Hmong
Hmoob
Spoken in	China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and USA.
Total speakers	over 4 million[1]
Language family	Hmong-Mien Hmong
Language codes
ISO 639-1	None
ISO 639-2	hmn
ISO 639-3	variously: hmn – Hmong (generic) mww – Hmong Daw (Laos, China) hmv – Hmong Do (Vietnam) hmf – Hmong Don (Vietnam) hnj – Hmong Njua hmz – Hmong Shua (Vietnam) hmc – Hmong Central Huishui (China) hmm – Hmong Central Mashan (China) hmj – Hmong Chonganjiang (China) hme – Hmong Eastern Huishui (China) cqd – Chuanqiandian Cluster Miao hrm – Horned Miao sfm – Small Flowery Miao
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Hmong (RPA: Hmoob) or Mong (RPA: Moob) is the common name for a group of dialects of the West Hmongic (Chuanqiandian) branch of the Hmong-Mien/Miao-Yao language family spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.^[2] The total number of speakers worldwide has been estimated to be more than 4 million, including over 200,000 Hmong Americans.^[1] Some dialects are mutually intelligible while others are so distinct as to be considered separate languages.

Contents 1 Phonology 1.1 Vowels 1.2 Consonants 1.3 Syllable structure 1.4 Tones 2 Orthography 3 Grammar 4 Verbs 4.1 Serial verb construction 4.2 Tense 4.3 Aspect 4.4 Mood 5 See also 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 Further reading 9 External links

[edit] Phonology

The two dialects described here are known as White Hmong (also called Hmong Der or Hmong Daw) and Green Mong (also called Mong Leng or Mong Njua).^[3] These are the two major dialects spoken by Hmong Americans. While mutually intelligible, the dialects differ in both lexicon and certain aspects of phonology. For instance, Green Mong lacks the aspirated /m/ of Hmong Der and has a third nasalized vowel, /ã/. In English, "Hmong" is used to include both Hmong Der and Mong Leng, although some have suggested a compromise, such as: H'Mong, Mhong, or (H)Mong.

[edit] Vowels

The vowel systems of White Hmong and Green Mong are as shown in the following charts. Phonemes particular to each dialect are color coded respectively:

Monophthongs

	Front		Central		Back
	oral	nasal	oral	nasal	oral	nasal
Close	i		ɨ		u
Mid	e	ẽ			ɔ	ɔ̃
Open			a	ã

Diphthongs

	Closing	Centering
Close component is front	ai	iə
Close component is central	aɨ
Close component is back	au	uə

[edit] Consonants

Hmong makes a number of phonemic contrasts unfamiliar to English speakers. All non-glottal stops and affricates distinguish aspirated and unaspirated forms, most also prenasalization independently of this. Bilabial and, in Green Mong, dental stops also distinguish lateral release, a rare feature. The consonant inventory of Hmong is shown in the chart below. (Consonants particular to White Hmong and Green Mong color coded respectively.)

		Bilabial				Labio- dental		Dental				Retroflex		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Glottal
		Plain		With dental lateral release				Central		Lateral
Nasal	Voiceless	m̥		m̥ˡ				n̥						ɲ̥
	Voiced	m		mˡ				n						ɲ
Plosive	Voiceless	p	pʰ	pˡ	pˡʰ			t	tʰ	tˡ	tˡʰ	ʈ	ʈʰ	c	cʰ	k	kʰ	q	qʰ	ʔ
	Voiced							d	dʱ
	Prenasalized	mb	mbʱ	mbˡ	mbˡʱ			nd	ndʱ	ndˡ	ndˡʱ	ɳɖ	ɳɖʱ	ɲɟ	ɲɟʱ	ŋɡ	ŋɡʱ	ɴɢ	ɴɢʱ
Affricate	Voiceless							ts	tsʰ			tʂ	tʂʰ
	Prenasalized							ndz	ndzʱ			ɳɖʐ	ɳɖʐʱ
Fricative	Voiceless					f		s		ɬ		ʂ		ç						h
	Voiced					v						ʐ		ʝ
Approximant										l

The laterally released dentals of Green Mong correspond to the voiced dentals of White Hmong.

[edit] Syllable structure

Hmong syllables have a very simple structure: onsets are obligatory (except in a few particles), nuclei may consist of a monophthong or diphthong, and coda consonants are prohibited, except that a weak coda [ŋ] may accompany nasal vowels and a weak coda [ʔ] may accompany the low-falling creaky tone.

[edit] Tones

Hmong is a tone language and makes use of seven distinct tones:

Tone	Example[4]	Orthographic Spelling
High	/pɔ́/ 'ball'	pob
Mid	/pɔ/ 'spleen'	po
Low	/pɔ̀/ 'thorn'	pos
High-falling	/pɔ̂/ 'female'	poj
Mid-rising	/pɔ̌/ 'to throw'	pov
Low-falling (creaky) tone	/pɔ̰/ 'to see'	pom
Mid-low (breathy) tone	/pɔ̤/ 'grandmother'	pog

[edit] Orthography

The Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) is the most widely used script for writing White Hmong and Green Mong in the West. It was developed in Laos between 1951 and 1953 by three Western missionaries with the help of several Hmong assistants. Several other scripts have been developed, including other systems with Roman letters based on the Chinese pinyin or the Vietnamese alphabet. There is also Pahawh, a unique writing system developed by Shong Lue Yang, a Hmong spiritual leader from Laos who believed the script to be revealed by God.^[5] Another Hmong writing system is the Flower Cloth script. The characters are based on Hmong textiles. It was believed that the Hmong women preserved and hid the writing systems in the Hmong textiles.

