User:Pufferfish12/Kim Mun language

Kim Mun language (金门方言) is a Mienic language spoken by 200,000 of the Yao people in the provinces of Guangxi, Hunan, Yunnan, and Hainan, with about 61,000 of the speakers in Hainan Province (figures as per Ethnologue, 25th Edition). There are also speakers who have crossed the borders into northern Laos and Vietnam. Kim Mun is very similar to Iu Mien, and they have a lexical similarity percentage of 78%.

The Kim Mun language is closely tied to the Daoist religion and the written Chinese language.

There are multiple dialects which differ in tone and phonology, such as the Houei Sai dialect spoken in Laos and the Hainan dialect in China.

Distribution
In China, Kim Mun is spoken in the following counties (Mao 2004:304-305).


 * Yunnan: Hekou, Malipo, Maguan, Xichou, Qiubei, Guangnan, Funing, Yanshan, Shizong, Jiangcheng, Mojiang, Yuanyang, Jinping, Lüchun, Mengla, Jinghong
 * Guangxi: Xilin, Lingyun, Napo, Tianlin, Fengshan, Bama, Lipu, Pingle, Mengshan, Jinxiu, Yongfu, Luzhai, Fangcheng, Shangsi
 * Hainan: Qiongzhong, Baoting, Qionghai, Tunchang, Ledong, Wanning, Yaxian

In Vietnam, Kim Mun is spoken in the following provinces: Bac Giang, Dak Nong, Dien Bien, Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Quang Ninh, Tuyen Quang, and Yen Bai provinces. Dao people in Vietnam belonging to the Quần Trắng, Thanh Y, and Áo Dài subgroups speak Kim Mun.

In Laos, Kim Mun is spoken in the Luang Namtha, Oudomxay, Bokeo, and Phongsaly provinces. The language can also be referred to as Lanten (from Chinese "indigo" 蓝靛, because of their association with indigo-dyed clothing and indigo market) or Lao Houay. In the Luang Namtha province, highland Kim Mun is differentiated from lowland Kim Mun.

History
During the Ming Dynasty, the Kim Mun language was primarily spoken in southern China in the Hunan province, where political and socioeconomic boundaries created the separation of the Yao people. The language became strongly tied to Daoism and religious texts, and it has been strongly influenced by language contact with Chinese. In the mid-19th century, Kim Mun speakers moved south of China to Laos and Vietnam to escape the tense political and social climate and find fertile land. In Laos, they became known as the Lanten (from Chinese word "indigo" 蓝靛). In the Luang Namtha province of Laos, people were often bilingual in Lanten and Bit (a language in the Mon-Khmer family) because of close proximity and trade. They were also able to use Tai Lue as a lingua franca.

Written Language
There are records of a letter written from the Kim Mun people in Luang Namtha, Laos to the Kim Mun people in Lao Cai, Vietnam. It described their culture and practices to the community in Lao Cai in an effort to reconnect. It was written using Chinese characters.

Dialects
There are many dialects of the Kim Mun language, which differ in both tone and phonology.

Houei Sai dialect
Through the speech of a man from the Houei Sai District in the Houa Khong province of Laos, David Strecker analyzed the tones of the Houei Sai dialect of Kim Mun and found two tone inventories. One tone inventory applied for sonorant-final syllables, while the other applied for stop-final syllables. Note: Allophone 1a corresponds to syllables ending with a nasal or diphthong, while both allophones 1b could corresponds more often to syllables ending with a monophthong.

Hainan dialect
The Kim Mun language is thought to have recently spread to Hainan, because of consonants uncommon to the Mienic languages. It contains the preglottalized stops /ʔb/ and /ʔd/, which is an areal feature of the languages in Hainan. These consonants took the place of the voiceless consonants /p/ and /t/, while the voiced consonants /b/ and /d/ remained.

An example of the shift is seen in the comparison of vocabulary words below, taken from the Kim Mun language in Hainan and the Kim Mun language dictionary compiled by F.M. Savina in 1926: