The West Hmongic languages, also known as Chuanqiandian Miao (Chinese: 川黔滇苗; lit. 'Sichuan–Guizhou–Yunnan Miao') and Western Miao, are a major branch of the Hmongic languages of China and Southeast Asia.
The name Chuanqiandian is used both for West Hmongic as a whole and for one of its branches, the Chuanqiandian cluster.
West Hmongic is the most diverse branch of the Hmong (Miao) language family. There are nine primary branches in Chinese sources, though the unity of these are not accepted in all Western sources.
Items marked ‡ have been split into individual languages (and not kept together) by either Matisoff or Strecker; all of these are branches of Miao listed with subbranches in Chinese sources. The other three (A-Hmao, A-Hmyo, Gejia) are not so divided in either Chinese or Western sources. The three divisions of the Chuanqiandian cluster are only as divergent as the divisions of the other branches marked ‡, but are listed separately due to the internal complexity of Hmong.
The various varieties of Pingtang, new branches of Guiyang and Mashan, and Matisoff's Raojia and Pa Na are not listed in Ethnologue 16 and have no ISO codes. Matisoff (2006) gives very different names, and it's not clear how these correspond to the branches listed here.
Wang (1983)
Wang Fushi,[2] summarized in English by David Strecker,[3] emphasized the diversity of Western Hmongic. The names below are from Strecker; Wang did not assign names, but identified the districts where the varieties were spoken.
Chuanqiandian (Sichuan–Guizhou–Yunnan)
Chuanqiandian subgroup
Hmong (Chuanqiandian cluster: White Hmong, Green Mong, etc.)
These are not all established as unitary branches, however. In a follow-up, Strecker broke up Bu–Nao on the basis of newly accessible data, and noted that several of the languages listed by Wang (marked "?" above) were unclassified due to lack of data and had not been demonstrated to be West Hmongic.[4] The other groups are then listed as unclassified within Hmongic, and not specifically West Hmongic. However, Wang (1994) identified two as varieties of Guiyang. The eight unclassified languages are all spoken in a small area of south-central Guizhou, along with Guiyang, Huishui, Mashan, and Luobo River Miao. These were later addressed by Li Yunbing (2000).
Wang (1985)
Wang Fushi later grouped the Western Miao languages into eight primary divisions.[1] Datapoint locations of representative dialects are from Li Yunbing (2000:237), all of which are located in Guizhou province, China.
Western (3,500 speakers; representative dialect: Youmai village 油迈村, Youmai township 油迈乡, Wangmo County)
The above classification was later revised by Li Jinping & Li Tianyi (2012:285) to include 7 dialects instead of the 8 given by Wang; Pingtang Miao is excluded.
Western Miao (representative dialect: Dananshan, Yanzikou, Bijie 贵州毕节燕子口镇大南山)
Li Yunbing classified those varieties left unclassified by Wang, grouping four of them together as an eighth branch of West Hmongic, Pingtang. He identified Luodian Muyin and Wangmo (using Strecker's names) as varieties of Mashan.[6] Wang (1994) had already established Qianxi and Ziyun as varieties of Guiyang. This classification is repeated in Wu and Yang (2010):[7]
/toŋ35m̥aŋ35/ (also called Cotton Miao 棉花苗; Bouyei: /ʑəu21vɦi21/) in Dalang, Ziyun County 紫云县打狼乡; 4,000 speakers
/toŋ33m̥aŋ33/ in Moyin, Luodian County 罗甸县模引乡; 4,000+ speakers
Li (2000) considers Raojia (/qɑ24ʑuɤ24/) of Heba 河坝, Majiang County, to be a separate dialect of Hmu (East Hmongic). It has 5,000 speakers in Majiang County, and 10,000 speakers total.
Bu–Nao was not included because the speakers are classified by the Chinese government as ethnically Yao rather than Miao.[8]
Matisoff (2001)
James Matisoff outlined the following in 2001.[9] Not all languages are necessarily listed.
David Mortensen argues for the following classification of Western Hmongic based on shared tonal innovations, including tone sandhi.[10]Pingtang, Luobohe, and Chong'anjiang are not addressed.
The last contradicts Matisoff (2001), who had posited a Bunu branch of Hmongic with Bu–Nao in it, but recapitulates Strecker (1987). The other Western varieties are not addressed, though some are included in her reconstruction of Proto-Hmong–Mien.
Castro & Gu (2010): Wenshan
Andy Castro and Gu Chawen divide the Hmong dialects of Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan, into four subdivisions, listed from east to west.[12]
Hmongb Shuat (偏苗, 'Lopsided Miao'; most divergent)
Hmongb Dleub (白苗, Bái Miáo, 'White Miao')
Shib-Nzhuab (青苗, 'Green Miao')
Hmongb Shib
Mongb Nzhuab
Soud-Bes-Buak (花苗, 'Flowery Miao')
Hmongb Soud
Hmongb Bes
Hmong Buak
The dialects given above are named after the groups they are spoken by.
Castro, Flaming & Luo (2012): Honghe
Castro, Flaming & Luo (2012) found that there are 4 different West Hmongic languages in Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan.[13]
Northern Hua Miao
Southern Hua Miao
White Miao
Sinicised Miao
Castro, Flaming & Luo (2012) propose the following classification for the Western Miao dialects of southeastern Yunnan,[13] which is based on Michael Johnson's 1998 classification of Western Miao dialects.[14]
In China, pinyin-based Latin alphabets have been devised for Chuanqiandian—specifically the variety of Dananshan (大南山), Yanzikou Town (燕子口镇), Bijie—and A-Hmao.[18] Wu and Yang (2010) report attempts at writing Mashan in 1985 and an improvement by them; they recommend that standards should be developed for each of the six other primary varieties of West Hmongic.
^Ratliff, Martha. 2010. Hmong–Mien language history. Canberra, Australia: Pacific Linguistics.
^Castro, Andy & Gu Chawen. 2010. "Phonological innovation among Hmong dialects of Wenshan." Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (JSEALS) 3.1:1-39.