A-Hmao language

The A-Hmao language is a branch of the West Hmongic languages, also known as Chuanqiandian Miao () and Western Miao. West Hmongic Languages are a major branch of the Hmongic languages of China and Southeast Asia. Wang Fushi (1985) grouped the Western Miao languages into eight primary divisions: • Chuanqiandian Miao • Northeast Yunnan Miao (A-Hmao language) • Guiyang Miao • Huishui Miao • Mashan Miao • Luobohe Miao • Chong'anjiang Miao • Pingtang Miao == Geographic distribution ==

The A-Hmao language is spoken in the northeast of Yunnan Province and in the west of Guizhou Province, particularly in Zhaotong, Kunming, Qujing, Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture, Weining Yi, Hui, and Miao autonomous county, Hezhang county, Liupanshui, and Ziyun Miao and Buyi autonomous county. There are 300,000 native speakers. The standard dialect is that of Shimenkan (), Weining County (). == Phonology ==

Consonants Moreover, Gerner (2022) treats breathiness as a property of the onset, such as [lʱ] in the word [lʱi11] 'two,' and reports a fricative aspirated lateral [ɬʰ], as in the word [ɬʰi11] 'become.' Vowels Tones The fourth, sixth, and eighth tones of A-Hmao, in the eastern region, are broken up partially or entirely into two categories based on the eight tones. At most, there can be up to eleven tones. Essentially, 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 disyllabic word is a level tone (first and second tone). == Grammar ==

Morphology and vocabulary The morphology of the three branches of the Hmong language are very similar. The following examples are from Central Miao. A-Hmao is similar to Hmong, which is an isolating language where most morphemes are monosyllables, resulting in verbs not being overtly inflected. Tense, aspect, mood, person, number, gender, and case are indicated lexically. Single-morpheme word • Monosyllable single-morpheme word. (single-morpheme words are mostly monosyllable in Hmong language) • : Example: • :: 'human being' • :: 'tiger' • :: 'tree' • :: 'I' • :: 'you' • :: 'he' • :: 'thousand' • :: 'ten thousand' • :: 'hundred' • :: 'come' • :: go; 'leave' • Multisyllable single-morpheme word. (There is a small number of multisyllable single-morpheme words in the Hmong language. Mostly, they are disyllabic, and there are very few with three or more syllables.) • Alliterative. Example: • : 'hurry up; quickly' • : 'itchy' • : 'nausea' • Vowel rhyme. Example: • : Same tone: • :: 'girl' • :: 'run' • :: 'boiling' • :: 'star' • :: 'cloud' • :: 'dirty' • : Different tones: • :: 'clean' • :: 'in case' • :: 'magpie' • Non-alliterative and vowel rhyme. Example: • :: 'crow' • :: 'nearly; almost' • :: 'chair' • Reiterative syllable. Example: • :: 'slowly' • :: 'together' • :: 'still' • :: 'occasionally' Compound word • Coordinating • Noun morpheme compound with noun morpheme. Example: • : 'language' • : 'relative' • : 'name' • : 'age' • Verb morpheme compound with verb morpheme. Example: • : 'rebuke' • : 'construct' • : 'lesson' • Adjective morpheme compound with adjective morpheme. Example: • : 'bend' • : 'poverty' • Modifying • Noun morpheme modifying noun morpheme. Example: • : 'candle' • : 'key' • : 'tears' • : 'corn' • Adjective morpheme modifying noun morpheme. Example: • : 'uncle' • : 'aunt' • Dominating • Verb morpheme dominating noun morpheme. Example: • : 'dress up' • : 'rest' • Adjective morpheme dominating noun morpheme. Example: • : 'patience' • : 'pleasantly cool' • : 'proficiency' • : 'tired' • Affixes • : Mostly are prefixes, and commonly used prefixes are , and so on. is the most commonly used. • 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: • : 'body' • : 'ear' • : 'root' • : 'leaf' • : 'living room' • : 'kicken' • : 'soul' • : 'destiny' • means location. Example: • : 'provincial capital' • : on the street • : at home • means aspect and direction. Example: • : aspect of eating and wearing • : 'here' • : 'there' • : 'where' • means aspect and direction. Example: • : 'above' • : 'below' • : 'outside' • : 'inside' • means person. Example: • : 'child' • : 'grandchild' • : 'man' • means person and some kinship terminology. Example: • : 'girl' • : 'man, boy, husband' • : 'uncle' • means round object. Example: • : 'stone' • : 'knee' • : 'fist' • means uncertain quantity. • : 'a handful of' Classifier inflections One unusual feature of A-Hmao morphology is the existence of inflecting classifiers, i.e., classifiers that change form. Syntax As with other Hmongic languages, the basic word order of A-Hmao is subject-verb-object. Within the noun phrase, possessors precede possessed nouns, while relative clauses precede the nouns they modify. Noun phrases have the form (possessive) + (quantifier) + (classifier) + noun + (adjective) + (demonstrative). Question formation in Ahmao does not involve word order change: question words generally remain in situ, rather than appearing in sentence-initial position, and pseudo-clefting is also usually used in questions. Overview A-Hmao exhibits the grammatical patterns as in the table below. Question formation Questions are typically formed with the wh- question word in situ, i.e., it appears where the corresponding noun would in the sentence, rather than appearing sentence-initially: {{interlinear|lang=hmd|indent=2|glossing3=yes == Writing system ==

The A-Hmao do not have an indigenous writing system. At the beginning of the 20th century, missionary Samuel Pollard invented the Pollard script, which was based on the decorative symbols on their clothing. Before the introduction of the Pollard script, the A-Hmao people recorded their history through their ancient songs and weaving the history of their memories on their clothes. Those images formed a history of the A-Hmao. ==References==