Pa-Hng language explained

Pa-Hng
Also Known As:Pateng
Pronunciation:pronounced as /[pa31 ŋ̊ŋ35]/
States:China, Vietnam
Date:1995–2009
Ref:e18
Familycolor:Hmong-Mien
Fam2:Hmongic
Fam3:Bahengic
Iso3:pha
Glotto:pahn1237
Glottorefname:Pa-Hng
Map2:Lang Status 80-VU.svg

Pa-Hng (also spelled Pa-Hung; Chinese: 巴哼语) is a divergent Hmongic (Miao) language spoken in Guizhou, Guangxi, and Hunan in southern China as well as northern Vietnam.

Classification

Pa-Hng has long been recognized as divergent. Benedict (1986) argued that one of its dialects constituted a separate branch of the Miao–Yao family. Ratliff found it to be the most divergent Hmongic (Miao) language that she analyzed.[1] This Bahengic branch also includes Younuo (Yuno) and Wunai (Hm Nai).[2]

Names

Pa-Hng speakers are called by the following names:[2]

In Liping County, Guizhou, the Dong people call the Pa-Hng pronounced as /ka31 jiu33/ (嘎优), while the Miao people call them pronounced as /ta55 tia52 ju33/ (大达优).[3] In Tongdao County, Hunan, the Pa-Hng (pronounced as /xeŋ33/) are also known as the Seven Surname Yao 七姓瑶, since they have the seven surnames of Shen 沈, Lan 兰, Dai 戴, Deng 邓, Ding 丁, Pu 蒲, and Feng 奉.[4]

In China, Pa-Hng speakers are classified as Yao, even though their language is Hmongic rather than Mienic.

Varieties

Mao & Li (1997) splits Pa-Hng into the following subdivisions, and most closely related to Hm Nai:

Vocabulary word lists for these three Pa-Hng varieties can be found in Mao & Li (1997). An additional dialect is found in Vietnam.

The Na-e dialect (also known by the Vietnamese rendition of Pa-Hng, Pà Then [Pateng]), is a geographic outlier. Paul Benedict (1986) argued that it is not actually Pa-Hng, or even Hmongic, but a separate branch of the Miao–Yao language family.[5] However, Strecker (1987) responded that it does appear to be a Pa-Hng dialect, though it has some peculiarities, and that Pa-Hng as a whole is divergent.

Jerold A. Edmondson has reported Pa-Hng dialects in Bac Quang District and Hong Quang Village of Chiem Hoa District in northern Vietnam, and found that they were most closely related to the Pa-Hng dialect spoken in Gaoji Township 高基, Sanjiang County, Guangxi.[6]

Distribution

China

Pa-Hng speakers are distributed in the following counties in China. Most of the counties have 1,000 - 6,000 Pa-Hng speakers (Mao & Li 1997).

Vietnam

See main article: Pà Thẻn people. Pa-Hng is also spoken in small pockets of northern Vietnam. In Vietnam, the Pa-Hng are an officially recognized ethnic group numbering around a few thousand people, where they are called Pà Thẻn. Na-e as reported by Bonifacy (1905) is also found in northern Vietnam.

According to Vu,[11] the ancestors of the Pà Thẻn had first migrated from Guangxi to Hải Ninh (now Quảng Ninh Province), and then from Hải Ninh to the Thái Nguyên area. The Pà Thẻn then split off to settle in three main areas.

Phonology

Consonants

LabialAlveolar(Alveolo-)
palatal
VelarUvularGlottal
plainpal.plainpal.plainlab.plainlab.
Nasalvoicedpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
voicelesspronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
breathypronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Stop/
Affricate
voicelesspronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
aspiratedpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
breathypronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
prenasalpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
prn. breathypronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Fricativepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Approximantvoicelesspronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
voicedpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
breathypronounced as /link/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /link/

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
oralnasaloralnasaloralnasal
Closepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/(pronounced as /link/)pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Near-closepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Close-midpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Open-midpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Openpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Syllabicpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
pronounced as //i// can also be centralized to pronounced as /[ɨ]/ or pronounced as /[ʉ]/ when following initial sounds.[12] [8]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Ratliff, Martha . 2010 . Hmong–Mien language history . Canberra . Pacific Linguistics, Australian National University . 1885/146760 . 978-0-85883-615-0 . free.
  2. Book: 毛 . 宗武 [Máo Zōngwǔ] . 李 . 云兵 [Lǐ Yúnbīng] . 1997 . zh:巴哼语研究 . Bā hēng yǔ yánjiū . A Study of Baheng [Pa-Hng] . Shanghai . 上海远东出版社/Shànghǎi yuǎndōng chūbǎn shè.
  3. Guizhou Province Gazetteer: Ethnic Gazetteer [贵州省志. 民族志] (2002). Guiyang: Guizhou Ethnic Publishing House [貴州民族出版社].
  4. Tongdao Dong Autonomous County Ethnic Gazetteer 通道侗族自治县民族志 (2004).
  5. Benedict . Paul . 1986 . Miao–Yao Enigma: The Na-e language . Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area . 9 . 1 . 89–90.
  6. Web site: Map & Language Descriptions | Borderlands: Lesser Known Indigenous Languages of Northern Vietnam . 2012-05-09 . 2012-02-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120207074151/http://ling.uta.edu/~jerry/research/map.html . dead .
  7. 毛宗武 / Mao Zongwu. 优诺语研究 / Younuo yu yan jiu (A Study of Younuo). Beijing: 民族出版社 / Min zu chu ban she, 2007.
  8. Niederer . Barbara . 1997 . Notes comparatives sur le pa-hng . Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale . 26 . 1 . 71–130. 10.3406/clao.1997.1506 .
  9. Book: Niederer, Barbara . 2004 . Pa-hng and the classification of the Hmong-Mien languages . Tapp . N. . Michaud . J. . Culas . C. . Lee . G. Yai . Hmong/Miao in Asia . 129–146 . Bangkok . Silkworm Books.
  10. Edmondson . J. A. . Gregerson . K. J. . 2001 . Four Languages of the Vietnam-China Borderlands . Papers from the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society . K. L. . Adams . T. J. . Hudak . Tempe . 101–133 . Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies.
  11. Book: Vũ, Quốc Khánh . 2013 . 12–15 . Người Pà Thẻn ở Việt Nam . The Pa Then in Vietnam . Hà Nội . Nhà xuất bản thông tấn.
  12. Book: Edmondson, Jerold A. . Pa-hng development and diversity . Papers from the First Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society . Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies . 1992 . M. . Ratliff . E. . Schiller . 159–186.