| Miao-yao |
Website Links For Languages |
Information AboutMiao-yao |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT HMONG-MIEN LANGUAGES | |
| hmong-mien languages | |
| tonal languageshmong-mien languages | |
| tonal languages | |
| language families | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
|
RELATIONSHIPS Hmong (Miao) and Mien (Yao) are clearly distinct, but closely related. The relationship of the poorly known Ho Nte Language (Mandarin ''Shē'') is obscure, though it may be closest to Mien. Part of the difficulty is that it has been strongly influenced by neighboring tongues. One proposed internal classification is listed below. Earlier linguistic classifications placed the Hmong-Mien languages into the Sino-Tibetan language family, where they remain in many Chinese classifications, but the current consensus among Western linguists is that they constitute a family of their own. The family has its origins in southern or perhaps even central China. The current region of greatest diversity is between the Yangtze and Mekong rivers, but there is reason to believe that they migrated there from further north with the expansion of the Han Chinese. Some have conjectured that the Hmong-Mien languages may be part of an "Austric" superfamily, but evidence for this has been slow in coming. NAMES The Mandarin names for these languages are ''Miáo'' and ''Yáo''. ''Meo'', ''Hmu'', ''Mong'', and ''Hmong'' are local names for Miao, but since most Laotian refugees in the United States call themselves ''Hmong'', this name has become better known in English than the others in recent decades. However, the name Hmong is not used in China, where the majority of the Miao live. The Chinese name Yao, on the other hand, is for the Yao Nationality , which is a cultural rather than ethno-linguistic group. It includes peoples speaking Mien, Kadai , Yi , and Miao languages. For this reason the Ethnonym ''Mien'' may be preferred as less ambiguous. The words Hmong and Mien, both meaning 'person', are Cognate . CHARACTERISTICS Like many languages in southern China, the Hmong-Mien languages tend to be Monosyllabic . They are some of the most highly Tonal languages in the world. It has been suggested that they may even be the primary source of tone in East Asia, with Chinese, other Tibeto-Burman Languages such as Yi, and the Tai Languages developing tone under Hmong-Mien influence, and Vietnamese later developing tone under Tai influence. HISTORY The Han Chinese seem to have been restricted to the upper have found evidence that these may have been ethnically Hmong-Mien; one line of argument is Palynologic evidence of '' Liquidambar '', which is used for ' Spirit Post s' in Hmong-Mien villages. If Hmong-Mien was once this widespread, most of the diversity has been lost. The current languages would be the only branch of that family to have survived, as if the Indoeuropean Languages were represented today only by Celtic . PROPOSED INTERNAL CLASSIFICATION Ethnologue lists 35 Hmong-Mien languages, but many of these are mutually intelligible. The following classification follows Matisoff 2001.
In addition, the position of Ho Nte is obscure. REFERENCE |