Sanqiao language

Sanqiao (Chinese: 三锹话/三橇话) is a Hmongic language spoken in Jinping County and Liping County, Guizhou, China by about 6,000 people.^[1]

Sanqiao
Native to	China
Region	Guizhou
Ethnicity	Miao
Native speakers	6,000 (2017)[1]
Language family	Hmong–Mien Hmongic East Hmongic Eastern Qiandong Miao Sanqiao
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	sanq1234

The Sanqiao people sing traditional songs using the Suantang language (酸汤话), a Sinitic language that is similar to New Xiang.^[1]

Classification

A study by Hsiu (2024) found that Sanqiao is an East Hmongic (Central Miao) language, belonging to the East Qiandong dialectal group.^[2]

Earlier demographic studies performed by non-linguists claimed that Sanqiao vocabulary is about 30–40% Miao (Hmu) and 40%-50% Dong (Kam), with the remainder consisting of Chinese words.^[1]

Sanqiao speakers can understand the local Dong and Miao dialects, but the Dong and Miao cannot understand the Sanqiao language.^[1]

Distribution

In Liping County and Jinping County, Guizhou, the Sanqiao live in just over 20 villages, with over 6,000 people (Yu 2017).^[1]

Sanqiao in a broader sense, however, is a grouping of about 30,000 people who speak unrelated languages, who are spread across Jingzhou, Huitong, Tongdao, and Suining counties of Hunan, and Liping, Jinping, and Tianzhu counties of Guizhou.^[1] In Hunan, they are also known as the Flowery Miao (花苗) or Flowery-Clothed Miao (花衣苗), while in Guizhou they are known as the Sanqiao people (三撬人).^[1]

The Sanqiao are distributed in the following locations of Qiandongnan Prefecture, Guizhou (Deng 2010).^[3] There are 22 villages in total.

• Liping County
  • Pingdi Township 平底乡, Shangchong District 尚重区: Cendun 岑趸, Wushan 乌山, Bijie 俾嗟, Yanpi 眼批, Dongweng 董翁, Guidou 归斗, Guiya 归雅, Wule 乌勒, Pingdi 平底, Wupeng 乌碰, Tangtu 塘途, Gaoliang 高练, Biyazhai 俾雅寨
  • Dajia Township 大稼乡: Cennuzhai 岑努寨
• Jinping County
  • Pinglüe 平略 and Qimeng 启蒙 townships: Zhaizao 寨早, Wendou 文斗, Shengli 胜利, Guben 固本, Xinming 新明, Dicha 地茶, Qimeng 启蒙, Yuhe 裕河