# A-Hmao language

The A-Hmao (or Ahmao) language, also known as Large Flowery Miao (pinyin: Dà Huā Miáo), Hua Miao, or Northeast Yunnan Miao (Chinese: 苗语滇东北方言; pinyin: Miáoyǔ Diàndōngběi fāngyán), is a Hmongic language spoken in China. It is the language the Pollard script was designed for, and displays extensive tone sandhi. There is a high degree of literacy in Pollard among the older generation.
The standard written language, both in Pollard and in Latin script, is that of Shíménkǎn (石门坎) village in Weining County.

## Classification

The A-Hmao language is a branch of the West Hmongic languages, also known as Chuanqiandian Miao (Chinese: 川黔滇苗; lit. 'Sichuan–Guizhou–Yunnan Miao') and Western Miao, which is a major branch of the Hmongic languages of China and Southeast Asia.
Wang Fushi (1985) grouped the Western Miao languages into eight primary divisions:
* Chuanqiandian Miao
* Northeast Yunnan Miao (A-Hmao language)
* Guiyang Miao
* Huishui Miao
* Mashan Miao
* Luobohe Miao
* Chong'anjiang Miao
* Pingtang Miao

## Geographic distribution

The A-Hmao language is spoken in the northeast of Yunnan Province and in the west of Guizhou Province, particularly in Zhaotong, Kunming, Qujing, Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture, Weining Yi, Hui, and Miao autonomous county, Hezhang county, Liupanshui, and Ziyun Miao and Buyi autonomous county. There are 300,000 native speakers. The standard dialect is that of Shimenkan (石门坎), Weining County (威宁县).

## Phonology
### Consonants

| | | | Labial | Alveolar | Alveolar | Alveolar | Retroflex | Retroflex | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal |
| | | | Labial | plain | sibilant | lateral | plain | sibilant | lateral | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal |
| Plosive / Affricate | plain | plain | b /p/ | d /t/ | z /ts/ | dl /tl̥/ | dr /ʈ/ | zh /ʈʂ/ | | j /tɕ/ | g /k/ | gh /q/ | /ʔ/ |
| Plosive / Affricate | plain | prenasal | nb /ᵐp/ | nd /ⁿt/ | nz /ⁿts/ | ndl /ⁿtl̥/ | ndr /ᶯʈ/ | nzh /ᶯʈʂ/ | | nj /ⁿtɕ/ | ng /ᵑk/ | ngh /ᶰq/ | |
| Plosive / Affricate | aspirated | plain | p /pʰ/ | t /tʰ/ | c /tsʰ/ | tl /tl̥ʰ/ | tr /ʈʰ/ | ch /ʈʂʰ/ | | q /tɕʰ/ | k /kʰ/ | kh /qʰ/ | |
| Plosive / Affricate | aspirated | prenasal | np /ᵐpʰ/ | nt /ⁿtʰ/ | nc /ⁿtsʰ/ | ntl /ⁿtl̥ʰ/ | ntr /ᶯʈʰ/ | nch /ᶯʈʂʰ/ | | nq /ⁿtɕʰ/ | nk /ᵑkʰ/ | nkh /ᶰqʰ/ | |
| Plosive / Affricate | voiced | plain | b /b/ | d /d/ | z /dz/ | dl /dl/ | dr /ɖ/ | zh /ɖʐ/ | | j /dʑ/ | g /ɡ/ | gh /ɢ/ | |
| Plosive / Affricate | voiced | prenasal | nb /ᵐb/ | nd /ⁿd/ | nz /ⁿdz/ | ndl /ⁿdl/ | ndr /ᶯɖ/ | nzh /ᶯɖʐ/ | | nj /ⁿdʑ/ | ng /ᵑɡ/ | ngh /ᶰɢ/ | |
| Fricative / Lateral | Fricative / Lateral | voiceless | f /f/ | | s /s/ | hl /l̥/ | | sh /ʂ/ | hlr /ɭ̊/ | x /ɕ/ | hx /x/ | (h /χ/) | h /h/ |
| Fricative / Lateral | Fricative / Lateral | voiced | v /v/ | | r /z/ | l /l/ | | rh /ʐ/ | lr /ɭ/ | y /ʑ/ | hy /ɣ/ | | |
| Nasal | Nasal | voiced | m /m/ | n /n/ | | | nr /ɳ/ | | | ni /n̠ʲ/ | ngg /ŋ/ | | |
| Nasal | Nasal | voiceless | hm /m̥/ | hn /n̥/ | | | | | | hni /n̠̥ʲ/ | hng /ŋ̊/ | | |
| Semivowel | Semivowel | voiced | w /w/ | | | | | | | | | | |
Moreover, Gerner (2022) treats breathiness as a property of the onset, such as [lʱ] in the word lif [lʱi$^{11}$] 'two', and reports a fricative aspirated lateral [ɬʰ], as in the word [ɬʰi$^{11}$] 'become'.

