Language and variety mixing in diasporic Hmong

Abstract

Laotian Hmong (Hmong-Mien, Laos), as spoken in the Anglophone diaspora, exhibits a “layered language” (Aikhenvald 2006) phenomenon. Specifically, Hmong exhib-its layers of historical influence in addition to its native Hmongic grammar and lexicon as a result of contact first with Sino-Tibetan languages, especially Chinese, followed by Lao and Thai, and most recently English. Furthermore, in the diaspora context, the traditional separation between Laotian White Hmong and Green Mong is showing signs of decline, with phenomena that suggest an early stage of merger of the two historical varieties in the migrant context (cf. Kerswill & Trudgill 2005). Altogether, the findings provide a special insight into how a new immigrant variety of a language with a long, varied history of contact begins to emerge in its early years, even while facing potential long-term shift into a national language.