A-Hmao language

• On the basis of the 8 tones of A-Hmao language, in the eastern region, the 4th, 6th, and 8th tones are broken up partially or entirely into two categories. At most, it can be up to 11 tones. Basically, nouns and quantifiers are part of the first category, and they are higher in pitch. Other word classes are part of the second category, and they are lower in pitch.
• The A-Hmao language displays extensive tone sandhi. Similar to other branches of the West Hmongic languages, the tone sandhi happens on the second syllable when the first syllable of a disyllable word is level tone (1st and 2nd tone).[8]

The morphology of the three branches of the Hmong language is basically the same. The following examples are from Central Miao.[9] A-Hmao is similar to Hmong, which is an isolating language in which most morphemes are monosyllables. As a result, verbs are not overtly inflected. Tense, aspect, mood, person, number, gender, and case are indicated lexically.[10]

Single-morpheme word

1) Monosyllable single-morpheme word. (single-morpheme words are mostly monosyllable in Hmong language)

Example:

naxi human being xed tiger

et tree wil I

mongx you nenx he

hsangb thousand wangs ten thousand

bat hundred lol come

mongl go; leave

2) Multisyllable single-morpheme word. (There is a small number of multisyllable single-morpheme word in Hmong language. Mostly, they are disyllable, and there is very little of 3 or more syllables.)

a. Alliterative. Example:

gangt git hurry up; quickly qut qat itchy

hcud hxangd nausea

b. Vowel rhyme. Example:

Same tone:

bal nial girl box jox run

bux lux boiling daib ghaib star

dent ent cloud vongs nongs dirty

Different tones:

hsab ngas clean hsangd dangl in case

kak liax magpie

c. Non-alliterative and vowel rhyme. Example:

ak wol crow bil hsaid nearly; almost

ghob yenl chair

d. Reiterative syllable. Example:

gid gid slowly seix seix together

nangl nangl still xangd xangd occasionally

Compound word

1) Coordinating

a. Noun morpheme compound with noun morpheme. Example:

hveb hseid language haxub khat relative

nangx bit name niangx hniut age

b. Verb morpheme compound with verb morpheme. Example:

cub nul rebuke tid xongt construct

khab job lesson

c. Adjective morpheme compound with adjective morpheme. Example:

ghongl jangl bend khed hxat poverty

2) Modifying

a. Noun morpheme modifying noun morpheme. Example:

det diangx candle det diux key

eb mais tears gad wangx corn

b. Adjective morpheme modifying noun morpheme. Example:

bad yut uncle mais lul aunt

3) Dominating

a. Verb morpheme dominating noun morpheme. Example:

dlangd wangb dress up qet ves rest

b. Adjective morpheme dominating noun morpheme. Example:

dad hvib patience hvent ves pleasantly cool

mais bil proficiency mais ves tired

4) Affixes

Mostly are prefixes, and commonly used prefixes are ghab-, diub-, hangd-, gid-, jib-, daib-, bod-, xuk-, and so on. Ghab- is the most commonly used.

a. Ghab- means human or animal body and part, plant part and things related to plants, natural objects, things related to buildings, utensils and abstract objectives. Example:

ghab jid body ghab naix ear

ghab ghaib root ghab nex leaf

ghab qangb living room ghab sot kicken

ghab dliux soul ghabnangs destiny

b. Diub- means location. Example:

diub senx provincial capital dioub ghaib on the street

diub zaid at home

c. Hangd-/khangd- means aspect and direction. Example:

hangd nongx hangd nangl aspect of eating and wearing

hangd nongd here hangd momgx there

hangd deis where

d. Gid- means aspect and direction. Example:

gid waix above gid dab below

gid gux outside gid niangs inside

e. Jib- means person. Example:

jib daib child jib hlangb grandchild

jib bad man

f. Daib- means person and some kinship terminology. Example:

daib pik girl daib jangs man, boy, husband

daib nenl uncle

g. Bod- means round object. Example:

bod vib stone bod ghof jus knee

bod liul fist

h. Xuk- means uncertain quantity.

xuk laix a handful of

The syntax of Hmong languages, regardless of the type of part of speech or phrase and the division of constituents of the sentence and the sentence types, are basically the same.[11] The basic word order of Hmong is SVO. Within the noun phrase, possessors precede possessed nouns, and adjectives and relative clauses follow the nouns they modify. Noun phrases have the form as (possessive) + (quantifier) + (classifier) + noun + (adjective) + (demonstrative).[12] As in Chinese, question formation does not involve word order change. For wh- questions, the wh- word does not occupy a sentence-initial position in Hmong as in many other languages. (e.g. the English sentence ‘What are you doing?’ would be rendered ‘you do what’ in Hmong)[9]