Internal Differences of the Sichuan-Yunnan-Guizhou Vernacular of the Western Miao Dialect
Of the three Miao dialects the western dialect is the most complicated.In-ternally it is divided into 8 vernaculars such as the Sichuan-Yunnan-Guizhou vernacular,the Northeastern Yunnan vernacular and the Guizhou vernacular.A proper understanding of the differences is conducive to a con-struction of ancient Miao pronunciation,an improvement of Miao writing sys-tem,and a standardization of Miao vocabulary and grammar.Taking the standard Western Miao pronunciation in Dananshan,Bijie Prefecture of Guizhou Province,this paper surveyed and compared 12 Miao language sites,finding differences do exist between them in pronunciation,vocabulary and grammar.Different divergence routes appear in pronunciation;seman-tic differences occur in vocabulary in addition to words;relatively tradition-al grammatical usages are kept in grammar in terms of lexical structure,word-formations,morphological marking,and ways of expression,and in some cases they tend to be assimilated into the Chinese language.