CONTENTS INTRODUCTION........................................................ 7 Hill Tribes of SE Asia Map .......8 Vietnam & Laos .......................10 Local Names of the Five Myanmar (Burma) ................. 10 Largest Groups ...................9 Thailand .................................... 10 China .............................................9 The Languages .......................14 LAHU ...................................................................... 17 Culture, Subgroups Sounds....................................... 21 & Locations ........................17 The Language .........................24 Lahu Language Map ............ 18 Words & Phrases .................... 26 AKHA ...................................................................... 41 Culture, Subgroups Sounds....................................... 50 & Locations ........................41 The Language .........................52 Akha Language Map ............ 42 Words & Phrases .................... 55 LISU ........................................................................ 75 Culture & Locations .............. 75 The Language .........................81 Lisu Language Map .............. 76 Words & Phrases .................... 84 Sounds....................................... 79 MONG ..................................................................... 99 Culture, Subgroups Sounds.....................................104 & Locations ........................99 The Language .......................108 Mong Language Map.........100 Words & Phrases ..................111 CONTENTS MIEN ..................................................................... 127 Culture .....................................127 The Language .......................134 Mien Language Map ..........128 Words & Phrases ..................136 Sounds.....................................132 5 00bb-contents-pb-hil4.indd-contents-pb-hil4.indd 5 330-Jan-190-Jan-19 33:34:51:34:51 PM Contents OTHER GROUPS ....................................................151 Karen ........................................151 Other Hill Tribes ...................159 Karen Language Map .........152 Other Hill Tribes Language Mon-Khmer Groups ............158 Map ....................................160 INDEX ................................................................... 163 CONTENTS 6 00bb-contents-pb-hil4.indd-contents-pb-hil4.indd 6 330-Jan-190-Jan-19 33:35:06:35:06 PM INTRODUCTION Almost everyone in Thailand speaks Thai. However, there are several extremely interesting and frequently visited groups in the north of the country who have their own languages and speak Thai much less well. These groups are sometimes called ‘hill tribes’ in Thailand. The same groups, speaking the same languages, also live nearby in Myanmar (Burma), Laos, southwestern China and parts of northern Vietnam. In these other countries the general term for these groups is ‘national minorities’, ‘ethnic minorities’, or ‘ethnic groups’. In Thailand the hill tribes have a population of around 800,000 or under 2% of the total; in Laos and Myanmar the minorities are nearly half of the total, about a sixth in Vietnam, and nearly a tenth in China overall, but closer to a third in south- western provinces such as Yunnan. So there are far more people from these groups outside Thailand than in it; most of those in Thailand have arrived there in the last century or two from China via Laos or Myanmar. You’ll thus fi nd that this book is useful when you want to speak with the same group in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam or China. There are local diff erences in speech, just as there are in English or Thai, but they usually don’t stop everyday conversation. For more modern topics, these languages borrow new words from the local national language. So words like ‘train’ or ‘airplane’ may be borrowed from Thai in Thailand, from Burmese in Myanmar, from Lao in Laos, from Vietnamese in Vietnam, and from Chinese in China. If you know the word for something in the national language where you are, you can try to use it in the middle of a sentence in one of these languages and you’ll INTRODUCTION probably be understood. This book has sections on the languages of fi ve of the largest such groups. The fi rst three are Lahu, Akha and Lisu, three closely related languages which are more distantly connected with Burmese. The other two languages here are Mong and Mien, formerly known as Meo and Yao. These two languages are fairly close to each other but quite diff erent from the languages around them. 7 01--intro-pb-hil4.inddintro-pb-hil4.indd 7 330-Jan-190-Jan-19 33:36:58:36:58 PM Hill Tribes of South-East Asia Hill Tribes of Southeast Asia C H I N A 0 400 km 0 200 mi Kunming Guangzhou V I E T N A M M Y A N M A R HANOI NAYPYIDAW L A O S Hainan Chiang Rai Chiang Mai VIENTIANE YANGON T H A I L A N D SOUTH CHINA BANGKOK SEA C A M B O D I A PHNOM PENH INTRODUCTION Hill Tribes 8 01--intro-pb-hil4.inddintro-pb-hil4.indd 8 330-Jan-190-Jan-19 33:37:01:37:01 PM Local Names LOCAL NAMES OF THE FIVE LARGEST GROUPS There is a great deal of diversity in the names used for these fi ve groups. The most usual ones are shown in the table below. Thailand Laos Myanmar Vietnam China Lahu Musur Musur Muhso Cosung Lahu Akha Ikaw Kaw Kaw Hanhi Hani Lisu Lisaw Lishaw Lisu Mong Maew Maew Myaung Hmong Miao Mien Yao Yao Yaung Dao Yao Some Mong in Thailand, most Mong in Laos and refugees from Laos in western countries pronounce their own name as Hmong instead. The Vietnamese name written ‘Dao’ is actually pronounced Zao. There are also other names used for local subgroups within these fi ve groups, especially in China which has the largest number and diversity. There are also some older Chinese names for some of these groups which are now regarded as insulting. Indeed, many of the refugees in western countries regard anything but their own name for themselves as inappropriate. These fi ve groups account for nearly half the total hill tribe population in Thailand and a much higher proportion in the north of the country. Overall there are about 15 million people world- wide who speak these fi ve languages, including over 300,000 in Thailand and fi ve million elsewhere who speak exactly the dialects given here; most of the other 10 million would understand them INTRODUCTION because they are the major dialects of each language. CHINA In China, the Mong are included in the Miao national minority, which at the 2010 census was the fi fth largest such group in China. The Mien are part of the Yao nationality which is the 12th largest national minority in China and includes other groups 9 01--intro-pb-hil4.inddintro-pb-hil4.indd 9 330-Jan-190-Jan-19 33:37:02:37:02 PM Vietnam & Laos such as the Bunu and the Lajia. The Akha are part of China’s Hani nationality, the 15th in size. The Lisu are 20th in China and the Lahu are 23rd. China has 55 other national minorities and the Han Chinese majority. VIETNAM & LAOS In Vietnam there are the Kinh or Viet majority and 53 minorities, of which the Mong were sixth in the 2009 census, the Mien were ninth, the Akha/Hanhi were 33rd, and the Lahu/Cosung were 39th. Laos officially lists 46 minority ethnic groups, of which the Mong are third largest, the Akha are ninth, the Mien are 16th, and the Lahu are 23rd. There are no Lisu in Vietnam or Laos. MYANMAR (BURMA) Myanmar sometimes quotes 135 as the number of ethnic groups, but there are no reliable census statistics available. The last census was in 2014. The previous census in 1983 was based on police registration records, and didn’t even attempt to count much of the mountainous area where most minority groups live. The Lahu, Akha and Lisu are all substantial groups there, but the Mong and Mien are fewer. The 2014 census included these groups but was beset by other problems. Current populations for the fi ve groups are given at the beginning of each chapter. THAILAND The other main hill tribe of Thailand is the Karen; divided into two main groups, Sgaw in the north and Pho along the western border. Most of the many Karen in Thailand are long-established residents and speak Thai fairly well; hence their two languages are less necessary for travellers and are only briefl y discussed INTRODUCTION here. The Karen of Myanmar speak a much greater variety of languages. The two largest groups there are the southernmost 10 01--intro-pb-hil4.inddintro-pb-hil4.indd 1100 330-Jan-190-Jan-19 33:37:02:37:02 PM.