Do the Hmong have a written alphabet?
Other experiments by Hmong and non-Hmong orthographers have been undertaken using invented letters. The Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA), the most widely used script for Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg, was developed in Laos between 1951 and 1953 by three Western missionaries.
How many types of Hmong are there?
There are two major varieties of Hmong: White Hmong (Hmoob Dawb) and Green/Blue Hmong (Moob Leeg/Hmoob Ntsuab), which are named after the traditional colours worn by women of the different groups.
How do you spell Hmong in Chinese?
For instance Hmong in the U.S. spell Hmoob as "Hmong," and Liab Lis is spelled as Lia Lee. The Dananshan standard in China is written in a pinyin-based alphabet, with tone letters similar to those used in RPA.
What are the two major dialects spoken by Hmong Americans?
Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg are the two major dialects spoken by Hmong Americans. Although mutually intelligible, the dialects differ in both lexicon and certain aspects of phonology.
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What alphabet does Hmong use?
The Hmong 'Thoob Teb' alphabet is by far the most popular Romanized alphabet representing the sounds and words of the Hmong language. It is not difficult to learn.
How many Hmong words are there?
The vocabulary contains 1472 meaning-word pairs ("entries") corresponding to core LWT meanings from the recipient language White Hmong.
How many Hmong vowels are there?
White Hmong has approximately thirteen vowel sounds, which include short vowels and diphthongs. Surprisingly, Hmong does not have any long vowels....3. VOWELS.[a] ntuǎntauv'to vomit'[ɒ] kʰɒkho'to fix'[u] lǔluv'short'[ɯ] lɯlws'eggplant'2 more rows•Sep 23, 2019
How many tones are in Hmong?
4. There are 8 distinct Hmong tones. As we mentioned, Hmong and many other Southeast Asian languages are tonal. One word can take on different meanings depending on how it is pronounced.
Is Hmong hard to learn?
"Hmong is one of the hardest languages to learn because it's a tonal language," she said. "A lot of Westerners have a hard time speaking Mandarin because it's four tones. With Hmong, you double those, so it's eight tones." A tonal language is one in which the meaning of a word changes based on the tone of voice used.
Is Hmong a dying language?
Of the 176 living languages spoken by the tribes of North America, 52 have become extinct since 1600.” In that Chinese state media report, it confirms that “in Danzhai county, part of Guizhou, only 60 percent speak their own (Miao or Hmong) own language, down from 85 percent just seven years ago.”
How do you say hi in Hmong?
0:001:28Hmong Lesson: Greeting in Hmong - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipNo Jean no Jean o means hello oh hi to US law torah. Law means hello hi or come to to us here to usMoreNo Jean no Jean o means hello oh hi to US law torah. Law means hello hi or come to to us here to us here means come to so for example you could say god Torah here Oh - what here means.
Are Hmong Chinese?
The Hmong are an ethnic group of people with specific language and culture. The Hmong originally came from China with over 4,000 years of history. Some Hmong left China to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma beginning in the early 1800's as a result of land expansion by the Chinese government.
What country speaks Hmong?
Hmong-Mien languages, also called Miao-Yao languages, family of languages spoken in southern China, northern Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
What does na mean in Hmong?
na. nad. The word "na" has no tone markers but it has the tone "re" of the musical notes "Do Re Mi Fa..." , however. The Hmong word nas means a squirrel, and nag means the rain, and nab means a snake.
How long does it take to learn Hmong?
From my experience, spending about 1-2 hours per day practicing reading, speaking, and memorizing new vocabulary will cause you to see quick progress and you will likely be able to hold reasonable conversations in 6 months or 1 year. You will feel pretty confident with your abilities after about 3 years.
What is your name in Hmong?
0:001:09Hmong Lesson: What is Your Name in Hmong - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipBasically means what is your name that is next a little longer form go Liu Bei who li ya go liu beiMoreBasically means what is your name that is next a little longer form go Liu Bei who li ya go liu bei who lit up that means your name is called what basically it means what is your name again.
How many tones are there in Hmong?
Hmong is a tone language and makes use of seven (Hmong Daw and Mong Njua) or eight (Dananshan) distinct tones.
When was the Hmong language invented?
The written language, known as “the Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA)” or “Hmong RPA” was developed in Laos between 1951 and 1953 by missionaries and Hmong advisors. While it is the most common form, Pahawh Hmong is also used.
How many characters are in the Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong script?
On March 5, 2019, Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong Script was officially published into the Unicode Standard version 12.0 with a total of 71 characters in the Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong Unicode block.
Is Hmong a Chinese nationality?
Also, are Hmong Chinese? Being Hmong is a ethnicity, while being Chinese is a Nationality. The Hmong do originate from China, and are often considered a subgroup of the Miao ethnicity in China. The majority of Hmong actually live in China, but most of the Hmong you will come across anywhere else in the world are from Laos.
What alphabet is used to write Hmong?
