Mienic languages explained

Mienic
Also Known As:Yao
Region:China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, United States
Ethnicity:some of the Yao peoples
Familycolor:Hmong-Mien
Protoname:Proto-Mienic
Child1:Iu Mien
Child2:Biao Mon
Child3:Kim Mun
Child4:Biao Min
Child5:Zaominic (Dzao Min and Yangchun Pai Yao)
Glotto:mien1242
Glottorefname:Mienic
Map:Hmong Mien lang.png
Mapcaption:Mienic languages: Not shown: Biao Mon

The Mienic or Yao languages are spoken by the Yao people of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.

Some of the Yao peoples speak Hmongic languages (Miao); these are called Bunu. A small population of Yao people in Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County (金秀瑶族自治县) in eastern Guangxi speak a Tai-Kadai language called Lakkia. Other Yao peoples speak various Sinitic (Chinese) language varieties.

Classification

Mienic is one of the primary branches of the Hmong–Mien language family, with the other being Hmongic.

Ratliff (2010)

Martha Ratliff (2010:3) proposed the following classification:[1]

Strecker (1987)

Strecker 1987,[2] followed (with the addition of Moxi) by Matisoff 2001, proposed the following, with some of the more divergent varieties as additional languages:

Luang-Thongkum (1993)

Luang-Thongkum (1993:170)[3] proposes the following classification for Mjuenic, a proposed branch consisting of the Mien, Mun, and Muen (Biao Mon) languages. The classifications of Biao Min and Dzao Min are not addressed.

Mao (2004)

Mao Zongwu (2004) classifies the Mienic languages varieties of China as follows. Data points studied in Mao (2004) are also listed for each dialect.

A Mienic lect called bjau2 mwan2 ("Biao Man 标曼"), related to Mien of Changping and Luoxiang, is spoken in Liuchong 六冲, Qiaoting Township 桥亭乡, Pingle County 平乐县, Guangxi (Tang 1994); another "Biao Man 标曼" dialect is spoken in Dongpingdong 东坪洞 (Tang 1994).[7] There are about 10,000 speakers in Mengshan, Lipu, Pingle, and Zhaoping counties.

The comparative vocabulary chart in Mao Zongwu (2004) consists of the following languages.

  1. Guangdian Mien (Jiangdi); autonym: pronounced as /mjen31/
  2. Diangui Kim Mun (Liangzi); autonym: pronounced as /kjeːm33 mun33/
  3. Dongshan Biao Min; autonym: pronounced as /bjau31 min31/
  4. Daping Dzao Min; autonym: pronounced as /dzau53 min53/
  5. Xiangnan Mien (Miaoziyuan); autonym: pronounced as /mjəŋ31/
  6. Changping Mien (= Biao Mon); autonym: pronounced as /bjau31 moːn31/
  7. Luoxiang Mien; autonym: pronounced as /bjau31 mwan31/
  8. Fanghai Kim Mun (Tansan); autonym: pronounced as /kiːm33 mun33/
  9. Shikou Biao Min (= Chao Kong Meng); autonym: pronounced as /mɔu31 jɔu55/
  10. Niuweizhai Biao Min (= Moxi); autonym: pronounced as /mɔ433 ɕi53/

Aumann & Sidwell (2004)

Using Mao's (2004) new data, Aumann & Sidwell (2004) propose the following classification of the Mienic languages, based on innovations in rhotic consonants.[8] This classification presents a bipartite division of the Mienic into a subgroup consisting of Iu Mien and Biao Min, and another subgroup consisting of Kim Mun and Dzao Min. Luoxiang is grouped with Kim Mun, while Changping is grouped with Dzao Min.

Aumann & Sidwell (2004) consider the following classification by Wang & Mao to be unlikely, which is based on the voicing of voiceless sonorants, a common areal feature.

Taguchi (2012)

Yoshihisa Taguchi's (2012) computational phylogenetic study classifies the Mienic languages as follows.[9]

Hsiu (2018)

Hsiu's (2018)[10] computational phylogenetic study classifies the Mienic languages as follows.

