Hmong-Mien, also called Miao-Yao, is a language family of southern China and northern Southeast Asia comprising two branches, the Hmongic (Miao) languages and the Mienic (Yao) languages. Speakers of its constituent languages, most prominently Hmong, are found across China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, with additional diaspora communities in the United States following emigration after the Vietnam War.
Facts
Partially Attested
Proto-Language StatusThe date of Proto-Hmong-Mien has been estimated at about 2500 years before present by Sagart, Blench and Sanchez-Mazas, and at about 4243 years before present by the Automated Similarity Judgment Program; the two estimates disagree substantially 1 Confirmed: two independent date estimates for Proto-Hmong-Mien exist (about 2500 BP and about 4243 BP). Open: which estimate is more reliable, and a fuller phonological reconstruction, are not settled in this source. RegionMountainous areas of southern China (Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hubei provinces) and northern Southeast Asia, including northern Vietnam and Laos 1 Sources
1. Wikipedia: Hmong-Mien Languages
WikipediaWikipedia, Hmong-Mien languages, introduction
They are spoken in mountainous areas of southern China, including Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hubei provinces.
Wikipedia, Hmong-Mien languages, section Homeland
The date of Proto-Hmong-Mien has been estimated to be about 2500 BP (500 BC) by Sagart, Blench, and Sanchez-Mazas using traditional methods employing many lines of evidence, and about 4243 BP (2250 BC) by the Automated Similarity Judgment Program (ASJP)
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