Na Meo audio word list

Na Meo of Tuyen Quang

•    Location: Khuân Hẻ, Kim Quan commune, Tuyên Quang province, Việt Nam
•    80 households in the village, all Na Meo
•    Autonym: na⁵⁵mjau³⁵ɬa⁵³ = na⁵⁵ ‘human being’; mjau ‘Miao’; ɬa⁵³ ‘black’
•    Informant: Sầm Thị Niềm (female; born 1972)
•    Date of data collection: January 28, 2014
•    WAV audio recordings made of approximately 300 lexical items

Kim Quan commune is highly ethnically diverse and has Flowery Hmong, White Hmong, Nung, Dao, and Black Hmong (“Na Meo”) residents. Flowery Hmong and White are mutually intelligible dialects belonging to the Chuanqiandian subgroup of West Hmongic, while Nùng (also called “Tày Nùng”) is Central Tai, corresponding to “Zhuang” in southern Guangxi and southern Yunnan.  The local Dao (Yao), also known as the “Dao Kóc Mùn”, speak a Mienic language.

The Na Meo are known locally by other ethnic groups as the “Mông Đen”, or “Black Hmong”. In Tuyên Quang province, it is spoken only in the single village of Khuân Hẻ, Kim Quan commune, Yên Sơn district, which is nearly 50 kilometers to the east of Tuyên Quang city.

My informant Sầm Thị Niềm, a 41-year-old woman born in Khuân Hẻ, was multilingual in Na Meo, “Tày Nùng” (Central Tai), and Vietnamese.

The locals are aware of the existence of other Na Meo speakers in Cao Minh commune, Lang Son province, and report that Na Meo of Cao Minh is mutually intelligible with Na Meo of Khuân Hẻ.