Hmong phonology

The three dialects described here are known as Hmong Daw (also called White Miao or Hmong Der), Mong Njua (also called Blue or Green Miao or Mong Leng), and Dananshan (Standard Chinese Miao). Hmong Daw and Mong Njua 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 Njua lacks the voiceless/aspirated of Hmong Daw (as exemplified by their names) and has a third nasalized vowel, ; Danashan has a couple of extra diphthongs in native words, numerous Chinese loans, and an eighth tone.

For comparison with another Hmongic language, see Hmu, the Chinese standard for Miao.

Vowels
The vowel systems of Hmong Daw and Mong Njua are as shown in the following charts. Phonemes particular to each dialect are color-coded respectively:

The Dananshan standard of China is similar. Phonemic differences from Hmong Daw and Mong Njua are color-coded.

Dananshan occurs only after non-palatal affricates, and is written $\langleai\rangle$, much like Mandarin Chinese. is pronounced after palatal consonants. There is also a triphthong $\langleau\rangle$, as well as other i- and u-initial sequences in Chinese borrowings, such as.

Consonants
Hmong makes a number of phonemic contrasts unfamiliar to English speakers. All non-glottal stops and affricates distinguish aspirated and unaspirated forms, most also prenasalization independently of this. The consonant inventory of Hmong is shown in the chart below. (Consonants particular to Hmong Daw and Mong Njua are color-coded respectively.)

The Danashan standard of China is similar. (Phonemic differences from Hmong Daw and Mong Njua are color-coded . Minor differences, such as the voicing of prenasalized stops, or whether is an affricate or  is velar, may be a matter of transcription.) Aspirates, voiceless fricatives, voiceless nasals, and glottal stop only occur with yin tones (1, 3, 5, 7). Standard orthography is added in $\langleua\rangle$. Glottal stop is not written; it is not distinct from a zero initial. There is also a, which occurs only in foreign words.

The status of the consonants described here as single phonemes with lateral release is controversial. A number of scholars instead analyze them as biphonemic clusters with as the second element. The difference in analysis (e.g. between and ) is not based on any disagreement in the sound or pronunciation of the consonants in question, but on differing theoretical grounds. Those in favor of a unit-phoneme analysis generally argue for this based on distributional evidence (i.e. if clusters, these would be the only clusters in the language, although see below) and dialect evidence (the laterally released dentals in Green Mong, e.g., correspond to the voiced dentals of White Hmong), whereas those in favor of a cluster analysis tend to argue on the basis of general phonetic principles (other examples of labial phonemes with lateral release appear extremely rare or nonexistent ).

Some linguists prefer to analyze the prenasalized consonants as clusters whose first element is. However, this cluster analysis is not as common as the above one involving.

Syllable structure
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 Njua, nasal codas have become nasal vowels, though they may be accompanied by a weak coda. Similarly, a weak coda may accompany the low-falling creaky tone.

Dananshan has a syllabic (written $\langleou\rangle$) in Chinese loans, such as lf 'two' and lx 'child'.

Tones
Hmong is a tone language and makes use of seven (Hmong Daw and Mong Njua) or eight (Dananshan) distinct tones.

The Dananshan tones are transcribed as pure tone. However, given how similar several of them are, it is likely that there are also phonational differences as in Hmong Daw and Mong Njua. Tones 4 and 6, for example, are said to make tenuis plosives breathy voiced (浊送气), suggesting they may be breathy/murmured like the Hmong g-tone. Tones 7 and 8 are used in early Chinese loans with entering tone, suggesting they may once have marked checked syllables.

Because voiceless consonants apart from tenuis plosives are restricted to appearing before certain tones (1, 3, 5, 7), those are placed first in the table:

So much information is conveyed by the tones that it is possible to speak intelligibly using musical tunes only; there is a tradition of young lovers communicating covertly this way by playing on a jew's harp (though this method may also convey vowel sounds).