Pa-Hng language


Pa-Hng is a divergent Hmongic (Miao) language spoken in Guizhou, Guangxi, and Hunan in southern China as well as northern Vietnam.

Classification

Pa-Hng has long been recognized as divergent. Benedict argued that one of its dialects constituted a separate branch of the Miao–Yao family. Ratliff found it to be the most divergent Hmongic language that she analyzed. This Bahengic branch also includes Younuo and Wunai.

Names

Pa-Hng speakers are called by the following names:
  • '
  • '
  • Red Yao
  • Flowery Yao
  • Eight Surname Yao
In Liping County, Guizhou, the Dong people call the Pa-Hng ', while the Miao people call them '. In Tongdao County, Hunan, the Pa-Hng are also known as the Seven Surname Yao 七姓瑶, since they have the seven surnames of Shen 沈, Lan 兰, Dai 戴, Deng 邓, Ding 丁, Pu 蒲, and Feng 奉.
In China, Pa-Hng speakers are classified as Yao, even though their language is Hmongic rather than Mienic.

Varieties

Mao & Li splits Pa-Hng into the following subdivisions, and most closely related to Hm Nai:
Vocabulary word lists for these three Pa-Hng varieties can be found in Mao & Li. An additional dialect is found in Vietnam.
The Na-e dialect, is a geographic outlier. Paul Benedict argued that it is not actually Pa-Hng, or even Hmongic, but a separate branch of the Miao–Yao language family. However, Strecker responded that it does appear to be a Pa-Hng dialect, though it has some peculiarities, and that Pa-Hng as a whole is divergent.
Jerold A. Edmondson has reported Pa-Hng dialects in Bac Quang District and Hong Quang Village of Chiem Hoa District in northern Vietnam, and found that they were most closely related to the Pa-Hng dialect spoken in Gaoji Township 高基, Sanjiang County, Guangxi.

Distribution

China

Pa-Hng speakers are distributed in the following counties in China. Most of the counties have 1,000–6,000 Pa-Hng speakers.

Vietnam

Pa-Hng is also spoken in small pockets of northern Vietnam. In Vietnam, the Pa-Hng are an officially recognized ethnic group numbering around a few thousand people, where they are called Pà Thẻn. Na-e as reported by Bonifacy is also found in northern Vietnam.
According to Vu, the ancestors of the Pà Thẻn had first migrated from Guangxi to Hải Ninh, and then from Hải Ninh to the Thái Nguyên area. The Pà Thẻn then split off to settle in three main areas.
  • Linh Phú and Trung Sơn
  • Lăng Can, Hồng Quang, and Hữu Sản
  • From Xuân Minh, the Pà Thẻn migrated to the communes of Yên Bình, Yên Thành, Tân Trịnh, Tân Nam and Tân Lập.

Phonology

Consonants

  • Alveolar sounds are heard as retroflex in the Laobao dialect.

Vowels

can also be centralized to or when following initial sounds.

Tones

Pa-Hng is a tonal language. It has 8 tones.