Younuo language

Younuo (also spelled Yuno, Chinese: 优诺语 yōunuò; autonym: ʑou13 nɔ13) is a divergent Hmongic language spoken in Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, Guangxi, China. Mao (2007:129) reports a total of approximately 4,000 speakers.

Younuo
Yuno
ʑou13 nɔ13
Native to	China
Region	Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, Guangxi, China
Native speakers	(9,700 cited 1995)[1]
Language family	Hmong–Mien Hmongic Bahengic or Sheic? Younuo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	buh
Glottolog	youn1235
ELP	Younuo Bunu

Classification

The classification of Younuo within Hmongic is uncertain, although it may be more closely related to Pa-Hng or She. According to Mao (2007), Younuo is most closely related to Pa-Hng, and forms a branch with it. However, Hsiu's (2015, 2018)^[2][3] computational phylogenetic study classifies Younuo as more closely related to She, Jiongnai, and Pana. Li (2018) also treats Younuo as closely related to She, Jiongnai, and Pana.^[4]

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 (Mao 2007).

Distribution

Younuo is spoken in Heping township (和平乡), Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, Guangxi, China, in the villages of Liutian 柳田 (including Xiaozhai 小寨), Jinjiang 金江, Xinlu 新禄, Jinkeng 金坑 (including Huangluo 黄落), and a few others (Mao 2007:129). 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 ^[5] and consonant phonemes ^[6] of Younuo as spoken in Xiaozhai (小寨).

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open	a		ɔ

Diphthongs

Younuo has relatively few diphthongs. These are: ei, ai, au, ui, iu, and ou. In addition to vowels and diphthongs, other possible syllable codas are n and ŋ.

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Alveolo-palatal	Dorsal		Glottal
			Central	Lateral		Palatal	Velar
Stops	Voiceless	p	t				k
	Aspirated	pʰ	tʰ				kʰ
	Palatalized Asp.	pʰʲ	tʰʲ				kʰʲ
	Palatalized	pʲ	tʲ				kʲ
Fricatives	Voiceless	f	s		ɕ			h
	Palatalized	fʲ
	Labialized							hʷ
	Voiced	v
	Palatalized	vʲ
Affricates	Voiceless		t͡s		t͡ɕ
Aspirated		t͡sʰ		t͡ɕʰ
Palatalized Asp.		t͡sʲʰ
Palatalized		t͡sʲ
Liquids	Voiced			l
Palatalized			lʲ
Voiceless			l̥
Palatalized			l̥ʲ
Nasals	Voiced	m	n		ȵ		ŋ
Palatalized	mʲ
Voiceless						ŋ̥

Tones

Younuo is a tonal language with eight tones.^[7]

Tone	Pitch Value	Example[8]	Translation
1	33	ŋ̩33	water
2	13	ŋɔ13	sky
3	22	tshɔ22	ashes
4	22	—	—
5	35	l̥in33tai35	star
6	31	noŋ31	bird
7	53	lin13khuŋ53	terraced field
8	31	—	—