Younuo language


Younuo is a divergent Hmongic language spoken in Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, Guangxi, China. Mao reports a total of approximately 4,000 speakers.

Classification

The classification of Younuo within Hmongic is uncertain, although it may be more closely related to Pa-Hng or She. According to Mao, Younuo is most closely related to Pa-Hng, and forms a branch with it. However, Hsiu's computational phylogenetic study classifies Younuo as more closely related to She, Jiongnai, and Pana. Li also treats Younuo as closely related to She, Jiongnai, and Pana.

Demographics

Like Pa-Hng speakers, the Younuo are also called "Red Yao" 红瑶, which can refer to various Yao groups speaking different languages. Younuo speakers are also called Shanhua Red Yao 山话红瑶, and number about 4,600 people. Their neighbors, the Pinghua Red Yao 平话红瑶, speak a Pinghua dialect related to the Chinese varieties of Guibei Pinghua 桂北平话 and Shaozhou Tuhua, and number just over 10,000 people.

Distribution

Younuo is spoken in Heping township, Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, Guangxi, China, in the villages of Liutian 柳田, Jinjiang 金江, Xinlu 新禄, Jinkeng 金坑, and a few others. The Red Yao of Longsheng County are also distributed in Sishui 泗水, Madi 马堤, and Jiangdi 江底 townships.

Phonology

The tables below present the vowels and consonant phonemes of Younuo as spoken in Xiaozhai.

Vowels

Diphthongs

Younuo has relatively few diphthongs. These are:,,,,, and.
In addition to vowels and diphthongs, other possible syllable codas are and.

Consonants

Tones

Younuo is a tonal language with eight tones.
TonePitch ValueExampleTranslation
133water
213sky
322ashes
422——
535star
631bird
753terraced field
831——