Mienic languages


The Mienic or Yao languages are spoken by the Yao people of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
Some of the Yao peoples speak Hmongic languages ; these are called Bunu. A small population of Yao people in Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County in eastern Guangxi speak a Tai-Kadai language called Lakkia. Other Yao peoples speak various Sinitic language varieties.

Classification

Mienic is one of the primary branches of the Hmong–Mien language family, with the other being Hmongic.

Ratliff (2010)

proposed the following classification:
Strecker 1987, followed by Matisoff 2001, proposed the following, with some of the more divergent varieties as additional languages:
proposes the following classification for Mjuenic, a proposed branch consisting of the Mien, Mun, and Muen languages. The classifications of Biao Min and Dzao Min are not addressed.
;Proto-Mjuenic
*
Mao Zongwu classifies the Mienic languages varieties of China as follows. Data points studied in Mao are also listed for each dialect.
A Mienic lect called bjau2 mwan2, related to Mien of Changping and Luoxiang, is spoken in Liuchong 六冲, Qiaoting Township 桥亭乡, Pingle County 平乐县, Guangxi ; another "Biao Man 标曼" dialect is spoken in Dongpingdong 东坪洞. There are about 10,000 speakers in Mengshan, Lipu, Pingle, and Zhaoping counties.
The comparative vocabulary chart in Mao Zongwu consists of the following languages.
  1. Guangdian Mien ; autonym: '
  2. Diangui Kim Mun ; autonym: '
  3. Dongshan Biao Min; autonym: '
  4. Daping Dzao Min; autonym: '
  5. Xiangnan Mien ; autonym: '
  6. Changping Mien ; autonym: '
  7. Luoxiang Mien; autonym: '
  8. Fanghai Kim Mun ; autonym: '
  9. Shikou Biao Min ; autonym: '
  10. Niuweizhai Biao Min ; autonym: '

    Aumann & Sidwell (2004)

Using Mao's new data, Aumann & Sidwell propose the following classification of the Mienic languages, based on innovations in rhotic consonants. This classification presents a bipartite division of the Mienic into a subgroup consisting of Iu Mien and Biao Min, and another subgroup consisting of Kim Mun and Dzao Min. Luoxiang is grouped with Kim Mun, while Changping is grouped with Dzao Min.
Aumann & Sidwell consider the following classification by Wang & Mao to be unlikely, which is based on the voicing of voiceless sonorants, a common areal feature.
Yoshihisa Taguchi's computational phylogenetic study classifies the Mienic languages as follows.

Hsiu (2018)

Hsiu's computational phylogenetic study classifies the Mienic languages as follows.
;Mienic
Hsiu considers Changping Mien to have been influenced by Kim Mun lects due to geographical proximity, although it retains many unique forms that indicate it should belong in its own branch.

Mixed languages

Some languages may be mixed Chinese and Mienic languages, such as: