Huishui Miao

Huishui Miao, AKA Huishui Hmong, is a Miao language of China. It is named after Huishui County, Guizhou, though not all varieties are spoken there. The endonym is Mhong, though it shares this with Gejia and it is simply a variant spelling of Hmong. Raojia is closely related.

Huishui was given as a subgroup of Western Hmongic in Strecker (1987). Matisoff (2001) split it into four separate languages, and, conservatively, did not retain it as a group.

References

Huishui County

Huishui County (惠水县) is a county of Guizhou, China. It is under the administration of the Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture.

Coordinates: 26°07′59″N 106°39′25″E / 26.13306°N 106.65694°E / 26.13306; 106.65694

Miao

Miao may refer to:

See also

Pollard script

The Pollard script, also known as Pollard Miao (Chinese: 柏格理苗文 Bó Gélǐ Miao-wen) or Miao, is an abugida loosely based on the Latin alphabet and invented by Methodist missionary Sam Pollard. Pollard invented the script for use with A-Hmao, one of several Miao languages. The script underwent a series of revisions until 1936, when a translation of the New Testament was published using it. The introduction of Christian materials in the script that Pollard invented caused a great impact among the Miao. Part of the reason was that they had a legend about how their ancestors had possessed a script but lost it. According to the legend, the script would be brought back some day. When the script was introduced, many Miao came from far away to see and learn it.

Pollard credited the basic idea of the script to the Cree syllabics designed by James Evans in 1838–1841, “While working out the problem, we remembered the case of the syllabics used by a Methodist missionary among the Indians of North America, and resolved to do as he had done” (1919:174). He also gave credit to a Chinese pastor, “Stephen Lee assisted me very ably in this matter, and at last we arrived at a system” (1919:174). In listing the phrases he used to describe devising the script, there is clear indication of intellectual work, not revelation: “we looked about”, “resolved to attempt”, “adapting the system”, “solved our problem” (Pollard 1919:174,175).

Miao (Unicode block)

Miao is a Unicode block containing characters of the Pollard script, used for writing the Hmong Daw and A-Hmao languages.

References