During the 1980s and 1990s several other alphabets were invented to write Hmong: Ntawv Paj Ntaub, based on Thai letters and Chinese characters, and Ai Ao Lo .
What are the two main types of Hmong?
There are two major varieties of Hmong: White Hmong ( Hmoob Dawb) and Green/Blue Hmong ( Moob Leeg/Hmoob Ntsuab ), which are named after the traditional colours worn by women of the different groups. In China Hmong is known as Miao and is written with Chinese characters or with an alphabet known as Pollard Miao.
What language do Hmong speak?
Today most Hmong write their language with the Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA), a version of the Latin alphabet developed mainly by American missionary linguists in the 1950s in Laos. In the RPA tones are indicated by final consonants.
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What are the syllables of Hmong?
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 apart from nasals are prohibited. In Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg, nasal codas have become nasal vowels, though they may be accompanied by a weak coda [ŋ]. Similarly, a weak coda [ʔ] may accompany the low-falling creaky tone.
What are the three dialects of Hmong?
The three dialects described here are known as Hmong Daw (also called White Miao or Hmong Der ), Mong Leeg (also called Leng Miao or Mong Leng ), and Dananshan (Standard Chinese Miao). Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg are the two major dialects spoken by Hmong Americans. Although mutually intelligible, the dialects differ in both lexicon and certain aspects of phonology. For instance, Mong Leeg lacks the voiceless/aspirated /m̥/ of Hmong Daw (as exemplified by their names) and has a third nasalized vowel, /ã/; Dananshan has a couple of extra diphthongs in native words, numerous Chinese loans, and an eighth tone.
What is the Hmong dialect?
Varieties in the United States. Most Hmong in the United States speak the White Hmong ( Hmong Daw) and Hmong Leeg ( Moob Leeg) dialects, with about sixty percent speaking White Hmong and about forty percent Hmong Leeg.
What are the names of the Miao varieties?
Ethnologue once distinguished only the Laotian varieties (Hmong Daw, Mong Njua), Sinicized Miao (Hmong Shua), and the Vietnamese varieties (Hmong Dô, 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 alternative names ('Ch.' = Chinese name, 'auto.' = autonym [self name]):
What are the names of the mong njua?
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 Miao cluster. Ethnologue once distinguished only the Laotian varieties (Hmong Daw, Mong Njua), Sinicized Miao (Hmong Shua), ...
What is the dialect of Hmong Daw?
Mong Njua (Hmoob Ntsuab) and Hmong Daw (Hmoob Dawb) are part of a dialect cluster known in China as Chuanqiandian Miao, that is, "Sichuan–Guizhou–Yunnan Miao", called the "Chuanqiandian cluster" in English (or "Miao cluster" in other languages) as West Hmongic is also called Chuanqiandian, while the variety spoken from Sichuan in China to Thailand and Laos is referred to as the "First Local Variety" ( 第一土语) of the cluster. 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 Miao cluster.
How many tones are there in Hmong?
Hmong is a tone language and makes use of seven (Hmong Daw and Mong Leeg) or eight (Dananshan) distinct tones .
How many letters are in the Hmong language?
At first Shong created a script with a different glyph for every distinct sound in the Hmong language — 151 letters in all — but over the next decade, sometimes working from prison, he introduced increasingly sophisticated and streamlined versions of Pahauh, which had come to be seen by many Hmong as sacred.
What are the two factors that worked against the Hmong people?
In every case, two factors worked against them: they had no homeland, and they had no written language.
How many people have been executed for creating an alphabet?
Here’s a sign of how potent writing is, how important and inspiring and threatening it can be to create an alphabet: at least one person has been executed for creating a writing system for his people. Not in some colonial insurrection in, say, South America five hundred years ago, or in Africa in the nineteenth century, but in 1971.

Romanized Popular Alphabet
Sample Text in Hmong (Miao) of Northeastern Guizhou
Sample Text in Hmong (Miao) of Southeastern Guizhou
Sample Text in Hmong (Miao) of Sichuan/Guizhou/Yunnan
Sample Video in Hmong
- Laix laix diangl dangt lol sob dab yangx ghax maix zit yef, niangb diot gid zenb nieef haib gid quaif lit gid nongd jus diel pinf denx. Nenx dol maix laib lix xent haib jox hvib vut, nenx dol nongt liek bed ut id xit deit dait.
Links
- Leb leb nis zib youl nangs, mex ad sheit nangd zend yanl nhangs njanl lib. Mix mex lix xinb gaot liangt send, leb leb lies nhangs ghob nab ghob geud nangd.
Hmong-Mien Languages
- Cuat lenx cuat dol bongb deul ndax dex douf muax zif youx, nyaob shout zunb yinx tab ndas dos id, dax zis ib suk. Nil buab daf lol jaox muax lid xinf hlub hout tab liangx xinb shab nzhuk, yinf gaib keuk suk gud dix mol lol nit jinb shenx lol shib daf shib hlad.