Hmong language
| Hmong | |
|---|---|
| lus Hmoob / lug Moob / lol Hmongb | |
| Native to | China, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. |
|
Native speakers
|
3.7 million (1995–2009) not counting Vietnam |
|
Hmong–Mien
|
|
| Hmong writing: inc. Pahawh Hmong, multiple Latin standards | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously: hmv – Hmong Do (Vietnam) mww – Hmong Daw (Laos, China) hnj – Mong Njua/Mong Leng (Laos, China) hmz – Hmong Shua (Sinicized) cqd – Chuanqiandian-cluster Miao (cover term for Hmong in China) hrm – Horned Miao (A-Hmo, China) hmf – Hmong Don (Vietnam) |
| Glottolog | firs1234 |
| Linguasphere | 48-AAA-a |
Hmong (RPA: Hmoob) or Mong (RPA: Moob), known as First Vernacular Chuanqiandian Miao in China (Chinese: 川黔滇苗语第一土语; pinyin: Chuānqiándiān miáo yǔ dì yī tǔyǔ), is a dialect continuum of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmongic languages spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. There are some 2.7 million speakers of varieties that are largely mutually intelligible, including over 280,000 Hmong Americans as of 2013. Over half of all Hmong speakers speak the various dialects in China, where the Dananshan (大南山) dialect forms the basis of the standard language. However, Hmong Daw (White Miao) and Mong Njua (Green Miao) are widely known only in Laos and the United States; Dananshan is more widely known in the native region of Hmong.
Hmong, in the narrow sense, is sometimes known ambiguously as the Chuanqiandian Cluster. That term is also used for Chuanqiandian Miao as a whole, or it may be restricted to the varieties of Hmong spoken in China.
Mong Njua and Hmong Daw are part of a dialect cluster known in China as Chuanqiandian Miao, that is, "Sichuan–Guizhou–Yunnan Miao", called the "Chuanqiandian cluster" in English, as Western Hmongic is also called Chuanqiandian. Mong Njua and Hmong Daw are just those varieties of the cluster that migrated to Laos; the Western names Mong Njua, Mong Leng, Hmong Dleu/Der, and Hmong Daw are also used in China for various dialects of the Chuanqiandian cluster.
Ethnologue once distinguished only the Laotian varieties (Hmong Daw, Mong Njua), Sinicized Miao (Hmong Shua), and the Vietnamese varieties (Hmong Do, Hmong Don). The Vietnamese varieties are very poorly known; population estimates are not even available. In 2007, Horned Miao, Small Flowery Miao, and the Chuanqiandian cluster of China were split off from Mong Njua [blu]. These varieties are as follows, along with some alternate names ('Ch.' = Chinese name, 'auto.' = autonym [self name]):
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