Pa-Hng has long been recognized as divergent. Benedict (1986) argued that one of its dialects constituted a separate branch of the Miao–Yao family. Ratliff found it to be the most divergent Hmongic (Miao) language that she analyzed.[2] This Bahengic branch also includes Younuo (Yuno) and Wunai (Hm Nai).[3]
Pa-Hng speakers are called by the following names:[3]
pa31ŋ̥ŋ35 (巴哼)
m̥m35nai33 (唔奈)
Red Yao (红瑶)
Flowery Yao (花瑶)
Eight Surname Yao (八姓瑶)
InLiping County, Guizhou, the Dong people call the Pa-Hng ka31jiu33 (嘎优), while the Miao people call them ta55tia52ju33 (大达优).[4]InTongdao County, Hunan, the Pa-Hng (xeŋ33) are also known as the Seven Surname Yao 七姓瑶, since they have the seven surnames of Shen 沈, Lan 兰, Dai 戴, Deng 邓, Ding 丁, Pu 蒲, and Feng 奉.[5]
In China, Pa-Hng speakers are classified as Yao, even though their language is Hmongic rather than Mienic.
The Na-e dialect (also known by the Vietnamese rendition of Pa-Hng, Pà Then [Pateng]), is a geographic outlier. Paul Benedict (1986) argued that it is not actually Pa-Hng, or even Hmongic, but a separate branch of the Miao–Yao language family.[6] However, Strecker (1987) responded that it does appear to be a Pa-Hng dialect, though it has some peculiarities, and that Pa-Hng as a whole is divergent.[7]
Tongdao County, Huaihua (Hm-Nai speakers): 1,779 people (2000), in Chuansu Township 传素瑶族乡 and Linkou Township 临口镇 (in Shangdong 上洞村 and Xiadong 下洞村 villages).[5] Highly endangered status.[9]
Pa-Hng is also spoken in small pockets of northern Vietnam. In Vietnam, the Pa-Hng are an officially recognized ethnic group numbering around a few thousand people, where they are called Pà Thẻn. Na-e as reported by Bonifacy (1905) is also found in northern Vietnam.
According to Vu,[13] the ancestors of the Pà Thẻn had first migrated from Guangxi to Hải Ninh (now Quảng Ninh Province), and then from Hải Ninh to the Thái Nguyên area. The Pà Thẻn then split off to settle in three main areas.
^Ratliff, Martha (2010). Hmong–Mien language history. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Australian National University. hdl:1885/146760. ISBN978-0-85883-615-0.
^Niederer, Barbara (2004). "Pa-hng and the classification of the Hmong-Mien languages". In Tapp, N.; Michaud, J.; Culas, C.; Lee, G. Yai (eds.). Hmong/Miao in Asia. Bangkok: Silkworm Books. pp. 129–146.
^ abEdmondson, J. A.; Gregerson, K. J. (2001). Adams, K. L.; Hudak, T. J. (eds.). "Four Languages of the Vietnam-China Borderlands". Papers from the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society. Tempe: Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies: 101–133.
^Vũ, Quốc Khánh (2013). Người Pà Thẻn ở Việt Nam [The Pa Then in Vietnam]. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản thông tấn. pp. 12–15.
