Pahawh Hmong (
RPA: Phaj hauj Hmoob ,
Pahawh: ; known also as ''Ntawv Pahawh, Ntawv Keeb, Ntawv Caub Fab, Ntawv Soob Lwj'') is an indigenous
semi-syllabic script
Script may refer to:
Writing systems
* Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire
* Script (styles of handwriting)
** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of ha ...
, invented in 1959 by
Shong Lue Yang, to write two
Hmong language
Hmong / Mong (; RPA: ''Hmoob,'' ; Nyiakeng Puachue: ; Pahawh: , ) is a dialect continuum of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmongic languages spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hainan, northern Vietnam, Thailand, ...
s, Hmong Daw ''(Hmoob Dawb'' White Miao) and Hmong Njua
AKA Hmong Leng ''(Moob Leeg'' Green Miao).
Terminology
The term ''Phaj hauj'' means "to unite," "to resist division," or "to have peace" in
Hmong.
Form
Pahawh is written from left to right. Each syllable is written with two letters, an
onset
Onset may refer to:
* Onset (audio), the beginning of a musical note or sound
* Onset, Massachusetts, village in the United States
**Onset Island (Massachusetts), a small island located at the western end of the Cape Cod Canal
* Interonset interva ...
''(la,'' an initial consonant or
consonant cluster
In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...
) and a
rime
Rime may refer to:
*Rime ice, ice that forms when water droplets in fog freeze to the outer surfaces of objects, such as trees
Rime is also an alternative spelling of "rhyme" as a noun:
*Syllable rime, term used in the study of phonology in ling ...
''(yu,'' a vowel,
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
, or vowel plus
final consonant). However, the order of these elements is rime-initial, the opposite of their spoken order. (That is, each syllable would seem to be written right to left, if it were transcribed literally into the Roman alphabet.) This is an indication that Shong conceived of the rimes as primary; Pahawh Hmong might therefore be thought of as a vowel-centered
abugida
An abugida (, from Ge'ez: ), sometimes known as alphasyllabary, neosyllabary or pseudo-alphabet, is a segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units; each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel no ...
. Tones and many onsets are distinguished by
diacritic
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...
s.
The onset ''k'' is not written, so that a rime letter (V) written by itself is read as ''kV.'' Nor is the rime ''au'' (on mid tone) written, so that an onset letter (C) written by itself is read ''Cau,'' except following a bare rime, as otherwise these could be read as a single syllable. The ''absence'' of an onset, however, is indicated with a
null-onset letter. Again, this is similar to an abugida, but with the roles of consonant and vowel reversed.
For an example of the positional variation, consider the phrase (in RPA orthography) ''kuv rau tshais rau koj noj'' "I serve you breakfast". Since the first word, ''kuv,'' starts with a ''k,'' it is written as the bare rime ''uv'' in Pahawh. The word ''rau,'' with mid-tone ''au'' as the rime, is normally written as a bare onset ''r,'' and indeed this is the case for the second instance in this sentence. However, since the first ''rau'' follows a bare rime, it cannot be written as a bare onset ''r,'' or the combination might be read as ''ruv'' rather than ''kuv rau.'' Therefore, the combination ''kuv rau'' is written ''uv rau'' rather than ''uv r,'' with the rime ''au'' made explicit (Smalley ''et al.'' 1990:58).
Pahawh has twenty onset letters to transcribe sixty phonemic onsets. This is accomplished with two diacritics, a dot and a tack, written above the onset. However, although there is some scattered similarity between the sounds of the resulting forms, there is no overall pattern to the system. For example, the letter for ''h'' with a dot is pronounced ''th,'' and with a tack is pronounced ''pl.'' The null consonant does not take diacritics in Hmong Daw, but does in Hmong Njua, for two onsets, ''ndl'' and ''ndlh,'' which only occur in Hmong Njua. (Similarly, Daw ''d'' and ''dh,'' which do not occur in Njua, are used for Njua ''dl'' and ''dlh,'' which do not occur in Daw.)
The rimes, in contrast, are over-specified. There are thirteen rime sounds, but twenty-six letters to represent them. One of each pair takes four of the eight
tones, while the other takes the other four tones. Diacritics (none, dot, macron, and trema) distinguish the tones that each rime letter may carry. One of the tones, written ''-d'' in RPA, is not phonemic but is a
prosodic unit
In linguistics, a prosodic unit, often called an intonation unit or intonational phrase, is a segment of speech that occurs with a single prosodic contour ( pitch and rhythm contour). The abbreviation IU is used and therefore the full form is o ...
-final
allophone
In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor ''phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in '' ...
of the