### Vowels

| | | Front | Front | Central | Back | Back |
| | | unrounded | rounded | Central | unrounded | rounded |
| Close | Close | i /i/ | yu /y/ | | w /ɯ/ | u /u/ |
| Mid | Mid | e /e/ | | e /ə/ | | o /o/ |
| Open | Open | | | | a /ɑ/ | |
| Diphthong | rising | ai /ai̯/ | eu /œy̯/ | | ang /ɑɯ̯/ | ao /ɑu̯/ |
| Diphthong | falling | ie /i̯e/ | | | iw /i̯ɯ/ ia /i̯ɑ/ | iu /i̯u/ io /i̯o/ |
| Triphthong | Triphthong | iai /i̯ai̯/ | | | iang /i̯ɑɯ̯/ | iao /i̯ɑu̯/ |

### Tones

| Tone | Symbol | Value |
| 1 | b | ˥˧ 54 |
| 2 | x | ˧˥ 35 |
| 3 | d | ˥ 55 |
| 4 | l | ˩ 11 |
| 5 | t | ˨ 33 |
| 6 | s | ˧˩ 31 |
| 7 | k | ˩ 11 |
| 8 | f | ˧˩ 31 |
On the basis of the eight tones of A-Hmao, in the eastern region, the fourth, sixth, and eighth tones are broken up partially or entirely into two categories. At most, there can be up to eleven tones. Essentially, nouns and quantifiers are part of the first category, and they are higher in pitch. Other word classes are part of the second category, and they are lower in pitch.
The A-Hmao language displays extensive tone sandhi. Similar to other branches of the West Hmongic languages, the tone sandhi happens on the second syllable when the first syllable of a disyllable word is level tone (first and second tone).

