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]
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.
^ abcdefghYu Dazhong [余达忠]. 2017. "Ethnic Interactions and the Formation of the Sanqiu People in the Borderland of Modern Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi Provinces [近代湘黔桂边区的族群互动和“三锹人”的形成]". In Journal of Guizhou Education University [贵州师范学院学报], Vol. 33, No. 1 (Jan 2017).
^Deng Gang 邓刚. 2010. "Sanqiaoren yu Qingshuijiang zhongxiayou de shandi kaifa — yi Qiandongnan Jinpingxian Cenwucun wei zhongxin de kaocha 三锹人与清水江中下游的山地开发—以黔东南锦屏县岑梧村为中心的考察." In Journal of Original Ecological National Culture 原生态民族文化学刊杂志, 2010, no. 2, vol. 1. http://www.xueshu.com/ystmzwhxk/201001/18021888.html
Yu Dazhong [余达忠]. 2017. "Ethnic Interactions and the Formation of the Sanqiu People in the Borderland of Modern Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi Provinces [近代湘黔桂边区的族群互动和“三锹人”的形成]". In Journal of Guizhou Education University [贵州师范学院学报], Vol. 33, No. 1 (Jan 2017).
