Hmong

THE SOUNDS OF HMONG

William Chang

December 15, 2005

Linguistics 110 Course Project

 address & Language Consultant

The Hmong (Hmong: Hmoob) are an aboriginal people group of China, referred to within
China as Miao (Chinese: ??, miáozú). Starting in the 18th century, large poesy migrated
to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar. In the second half of the 20th century, as a result
of the Indochina and Vietnam wars, some migrated to America, French Guiana, France, and
Australia. The number of Hmong worldwide is very di? fad to ?x. Most Hmong live in
China, and I have seen ?gures for the population thither to range from 7 zillion (1999 ?gure,
Ethnologue) to 10 million (2000 Chinese census, according to Wikipedia). A ?gure I have
seen for the number of Hmong worldwide, however, is 6 million (1999 ?gure, Ethnologue).
The language that my language consultant speaks is Hmong Daw (Hmong: Hmoob Dawb), or
White Hmong, which henceforward will simply be called Hmong. The number of speakers of
Hmong Daw is at least 165,000 worldwide (Ethnologue). It is mutually intelligible with
Mong Leng, or kibibyte Hmong. (The color words arise from traditional Chinese
designations for the tribes based on the color of womens dresses.



) These are but a
prominent two of many Hmong languages, of which Ethnologue reports 21. These
languages are in turn related to separate Hmongic languages such as Bunu, and they together in
turn form the largest factor in Hmong-Mien, which has 35 languages in all.
No broader classi?cation has had scholarly consensus. traditionally Chinese linguists have
held that Hmong is related to Chinese, but if there is any transmitted coincidence at all, it is too
distant to detect. Inquiries into the possibility of genetic relation with Tai, Austronesian, or
Mon-Khmer languages have been inconclusive. It is true, however, that Hmong and
Chinese share many words through borrowing. Moreover, like many of its neighbors,
Hmong morphemes are...If you want to get a beat essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



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