Chapter 1 White Hmong Introduction to Hmong History & Language Page Section 16 18 1.1 Introduction: The Hmong in Recent History 1.2 Putting the Pieces Together: Reassembling 21 History 1.3 Hmong History to the Modern Hmong Dias- 14 38 41 44 48 50 52 54 56 58 pora 1.4 The Hmong-Mien Language Family 1.5 The Modern Hmong Written Language 1.6 Spelling Lesson #1: Simple Consonants / Initials 1.7 Spelling Lesson #2: Simple Vowels/Finals 1.8 The Hmong Word 1.9 Hmong Tones 1.10 Relative Pitch 1.11 Vowel, Consonant and Tone Practice 1.12 Practice Exercises and Review 15
1.3 Ancient Hmong History to the Modern Diaspora be called, have endured several millennia of discrimination, persecution, forced assimilation and systematic genocide and have still survived with their language, culture and individual identity intact. It is not coincidental then that the Hmong who left the borders of China are the same who demand the correct pronunciation of the very word that defines them. 1.3 Ancient Hmong History to the Modern Hmong Diaspora The Legend of Emperor Chi You Some historians believe the origins of the Hmong/Miao and Han Chinese civilizations come from the same mythological stories. This first encounter, an epic battle of opposing emperors, foreshadows a bloody struggle between two peoples that would span nearly 5 millennia. The legend of Emperor Chi You describes a Hmong Empire located in the Yellow River Valley (Huang He) in northeast China during the early 26th century B.C. In a battle for regional supremacy, Chi You ( 蚩尤 Chī Yoú), lost in a ferocious battle with the armies of the Yellow Dragon Man and the Red Dragon Man, now known as the Handi and Yundi Emperors. The Handi Emperor is believed to be the father of the modern Han Chinese civilization. Legend has it that Chi You s armies fought the Handi and Yundi armies in eight indecisive battles. It was only after the ninth battle that Chi You s army succumbed to greater numbers and superior tactics. 蚩尤 Chī Yoú 20 Upon his capture, Chi You was executed and his body torn into nine pieces which were buried in nine mounds located throughout China. This symbolic gesture, which was done to foreshadow the fact that the Hmong would not be reunited again under another Emperor, would prove to have the exact opposite of its intended effect. Over the subsequent 4,600 years, the Hmong would reunite and rise up against their oppressors numerous times, sometimes with temporary success, only to be defeated, dispersed and driven southward. For the Hmong, the pattern of oppression by more powerful neighbors, their rebellion, followed by military defeat would be an all too familiar refrain that would inadvertently come to forge the iron will and indomitable spirit that would become the hallmark of the Hmong identity. The modern Chinese Historian Yi Xi Jian, who hails from the largest Miao village in Qiandongnan in Guizhou province, relates what became of the Hmong peoples following the defeat of Emper- 21
1.3 Ancient Hmong History to the Modern Hmong Diaspora 22 or Chi You. The legend states that Chi You had three sons: the oldest son Pang Chi, the second Fu Chi and the youngest, Li Chi. After Chi You lost the war, Li Chi took some people and escaped to the North; Fu Chi and his people were captured; and Pang Chi led his people to the South. Li Chi and his people eventually blended with other Chinese minority races. Fu Chi and his people merged into the Han race. Only Pang Chi and his people survived this forced assimilation by traveling south and crossing the Yellow River. It is believed that all the various Miao peoples derive from this group. To this day, tributes to the legend of Emperor Chi You abound in many forms among the many different Hmong subgroups in China. The Emperor s namesake, Chi You City, is located in Hebie Province and is one such enduring tribute to the ancient emperor. Chi You City is the location of Chi You s fountain and what are claimed as the relics of Chi You s Ban Bing City. Next to Chi You s fountain, is a gigantic pine tree called Chi You s Pine that local people honor to this day. The statues of the Emperors Chi You, Huangdi and Yungdi stand together at Zhuolu, northeast of Beijing to memorialize their epic battle. Many thousands of Hmong make the trek to kneel before Chi You s statue to pay their respects to the First Hmong Emperor, the personification of Hmong identity. Hmong Emperor Chi You Modern Archeological Evidence Ancient Chinese historical records become more specific in referring to the Meo peoples around the eighth century A.D. Re- cently unearthed archeological evidence compared against mythological accounts and Chinese historical documents continue to provide pieces to the puzzle of the Hmong cultures and their nearly 5000-year-old conflict with these Chinese Dynasties. While not held as a universal belief by all, many believe that Chi You s empire was located near the Middle Low area of the Yellow River Basin in Zhuolu ( 涿鹿 Zhuōlù), a now defunct prefecture, currently located on the border of the modern-day provinces of Hebei and Liaoning. Chi You was the Miao leader of the Jiu Li tribe, according to Chinese records found at Zhuolu in northeastern China, and the Hmong armies of Chi You were defeated by Huangdi Emperor, leader of the Huaxia ( 華夏 ) (Huandi) tribe and the Yuangdi