Hmong Language - Varieties

Varieties

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 (they are distinguished as the Chuanqiandian "subdialect" of the Chuanqiandian "dialect" in Chinese). Mong Njua and Hmong Daw are just those varieties of the cluster which 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 . These varieties are as follows, along with some alternate names ('Ch.' = Chinese name, 'auto.' = autonym ):

• Hmong Daw (White Miao, Ch. Bai Miao, auto. Hmoob Dawb; Forest Miao, Hmong Rongd; Hmong Dleu / Hmongb Dleub)
• Mong Njua (Blue Miao, Green Miao, Ch. Qing Miao; Hmoob Ntsuab / Hmongb Nzhuab; in the US, also Mong Leng / Len, auto. Moob Leeg; Hmongb Shib)
• Hmong Shua (Sinicized Miao, auto. Hmongb Shuat)
• Horned Miao (Ch. Jiao Miao, auto. Hmo or A-Hmo)
• Hmong Do
• Hmong Don (assumed)
• the part of the Chuanqiandian cluster located in China.

Many of the above names used outside (White Miao, Blue/Green Miao, Flowery Miao, Mong Leng, etc.) are also used in China. Several Chinese varieties may be more distinct than the varieties listed above:

• Dananshan Miao (Hmong Dou, auto. Hmong Drout Raol, Hmong Hout Lab), the basis of the Chinese standard of the Chuanqiandian cluster
• Black Miao (Ch. Hei Miao, auto. of sub-groups: Hmong Dlob, Hmong Buak / Hmoob Puas)
• Southern Hmong (auto. of sub-groups: Hmongb Shib, Hmongb Nzhuab, Hmongb Lens, Hmongb Dlex Nchab, Hmongb Sad; includes some of Mong Njua above)
• Northern Hmong (auto. of sub-groups: Hmongb Soud, Hmong Be / Hmongb Bes, Hmongb Ndrous)
• Western Sichuan Miao (Ch. Chuan Miao)

In the 2007 request to establish an ISO code for the Chuanqiandian cluster, corresponding to the "first local dialect" (第一土語) of the Chuanqiandian cluster in Chinese, the proposer made the following statement on mutual intelligibility:

A colleague has talked with speakers of a number of these closely-related lects in the US, in Thailand and in China, and has had many discussions with Chinese linguists and foreign researchers or community development workers who have had extensive contact with speakers of these lects. As a result of these conversations this colleague believes that many of these lects are likely to have high inherent mutual intelligibility within the cluster. Culturally, while each sub-group prides itself on its own distinctives, they also recognize that other sub-groups within this category are culturally similar to themselves and accept the others as members of the same general ethnic group. However, this category of lects is internally varied and geographically scattered and mixed over a broad land area, and comprehensive intelligibility testing would be required to confirm reports of mutual intelligibility throughout the cluster.