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{{Short description|Romanization system for Hmong languages}}
The '''Romanized Popular Alphabet''' ('''RPA''') or '''Hmong RPA''' (also '''Roman Popular Alphabet'''), is a system of [[romanization]] for the various dialects of the [[Hmong language]]. Created in Laos between 1951 and 1953 by a group of missionaries and [[Hmong people|Hmong]] advisers, it has gone on to become the most widespread system for writing the Hmong language in the West. It is also used in Southeast Asia and China alongside other writing systems, most notably [[Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong]] and [[Pahawh Hmong]].<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Smalley|Vang|Yang|1990|pp=151–154}}</ref>
 
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==Orthography==
The alphabet was developed to write both the Hmong Der (White Hmong, RPA: ''Hmoob Dawb'') and Mong Leng (Green/Blue Mong, RPA: ''Moob Leeg'') dialects. While these dialects have much in common, each has unique sounds. Consonants and vowels found only in <span style="background:#EEE8AA">HmongWhite DerHmong</span> (denoted with †) or <span style="background:#CAFF70">Green Mong</span> (denoted with ⁂) are color-coded respectively.<ref>
 
Phonology adapted from: {{Harvcoltxt|Golston|Yang|2001}} and {{Harvcoltxt|Smalley|Vang|Yang|1990|pp=48–51}}. See also: Mortensen, David. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060906061745/http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~dmort/mong_leng_phonology.pdf "Preliminaries to Mong Leng (Hmong Njua) Phonology"] ([https://www.webcitation.org/6GOueLaJm?url=http://web.archive.org/web/20060906061745/http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~dmort/mong_leng_phonology.pdf Archive]) Unpublished, [[UC Berkeley]]. 2004.</ref> Some writers make use of variant spellings. Much as with Tosk for [[Albanian language|Albanian]], HmongWhite DerHmong was arbitrarily chosen to be the "standard" variant.
 