Emperor as they struggled for supremacy of the Huang he valley. Historians refer to this conflict as The battles for the Central Plains of the Yellow River. This battle between opposing emperors was fought under heavy fog. The deciding factor in the Huaxia Emperor s victory over Emperor Chi You is believed to be his ability to use the compass in employing his military tactics. The battle is believed to have taken place in early 26th century B.C. After the loss, the original tribe split into two smaller splinter tribes, the Miao and the Li ( 黎 lí). The Miao moved continuously southwest and Li southeast merging with the Huaxia race, now known as Han Chinese race, expanding southwards. During the course of Chinese history, the Miao were regarded as barbarians by the increasingly technologically and culturally advanced Han Chinese. Some fragments of the races were assimilated into the Chinese during the Zhou Dynasty. The death of Chi You spelled the end of the Hmong Empire and the beginning of the Han Chinese domination over all minorities throughout the region. But despite the nearly 50 centuries of oppression and war, most Hmong proudly refused forced assimilation with their enemies. It was during this time that it is believed that the Chinese systematically destroyed many elements of Hmong language and culture as a way of preventing a resurgence of the Hmong Empire. Rather than face death, many Hmong assimilated into the majority Han culture, adopting their language, dress and customs. The Han referred to these Hmong as cooked Miao and the independent Hmong as raw Miao. The Hmong would, however, live to rise against their oppressors during many succeeding generations and they would earn 涿鹿 Zhuōlù 華夏 Huandi 黎 Lí 23
1.3 Ancient Hmong History to the Modern Hmong Diaspora themselves the honor of being one of the greatest adversaries to the Han-Chinese domination of greater China. Around 2,000 B.C. the Miao formed the San-Miao nation that was attacked and overthrown by the Hua Xia Dynasty. As a result of these conflicts with the Xia Dynasty, they were forced to migrate and to divide again. It is believed that the three branches of Hmong, the Western, Central and Eastern branches, started to form at that time. During these wars as with those previous, some Hmong surrendered to the Han-Chinese, but many others escaped the war, migrating south, east, and northeast. The Second Hmong Empire By the 8th Century A.D., six independent Hmong States had formed in what is now Yunnan Province in China. The southernmost province, Nan-Zhao, united the other five provinces to form the second Hmong Empire with the aid of the Tang Dynasty. The increasing threat from Tubo, modernly known as Tibet, prompted the Tang Dynasty to support a friendly state to buffer them from potential enemy incursions. The King of Nan-Zhao was known as Nan-Zhao Wang, which literally means King of Nan-Zhao. Today, the Hmong word for King derives from and still sounds like Wang (Vaj). 24 Nan-Zhao Wang was able to preserve his empire by playing the Tubu and Tang Dynasty enemies against each other. In what has become a reoccurring refrain, the Hmong Empires downfall was not solely a result of being conquered by more powerful enemy nations, but was due to internal weakening caused by infighting among the various clans vying for power. Ultimately the Duan clan won power and formed the Da Li Kingdom which held power until falling to the Mongols under Kublai Khan. Again, the fame of the Hmong warriors would become renowned from their battles against Kublai Khan in 1252 for the territory of what is now Yunnan Province, China (at the time, called by the Khans Nation of Qandahar or Great Country. ) The Mongol hordes suffered numerous casualties in subduing the Hmong in Yunnan due to the Hmong s highly effective ambush and retreat tactics. In later centuries, the French and the Vietnamese would attest to the cunning, determination and ferocity of their Hmong foe. Hmong King of Nan-Zhao During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the inability to conquer the Hmong resulted in a policy of use barbarians to rule barbarians. Rather than expend valuable resources in subduing the Hmong, they initiated a complex and highly competitive government-appointed bureaucracy in an attempt to entice leading Hmong to become Sinicized. This policy was effective up to the early Twentieth Century. Those Hmong more resistant to Chinese influence continued to move ever southward into Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma where living in the high mountains allowed them to continue following their culture and use their language relatively unmolested. 25
