtly inflected. Tense, aspect, mood, person, number, gender, and case are indicated lexically. Single-morpheme word 1) Monosyllable single-morpheme word. Example: naxi human being xed tiger et tree wil I mongx you nenx he hsangb thousand wangs ten thousand bat hundred lol come mongl go; leave 2) Multisyllable single-morpheme word. a. Alliterative. Example: gangt git hurry up; quickly qut qat itchy hcud hxangd nausea b. Vowel rhyme. Example: Same tone: bal nial girl box jox run bux lux boiling daib ghaib star dent ent cloud vongs nongs dirty Different tones: hsab ngas clean hsangd dangl in case kak liax magpie c. Non-alliterative and vowel rhyme. Example: ak wol crow bil hsaid nearly; almost ghob yenl chair d. Reiterative syllable. Example: gid gid slowly seix seix together nangl nangl still xangd xangd occasionally Compound word 1) Coordinating a. Noun morpheme compound with noun morpheme. Example: hveb hseid language haxub khat relative nangx bit name niangx hniut age b. Verb morpheme compound with verb morpheme. Example: cub nul rebuke tid xongt construct khab job lesson c. Adjective morpheme compound with adjective morpheme. Example: ghongl jangl bend khed hxat poverty 2) Modifying a. Noun morpheme modifying noun morpheme. Example: det diangx candle det diux key eb mais tears gad wangx corn b. Adjective morpheme modifying noun morpheme. Example: bad yut uncle mais lul aunt 3) Dominating a. Verb morpheme dominating noun morpheme. Example: dlangd wangb dress up qet ves rest b. Adjective morpheme dominating noun morpheme. Example: dad hvib patience hvent ves pleasantly cool mais bil proficiency mais ves tired 4) Affixes Mostly are prefixes, and commonly used prefixes are ghab-, diub-, hangd-, gid-, jib-, daib-, bod-, xuk-, and so on. Ghab- is the most commonly used. a. Ghab- means human or animal body and part, plant part and things related to plants, natural objects, things related to buildings, utensils and abstract objectives. Example: ghab jid body ghab naix ear ghab ghaib root ghab nex leaf ghab qangb living room ghab sot kicken ghab dliux soul ghabnangs destiny b. Diub- means location. Example: diub senx provincial capital dioub ghaib on the street diub zaid at home c. Hangd-/khangd- means aspect and direction. Example: hangd nongx hangd nangl aspect of eating and wearing hangd nongd here hangd momgx there hangd deis where d. Gid- means aspect and direction. Example: gid waix above gid dab below gid gux outside gid niangs inside e. Jib- means person. Example: jib daib child jib hlangb grandchild jib bad man f. Daib- means person and some kinship terminology. Example: daib pik girl daib jangs man, boy, husband daib nenl uncle g. Bod- means round object. Example: bod vib stone bod ghof jus knee bod liul fist h. Xuk- means uncertain quantity. xuk laix a handful of
Syntax
The syntax of Hmong languages, regardless of the type of part of speech or phrase and the division of constituents of the sentence and the sentence types, are basically the same. The basic word order of Hmong is SVO. Within the noun phrase, possessors precede possessed nouns, and adjectives and relative clauses follow the nouns they modify. Noun phrases have the form as + + + noun + +. As in Chinese, question formation does not involve word order change. For wh- questions, the wh- word does not occupy a sentence-initial position in Hmong as in many other languages.
Writing system
A-Hmao is an ethnic group without their own writing system. Until the beginning of the 20th century, missionary Samuel Pollard invented the Pollard script, which was based on the decorative symbols on their clothing. During the time without writing system, the way A-Hmao people recorded their history, besides passing down through their ancient songs, was that they weave the history of their past memories on their clothes. Those images became the historical memory of their national construction.
