ABSTRACT
Miáo 苗 languages comprise at least 40 mutually unintelligible languages and display a range of intriguing data sets. In phonology, Miáo languages exhibit one of the largest consonant inventories in the world apart from click-languages, also employing between six and eight distinctive tones. In morphology, Ahmao, a Western Miáo language, has developed classifier declinations that inflect each classifier in six forms. Demonstrative pronouns in the Miáo group reflect altitude and positional values, also including one form dedicated to mark the deictic feature of recognition. Dual personal pronouns in Hmu are distinguished from plural pronouns by a change in tone. In syntax, White Hmong adjectives restrict the reference of nouns in premodifier position but do not restrict reference in postmodifier position. Finally, Hmu utilizes a rare counterfactual conjunction.