===Consonants and vowels===
{| class="wikitable"
|+Occlusive consonants in the Romanized Popular Alphabet
|-
!rowspan="2"| Occlusives||colspan="4"|Nasals||colspan="9"|Stops||rowspan="2" |<br>l||colspan="2"|Affricates
|-
!scope="col"|ny
!ny !!n !! m!! ml!! p!! pl !!t !!style="background:#EEE8AA"|d !! style="background:#CAFF70"|dl!! r !!c !!k !!q !! tx !!ts
!scope="col"|n
!scope="col"| m
!scope="col"| ml
!scope="col"| p
!scope="col"| pl
!scope="col"|t
!scope="col" style="background:#EEE8AA"|d†
!scope="col" style="background:#CAFF70"|dl⁂
!scope="col"| r
!scope="col"|c
!scope="col"|k
!scope="col"|q
!scope="col"| tx
!scope="col"|ts
|-
| align=center | Unmodified || align=center | {{IPA|/ɲ/}} ||align=center | {{IPA|/n/}} || align=center | {{IPA|/m/}}|| align=center| {{IPA|/mˡ/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/p/}}|| align=center| {{IPA|/pˡ/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/t/}}|| style="background:#EEE8AA" align=center | {{IPA|/d/}}|| style="background:#CAFF70" align=center| {{IPA|/tˡ/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/ʈ/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/c/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/k/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/q/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/l/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/ts/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/ʈʂ/}}
|-
| align=center | Preceding {{angbr|n}}|| style="background:#808080"| &nbsp;||style="background:#808080"| &nbsp;|| style="background:#808080"| &nbsp;|| style="background:#808080"| &nbsp;|| align=center | '''np''' <br> {{IPA|/ᵐb/}}|| align=center| '''npl''' <br> {{IPA|/ᵐbˡ/}}|| align=center | '''nt''' <br> {{IPA|/ⁿd/}}||style="background:#808080"| &nbsp;|| style="background:#CAFF70" align=center| '''ndl''' <br> {{IPA|/ⁿdˡ/}}|| align=center | '''nr''' <br> {{IPA|/ᶯɖ/}}|| align=center | '''nc''' <br> {{IPA|/ᶮɟ/}}|| align=center | '''nk''' <br> {{IPA|/ᵑɡ/}}|| align=center | '''nq''' <br> {{IPA|/ᶰɢ/}}|| style="background:#808080"| &nbsp;|| align=center | '''ntx''' <br> {{IPA|/ⁿdz/}}|| align=center | '''nts''' <br> {{IPA|/ᶯɖʐ/}}
|-
| align=center | Preceding/Following {{angbr|h}}|| style="background:#EEE8AA" align=center | '''hny''' <br> {{IPA|/ɲ̥/}}|| style="background:#EEE8AA" align=center | '''hn''' <br> {{IPA|/n̥/}}|| style="background:#EEE8AA" align=center | '''hm''' <br> {{IPA|/m̥/}}|| style="background:#EEE8AA" align=center| '''hml''' <br>{{IPA|/m̥<sup>ɬ</sup>/}}||align=center | '''ph''' <br> {{IPA|/pʰ/}}|| align=center| '''plh''' <br> {{IPA|/p<sup>ɬ</sup>/}}|| align=center | '''th'''<br> {{IPA|/tʰ/}}|| style="background:#EEE8AA" align=center | '''dh''' <br> {{IPA|/dʱ/}}|| style="background:#CAFF70" align=center| '''dlh''' <br> {{IPA|/t<sup>ɬ</sup>/}}|| align=center | '''rh'''<br> {{IPA|/ʈʰ/}}|| align=center | '''ch''' <br> {{IPA|/cʰ/}}|| align=center | '''kh''' <br> {{IPA|/kʰ/}}|| align=center | '''qh''' <br> {{IPA|/qʰ/}}|| align=center | '''hl''' <br> {{IPA|/ɬ/}}|| align=center | '''txh''' <br> {{IPA|/tsʰ/}}|| align=center | '''tsh''' <br> {{IPA|/ʈʂʰ/}}
|-
| align=center | {{angbr|n}} and {{angbr|h}} || style="background:#808080"| &nbsp;||style="background:#808080"| &nbsp;|| style="background:#808080"| &nbsp;|| style="background:#808080"| &nbsp;|| align=center | '''nph''' <br> {{IPA|/ᵐbʱᵐpʰ/}}|| align=center| '''nplh''' <br> {{IPA|/ᵐbᵐp<sup>ɮɬ</sup>/}}|| align=center | '''nth''' <br> {{IPA|/ⁿdʱⁿtʰ/}}|| style="background:#808080"| &nbsp;|| style="background:#CAFF70" align=center| '''ndlh''' <br> {{IPA|/ⁿdⁿt<sup>ɮɬ</sup>/}}|| align=center | '''nrh''' <br> {{IPA|/ᶯɖʱᶯʈʰ/}}|| align=center | '''nch''' <br> {{IPA|/ᶮɟʱᶮcʰ/}}|| align=center | '''nkh''' <br> {{IPA|/ᵑɡʱᵑkʰ/}}|| align=center | '''nqh''' <br> {{IPA|/ᶰɢʱᶰqʰ/}}|| style="background:#808080"| &nbsp;|| align=center | '''ntxh''' <br> {{IPA|/ⁿdzʱⁿtsʰ/}}|| align=center | '''ntsh''' <br> {{IPA|/ᶯɖʐʱᶯʈʂʰ/}}
|}
*The [[glottal stop]] is not indicated in the orthography. The few truly vowel-initial words are indicated by an [[apostrophe]], which thus acts as a [[zero consonant]].
 
{| class="wikitable"
|+Fricative consonants in the Romanized Popular Alphabet
!rowspan="2"|Fricatives||colspan="2"|Labial||colspan="3"|Coronal||colspan="2"|Dorsal||colspan="1"|Glottal
|-
!scope="col"| f
! f !! v !! x !! s !! z !! y !! xy !! h
!scope="col"| v
!scope="col"| x
!scope="col"| s
!scope="col"| z
!scope="col"| xy
!scope="col"| y
!scope="col"| h
|-
| align=center | || align=center | {{IPA|/f/}} || align=center | {{IPA|/v/}} || align=center | {{IPA|/s/}} || align=center | {{IPA|/ʂ/}} || align=center | {{IPA|/ʐ/}} || align=center | {{IPA|/ʝç/}} || align=center | {{IPA|/çʝ/}} || align=center | {{IPA|/h/}}
|}
 
