Abstract:
The Hmong language was identified as an oral tradition in which the older
generations orally taught values, morals, and ritual rites to the younger generations for
thousands of years dated back to 2,500 B.C. in China. About 6 decades ago, a group of
French-American missionaries and a linguist developed a writing system for the Hmong
in Laos in 1950. It was identified as the Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA script). The
RPA script became the literacy for the Hmong.
For the Hmong language, the RPA script is divided into three groups: consonants,
vowels, and tone markers. The consonants are further categorized into four groups
such as 18 single consonants, 22 double consonants, 14 triple consonants, and 3 quadruple
consonants. There are a total of 57 Hmong consonants, 13 vowels, 6 mono-vowels,
and 7 bi-vowels. There are eight tone markers that indicated the high, middle, and low
pitch in each word that is spoken.
These are the important elements of the Hmong literacy. Once a student has
mastered the pronunciation of these individual letters she or he would be able to paste the
letters to make words. The words could be formed into sentences. This researcher noticed
the alphabet to be a problem for the Hmong American students because English and
Hmong rely on the same alphabets, but different a phonetic guide. It is frustrating for
many beginning Hmong American students when they first attempt to learn the language.