Hsiu (2018) considers Changping Mien to have been influenced by Kim Mun lects due to geographical proximity, although it retains many unique forms that indicate it should belong in its own branch.

Hsiu (2023)

Hsiu (2023) announced the discovery of the previously undocumented Yangchun Pai Yao, likely a sister branch to Dzao Min, or possibly belonging to its own branch outright.[11]

Mixed languages

Some languages may be mixed Chinese and Mienic (Yao) languages, such as:

Numerals

Numerals in Mienic Languages[13]
LanguageOneTwoThreeFourFiveSixSevenEightNineTen
Proto-Hmong-Mien
  • ʔɨ
  • ʔu̯i
  • pjɔu
  • plei
  • prja
  • kruk
  • dzjuŋH
  • jat
  • N-ɟuə
  • gju̯əp
Iu Mienjet12i33pwo33pjei33pia33tɕu55sje13ɕet12dwo31tsjop12
Ao Biao (Luoxiang)jit43vi33pu33pje33pla33kwo43ȵi11jat32du31ɕep32
Biao Mon (Changping)no35i33pu33plei33pla33kju53ŋi22jaːt21du21sjəp21
Kim Muna33i35ˀpɔ35pjei35pja35kjo35ȵi42jet55du33ʃap42
Biao Mini33wəi33pau33pləi33pla33klɔ53ni42hjɛn42iu31ȶʰan42
Chao Kong Meng (Shikou)ji35vi33bɔu33pli33pla53klɔ35ŋi13jæ22tɕu55tɕæ22
Moxi (Niuweizhai)i33wei33pəu33pɣɯi33pɤa33kɤɔ55ɕi31hjɯ53du53tɕʰwa53
Dzao Mina44vi42bu42pɛi42pjɛ42tɔu44ȵi22dzat22ku53sjɛp22

See also

References

Further reading

Sources with word lists of Mienic languages

Notes and References

  1. Ratliff, Martha. 2010. Hmong–Mien language history. Canberra, Australia: Pacific Linguistics.
  2. Strecker, David. 1987. "The Hmong-Mien Languages." In Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 10, no. 2: 1-11.
  3. Luang-Thongkum, Theraphan. 1993. A view on Proto-Mjuenic (Yao). Mon-Khmer Studies 22:163-230.
  4. location not found on map
  5. Web site: 河口瑶族自治县瑶山乡梁子村委会新寨自然村 . www.ynszxc.gov.cn . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141218104530/http://www.ynszxc.gov.cn/villagePage/vIndex.aspx?departmentid=153644 . 2014-12-18.
  6. Web site: 勐腊县瑶区瑶族乡黄莲山村委会梭山脚 . www.ynszxc.gov.cn . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141218104535/http://www.ynszxc.gov.cn/villagePage/vIndex.aspx?departmentid=215068 . 2014-12-18.
  7. Tang Yongliang 唐永亮. 1994. 瑶族勉语六冲标曼话语音特点和声调实验研究. Minzu Yuwen 1994:5.
  8. Aumann, Greg and Paul Sidwell. 2004. "Subgrouping of Mienic Languages: Some Observations." In Papers from the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, edited by Somsonge Burusphat. Tempe, Arizona, 13-27. Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies.
  9. Yoshihisa Taguchi [田口善久] (2012). On the Phylogeny of the Hmong-Mien languages . Conference in Evolutionary Linguistics 2012.
  10. Hsiu, Andrew. 2018. Preliminary classification of Mienic languages .
  11. Web site: Hsiu . Andrew . May 16–18, 2023 . The Pai Yao language of Yangchun: Final remnants of a Mienic language . 2023-09-19 . Southeast Asian Linguistics Society.
  12. Cited in Chiang (1995) We two know the script, we have become good friends, p. 28, footnote 43.
  13. Web site: Miao-Yao . lingweb.eva.mpg.de . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090519153740/http://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/numeral/Miao-Yao.htm . 2009-05-19.

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