Pingtang Miao language

Pingtang Miao, named after Pingtang County (平塘 Píngtáng) in which it is spoken, is a group of Miao language varieties of China.

Pingtang Miao
Native to	China
Region	Guizhou
Native speakers	(24,000 cited 1995)[1]
Language family	Hmong–Mien Hmongic West Hmongic Pingtang Miao
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Linguist List	ping Pingtang
	dush Dushan
	lupi Luodian–Pingyan
	wanl Wangmo–Luodian
Glottolog	None

Classification

The four varieties of Pingtang were listed as unclassified branches of Chuanqiandian Miao (Western Hmongic) in Wang (1983).^[2] Li (2000) classified them together as one of eight branches of Western Hmongic,^[3] a position maintained in Wu and Yang (2010).^[4]

Varieties

According to Li, there are four varieties of Pingtang (2000):

• North (Strecker's Pingtang Miao), 11,000 speakers
• East (Strecker's Dushan Miao), 4,000 speakers
• South (Strecker's Luodian Pingyan Miao), 6,000 speakers
• West (Strecker's Wangmo–Luodian Miao a.k.a. Mhang), 3,000 speakers

These are at approximately the distance of the varieties of the other branches of West Hmongic, which Ethnologue assigned separate ISO codes.

Demographics

Below is a list of Miao dialects and their respective speaker populations and distributions from Li (2018),^[5] along with representative datapoints from Wang (1985).^[6]

Dialect	Speakers	Counties	Representative datapoint (Wang 1985)
North	10,000+	Pingtang	Shanglin village 上林村, Yuanjiatong Township 原甲桐乡, Pingtang County
East	4,000	Dushan	Caozhai 草寨, Xinmin Township 新民乡, Dushan County
South	6,000	Luodian, Pingtang, Nandan	Pingyan Township 平岩乡, Luodian County
West	3,000	Wangmo	Youmai Village 油迈村, Youmai Township 油迈乡, Wangmo County