[edit] Grammar

Hmong is an analytic SVO language in which adjectives and demonstratives follow the noun. Noun phrases can contain the following elements (parentheses indicate optional elements):^[6]

(possessive) + (quantifier) + (classifier) + noun + (adjective) + (demonstrative)

The Hmong pronominal system distinguishes between three grammatical persons and three numbers - singular, dual, and plural. They are not marked for case, that is, the same word is used to translate both "I" and "me", "she" and "her", and so forth. These are the personal pronouns of White Hmong (Hmoob Dawb):

White Hmong Pronouns

Person:	First	Second	Third
Singular	kuv	koj	nws
Dual	wb	neb	nkawd
Plural	peb	nej	lawv

[edit] Verbs

Hmong 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.^[7]

[edit] Serial verb construction

Hmong verbs can be serialized. Two or more verbs can be combined in one clause. It is not uncommon for as many as five verbs to be strung together sharing the same subject.

Example (White Hmong)
Yam zoo tshaj plaws mas, nej yuav tsum mus nrhiav nug xyuas saib luag muaj kev pab hom dab tsi nyob ncig ib cheeb tsam ntawm nej.
thing good most top you must go look-for ask visit see others have way help kind what be-at around environs at you
'The best thing to do is for you to find people who live in your neighborhood who can help you with different things.'

[edit] Tense

Since the verb form in Hmong does not change to indicate tense, the simplest way to indicate the location in time of an event is to use temporal adverb phrases like "last year," "today," or "next week."

Example (White Hmong)
Nag hmo kuv mus tom khw.
yesterday I go loc. market
'I went to the market yesterday.'

[edit] Aspect

Aspectual differences are indicated by a number of verbal modifiers. The most common of which are:

Progressive: (Green Mong) taab tom + verb, (White Hmong) tab tom + verb = situation in progess

Example: (Green Mong)
Puab taab tom haus dlej.
they prog. drink water.
They are drinking water.

Taab/tab tom + verb can also be used to indicate a situation that is about to start. This is most clear when taab/tab tom occurs in conjunction with the irrealis marker yuav. It should be noted that the taab tom construction is used only when it is not clear from the context that a situation is ongoing or about to begin.

Perfective: sentence/clause + lawm = completed situation

Example (Green and White Hmong)
Kuv noj mov lawm.
I eat rice perf.
'I am finished/I am done eating.'

Lawm at the end of a sentence can also indicate that an action is underway.

Example (White Hmong)
Tus tub tau rab hneev, nws thiaj mus ua si lawm.
clf. boy get clf. crossbow; he then go play perf.
'The boy got the crossbow and went off to play.'

Another common way to indicate the accomplishment of an action or attainment is by using tau. Tau, as a main verb, means 'to get/obtain.' It takes on different connotations when combined with other verbs. When it occurs before the main verb (i.e. tau + verb), it conveys the attainment or fulfillment of a situation. Whether the situation took place in the past, present, or future is indicated at the discourse level rather than the sentence level. If the situation has taken place in the past, tau + verb translates to the past tense in English.

Example (White Hmong)
Lawv tau noj nqaij nyug.
they attain eat meat beef
'They ate beef.'

Tau is optional if an explicit past time marker is present (e.g. nag hmo, last night). Tau can also mark the fulfillment of a situation in the future.

Example (White Hmong)
Thaum txog peb caug lawm sawv daws thiaj tau hnav khaub ncaws tshiab.
when arrive New Year perf. everybody then attain wear clothes new
'So when the New Year arrives, everybody gets to wear new clothes.'

When tau follows the main verb (i.e. verb + tau), it indicates the accomplishment of the purpose of an action.

Example (Green Mong)
Kuv xaav xaav ib plag, kuv xaav tau tswv yim.
I think think awhile, I think get idea.
'I thought it over and got an idea.'

Tau is also common in serial verb constructions made up of a verb followed by an accomplishment verb as in: (White Hmong) nrhiav tau, to look for; caum tau, to chase; yug tau, to give birth.

[edit] Mood

Future: yuav + verb

Example (Green Mong)
Kuv yuav moog.
I will go.

Yuav + verb may also be seen as indicative of the irrealis mood: situations that are unfulfilled or unrealized. This includes hypothetical or non-occurring situations with past, present, or future time references.

Example (from a White Hmong folk tale)
Tus Tsov hais tias, "Kuv tshaib tshaib plab li kuv yuav noj koj.
clf. Tiger say, "I hungry hungry stomach int. I irrls. eat you
'The Tiger said, "I'm very hungry and I'm going to eat you."

Tus Aav tsis paub yuav ua li cas li.
clf. Frog neg. know irrls. do what int.
'The Frog didn't know what to do.'

[edit] See also

• Hmong people
• Pahawh Hmong script
• Romanized Popular Alphabet

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Cooper, Robert, Editor. The Hmong: A Guide to Traditional Lifestyles. Singapore: Times Editions. 1998. pp. 35–41.
• Finck, John. "Clan Leadership in the Hmong Community of Providence, Rhode Island." In The Hmong in the West, Editors, Bruce T. Downing and Douglas P. Olney. Minneapolis, MN: Southeast Asian Refugee Studies Project, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota, 1982, pp. 22–25.
• Thao, Paoze, Mong Education at the Crossroads, New York: University Press of America, 1999, pp. 12–13.

[edit] Further reading

• Enwall, Joakim. Hmong Writing Systems in Vietnam: A Case Study of Vietnam's Minority Language Policy. Stockholm, Sweden: Center for Pacific Asian Studies, 1995.

[edit] External links

• Entry for Hmong at Ethnologue
• Online Hmong dictionary (including audio clips)
• The Hmong Language: An Oral Memory
• Mong Literacy - consonants, vowels, tones for both Green Mong and White Hmong
• Comparison of Hmong and English grammar from the University of Minnesota
• Hmong Resources