1.9 Hmong Tones 52 1.9 Hmong Tones Like many languages coming from China and Southeast Asia, Hmong is classified as tonal. This means that each syllable (at a minimum a vowel sound, or, more commonly, a consonant followed by a vowel sound) can be pronounced with eight differing relative pitches and or glottal features such as breathiness and glottal stop to create different words (or phonemes). When compared to other tonal languages, eight tones is on the high end. For example, Mandarin Chinese has only four tones, Thai has five tones, and Lao has six tones and Vietnamese has seven tones. Some people use the words inflection, stress or emphasis to describe the contoured quality of tones. But this description does not accurately describe the nature of tones used in a tonal language. An example may be helpful: In English we place emphasis or stress on a word that we want the listener to pay particular attention to. For example, a drill sergeant in the army may single out one of his recruits from the rest and while pointing his finger at him say: I want you! This emphasis usually is accompanied by an increase in the volume of the speaker. Volume plays no part in differentiating tones in Hmong. In the example above, the emphasis placed on the word you is very similar to the Hmong high falling tone. In English, placing emphasis like this does not change the inherent meaning of you, but it can potentially change the mood, intent or even add other meaning to the emphasized word. In a tonal language, a change in the contour of the syllable s vowel sound effects a change in the definition of the word entirely. To further complicate matters, tonal languages, like all other languages also use inflection, stress and emphasis superimposed on a word s inherent tone to add meaning. This will also have a tendency to change the contour of the tone. It may be helpful to think of tone as the pitch and contour of a vowel sound of a word, much as pitch and duration (or movement) is used in terms of musical notes. Thus, a word can be said with a high note, mid-range note or low note. It can be said with a staccato (i.e., pronounced briefly with an abrupt stop.) Or the contour can fall (i.e., move from a high note to a low note) or rise (i.e., move from a low note to a high note.) In English we frequently use pitch and vowel contouring to change the meaning of words: for example, the word no can mean absolutely not when said sternly (i.e., said with a low glottalized pitch). When said with a rising pitch, it can actually mean yes. It can convey the meaning of not again! when said beginning with a high falling pitch and ending with a rising pitch on the end. The three meaning-altering examples above are closely tied to the intended emotion. In Hmong, however, a word s tone is not based on emotion, but rather functions much like a vowel or consonant; that is, tone in Hmong is phonemic in nature. This means that the entire meaning of each word will change depending on the tone. Consider the following example: Pov pom pov pog pov pob pos los-poj? Pao saw Pao s Grandma throw ball thorny, right? Pao saw Pao s grandmother throw a thorny ball, right? The consonants and vowels in the words in this sentence, except los are pronounced in the exact same way with their relative pitches being the only distinguishing feature. This sentence surely isn t common, but it shows how critical accurate enunciation of tone is. To be sure, accurate tone enunciation is equally as important as consonant and vowel enunciation. But don t worry; this grammar book will help you to master accurate tone enunciation. Hmong words can also have an emotional stress/emphasis superimposed upon the inherent tone of a word. Hmong stress and emphasis is very different from English. Be as strict as possible in your accurate enunciation of tones but err on the side of being subtle in your pronunciation. Once you build a strong base, you can venture off into the strange world of emotional emphasis and stress. These advanced subjects are not addressed in this book. You may choose to study these in the intermediate and advanced books in this series. As mentioned above, Hmong has eight basic tones and one special tone. The eight basic tones are represented in Diagram # 2 below, which shows the relative pitch and the subsequent contour the tones take. (There are four flat tones: b, (-), s and m; and four contoured tones: j, v, g, and d.) Warning: do not try to use English stress and emphasis on Hmong words! Once begun, this is a hard habit to break. To do so will mark you with the brand of Bad American Accent! 53
1.10 Relative Pitch 1.10 Relative Pitch During most casual conversation, tones are pronounced within one s normal voice range. That is, do not go into your falsetto range to pronounce high tones and do not make your voice artificially low to make low tones. The most natural sounding tones are under- rather than over-emphasized. Over enunciation of tones will make you sound very silly. A good way to calibrate your mid-tone is to mimic the sound of a robot from a bad 60 s B-movie and say the following sentence in a monotone I want to learn to speak Hmong. This monotone corresponds to the mid-tone (-). Note that the hyphen in the tone box below, which symbolizes the mid-tone, represents a blank, that is, words with mid-tones have a blank in the final tone position. You may have noticed that when your Hmong friends engage in conversation, some words are pronounced with a highpitched falsetto. This is an example of super-emphasis through syllable reduplication, which is the repeating of an adjective, or verb. In syllable reduplication, the natural tone of the syllable is ignored and rather, the first syllable is made with a mid-tone and the second made with a high-pitched falsetto. This phenomenon, which you will be able to master, will be covered later on when adjectives are discussed in depth in Section 3.7. b (-) s m j g v d 54 (Glottal Stop) (Breathy) 55