## Grammar
### Morphology and vocabulary

The morphology of the three branches of the Hmong language is basically the same. The following examples are from Central Miao. A-Hmao is similar to Hmong, which 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.
Single-morpheme word
* Monosyllable single-morpheme word. (single-morpheme words are mostly monosyllable in Hmong language)
    Example:
       naxi 'human being'
       xed 'tiger'
       et 'tree'
       wil 'I'
       mongx 'you'
       nenx 'he'
       hsangb 'thousand'
       wangs 'ten thousand'
       bat 'hundred'
       lol 'come'
       mongl go; 'leave'
* Multisyllable single-morpheme word. (There is a small number of multisyllable single-morpheme words in the Hmong language. Mostly, they are disyllabic, and there are very few with three or more syllables.)
** Alliterative. Example:
    gangt git 'hurry up; quickly'
    qut qat 'itchy'
    hcud hxangd 'nausea'
** Vowel rhyme. Example:
    Same tone:
       bal nial 'girl'
       box jox 'run'
       bux lux 'boiling'
       daib ghaib 'star'
       dent ent 'cloud'
       vongs nongs 'dirty'
    Different tones:
       hsab ngas 'clean'
       hsangd dangl 'in case'
       kak liax 'magpie'
** Non-alliterative and vowel rhyme. Example:
       ak wol 'crow'
       bil hsaid 'nearly; almost'
       ghob yenl 'chair'
** Reiterative syllable. Example:
       gid gid 'slowly'
       seix seix 'together'
       nangl nangl 'still'
       xangd xangd 'occasionally'
Compound word
* Coordinating
** Noun morpheme compound with noun morpheme. Example:
    hveb hseid 'language'
    haxub khat 'relative'
    nangx bit 'name'
    niangx hniut 'age'
** Verb morpheme compound with verb morpheme. Example:
    cub nul 'rebuke'
    tid xongt 'construct'
    khab job 'lesson'
** Adjective morpheme compound with adjective morpheme. Example:
    ghongl jangl 'bend'
    khed hxat 'poverty'
* Modifying
** Noun morpheme modifying noun morpheme. Example:
    det diangx 'candle'
    det diux 'key'
    eb mais 'tears'
    gad wangx 'corn'
** Adjective morpheme modifying noun morpheme. Example:
    bad yut 'uncle'
    mais lul 'aunt'
* Dominating
** Verb morpheme dominating noun morpheme. Example:
    dlangd wangb 'dress up'
    qet ves 'rest'
** Adjective morpheme dominating noun morpheme. Example:
    dad hvib 'patience'
    hvent ves 'pleasantly cool'
    mais bil 'proficiency'
    mais ves 'tired'
* Affixes
    Mostly are prefixes, and commonly used prefixes are ghab-, diub-, hangd-, gid-, jib-, daib-, bod-, xuk-, and so on. Ghab- is the most commonly used.
** Ghab- means human or animal body and part, plant part and things related to plants, natural objects, things related to buildings, utensils and abstract objectives. Example:
    ghab jid 'body'
    ghab naix 'ear'
    ghab ghaib 'root'
    ghab nex 'leaf'
    ghab qangb 'living room'
    ghab sot 'kicken'
    ghab dliux 'soul'
    ghabnangs 'destiny'
** Diub- means location. Example:
    diub senx 'provincial capital'
    dioub ghaib on the street
    diub zaid at home
** Hangd-/khangd- means aspect and direction. Example:
    hangd nongx hangd nangl aspect of eating and wearing
    hangd nongd 'here'
    hangd momgx 'there'
    hangd deis 'where'
** Gid- means aspect and direction. Example:
    gid waix 'above'
    gid dab 'below'
    gid gux 'outside'
    gid niangs 'inside'
** Jib- means person. Example:
    jib daib 'child'
    jib hlangb 'grandchild'
    jib bad 'man'
** Daib- means person and some kinship terminology. Example:
    daib pik 'girl'
    daib jangs 'man, boy, husband'
    daib nenl 'uncle'
** Bod- means round object. Example:
    bod vib 'stone'
    bod ghof jus 'knee'
    bod liul 'fist'
** Xuk- means uncertain quantity.
    xuk laix 'a handful of'

#### Classifier inflections

One unusual feature of A-Hmao morphology is the existence of inflecting classifiers, i.e., classifiers that change form.

### Syntax

As with other Hmongic languages, the basic word order of A-Hmao is SVO. Within the noun phrase, possessors precede possessed nouns, while relative clauses precede the nouns they modify. Noun phrases have the form as (possessive) + (quantifier) + (classifier) + noun + (adjective) + (demonstrative). Question formation in Ahmao does not involve word order change: question words generally remain in situ, rather than appear in sentence-initial position, and pseudo-clefting is also generally used in questions.

#### Overview

A-Hmao exhibits the grammatical patterns as in the table below.
Grammatical Relations by Element Order in A-Hmao :
| Relation Type | First Element | Second Element |
| Possessive | Possessor Noun | Possessed Noun |
| Restrictive adjectival | Adjective | Noun |
| Non-restrictive adjectival | Noun | Adjective |
| Nominalization | Relative clause | Noun |
| Adpositional | Preposition | Noun phrase |
| Predicational | Predicate | Arguments |
| Predicational | Adjunct | Predicate |
| Negation | Negative particle | Verb |
| TAM | Verb | Auxiliary |
| Subordination | Complementizer | Embedded clause |

#### Question formation

Questions are typically formed with the wh- question word in situ, i.e., it appears where the corresponding noun would in the sentence, rather than appear sentence-initially:
ʦɑ⁵⁵ndɑɯ³³
TsaDaw
ɑ²¹n̥ɑɯ²¹
yesterday
ntʂɿ⁵³
met
qɑ²¹ndy²²
who
ʦɑ⁵⁵ndɑɯ³³ ɑ²¹n̥ɑɯ²¹ ntʂɿ⁵³ qɑ²¹ndy²²
TsaDaw yesterday met who
'Who did TsaDaw meet yesterday?'

## Writing system

The A-Hmao have no indigenous writing system. In the beginning of the 20th century, missionary Samuel Pollard invented the Pollard script, which was based on the decorative symbols on their clothing. Before the introduction of the Pollard script, the A-Hmao people recorded their history through their ancient songs and weaving the history of their memories on their clothes. Those images formed a history of the A-Hmao.