{| class="wikitable"
|+Vowels in the Romanized Popular Alphabet
|-
! rowspan="2"|Vowels!! colspan="6" | Monophthongs!! colspan="3" |Nasalized!! colspan="5" |Diphthongs
|-
!scope="col"| i
! i !!e !! a!! o !!u !!w !! ee !!style="background:#CAFF70"|aa !!oo !!ai !! aw !!au !!style="background:#EEE8AA"|ia!! ua
!scope="col"|e
!scope="col"| a
!scope="col"| o
!scope="col"|u
!scope="col"|w
!scope="col"| ee
!scope="col" style="background:#CAFF70"|aa⁂
!scope="col"|oo
!scope="col"|ai
!scope="col"| aw
!scope="col"|au
!scope="col" style="background:#EEE8AA"|ia†
!scope="col"| ua
|-
| align=center | || align=center | {{IPA|/i/}} ||align=center | {{IPA|/e/}} || align=center | {{IPA|/a/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/ɔ/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/u/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/ɨ/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/ẽ/}}|| style="background:#CAFF70" align=center | {{IPA|/ã/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/ɔ̃/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/ai/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/aɨ/}}|| align=center | {{IPA|/au/}} || style="background:#EEE8AA" align=center | {{IPA|/iə/}} || align=center | {{IPA|/uə/}}
|}
 
===Tones===
RPA indicates tone by letters written at the end of a syllable,<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Clark|2000|p=47}}</ref> likesimilarly to [[Gwoyeu Romatzyh]] or [[Standard Zhuang|Zhuang]], rather than with diacritics like those used in the [[Vietnamese alphabet]] or [[Pinyin]]. Unlike Vietnamese and Chinese, all Hmong syllables end in a vowel, which means that using consonant letters to indicate tone will be neither confusing nor ambiguous.
 
{|class="wikitable"
|+Tone representation in Romanized Popular Alphabet
! Tone
!scope="col"| Tone
!scope="col"| Example<ref>Examples taken from: Heimbach, Ernest H. White Hmong-English Dictionary [White Meo-English Dictionary]. 2003 ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications, 1969. Note that many of these words have multiple meanings.</ref>
!scope="col"| Orthographic Spelling
|-
|scope="row"| High
| {{IPA|/pɔ́/}} 'ball'
|align=center| ''po'''b'''''
|-
|scope="row"| Mid
| {{IPA|/pɔ/}} 'spleen'
|align=center| ''po''
|-
|scope="row"| Low
| {{IPA|/pɔ̀/}} 'thorn'
|align=center| ''po'''s'''''
|-
|scope="row"| High falling
| {{IPA|/pɔ̂/}} 'female'
|align=center| ''po'''j'''''
|-
|scope="row"| Mid rising
| {{IPA|/pɔ̌/}} 'to throw'
|align=center| ''po'''v'''''
|-
|scope="row"| [[creaky voice|Creaky]]
| {{IPA|/pɔ̰/}} 'to see'
|align=center| ''po'''m'''''<{{sup>|1</sup>}}
|-
|scope="row"| Low falling [[breathy voice|breathy]]
| {{IPA|/pɔ̤/}} 'grandmother'
|align=center| ''po'''g'''''
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|year=2000
|title=Diexis and anaphora and prelinguistic universals
|journalseries=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications
|volume=29
|issue=Grammatical analysis: Morphology, Syntax, and Semantics
Line 101 ⟶ 140:
}}
*{{citation
|lastlast1=Golston
|firstfirst1=Chris
|last2=Yang
|first2=Phong
|year=2001
|chapter=Hmong loanword phonology
|chapter-url=http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~chrisg/index_files/Golston&Yang.pdf
|title=Proceedings of HILP 5
|editor-last=Féry
Line 140 ⟶ 179:
*[http://www.moob.org/ Mong Literacy] – includes lessons on writing Mong Leng with RPA
*http://www.hmongrpa.org/
*[http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-sc-zq Father Yves Bertrais papers, 1950-2007]
 
[[Category:Phonetic alphabets]]
Line 145 ⟶ 185:
[[Category:Romanization]]
[[Category:West Hmongic languages]]
[[Category:Writing systems introduced in the 1950s]]