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Hmong-Mien languages



         


The Hmong-Mien languages are a language family of southern China and Southeast Asia. The 32 languages in the family are spoken in mountainous areas of southern China, including Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi and Hubei provinces, as well as in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. As a result of the Indochinese wars, many Hmong-Mien speakers left Southeast Asia for Australia, the United States, and other countries.

Earlier linguistic classifications grouped the Hmong-Mien languages into the Sino-Tibetan language family, but the current consensus among most linguists is that they constitute a separate family. The family, like the Tai-Kadai languages, may have its origins in southern China. Some have conjectured that the Hmong-Mien languages are part of the Austric superfamily.

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Hmong-Mien languages (32 languages)





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