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. The total number of speakers worldwide has been estimated to be more than 4 million, including over 200,000 Hmong Americans. Some dialects are mutually intelligible while others are so distinct as to be considered separate languages.
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). 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.
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:
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| oral | nasal | oral | nasal | oral | nasal | |
| Close | i | ɨ | u | |||
| Mid | e | ẽ | ɔ | ɔ̃ | ||
| Open | a | ã | ||||
| Closing | Centering | |
|---|---|---|
| Close component is front | ai | iə |
| Close component is central | aɨ | |
| Close component is back | au | uə |
Consonants
Hmong makes a number of phonemic contrasts in its unfamiliar to English speakers. All non-glottal stops and affricates distinguish aspirated and unaspirated forms, most also prenasalization independantly of this. Bilabial and, in Green Mong, dental stops also distinguish lateral release, an extremely 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 | ʈʂ | ʈʂʰ | ||||||||||||||||
| 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.
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.
Tones
Hmong is a tone language and makes use of seven distinct tones:
| Tone | Example | 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 |
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.
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):
(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):
| Person: | First | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | kuv | koj | nws |
| Dual | wb | neb | nkawd |
| Plural | peb | nej | lawv |
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.
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 pag 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.'
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.'
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 after 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 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), is 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.
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, "Kwv 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 hungery 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.'