| Also Known As: Mian,Yu Mien,Highland Yao,Mien,Pan Yao,Trai,Dao,Yao,Ban Yao,Dong,Myen,Youmian,Yiu Mien,Man,Yao Kimmien,Dao Thanh Phan,Dìu,Yao Ogang,Iu Mien,Kim Mien,Dao Do,Red Dao
Description:
The Iu Mien language (Thai: ภาษาอิวเมี่ยน) is one of the main languages spoken by the Yao people in China, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and more recently the United States.
There are about 900,000 speakers in total.
It is very distantly related to the Hmong language, and together they form the Hmong-Mien languages family. Like Hmong as well as Vietnamese and Chinese it is tonal and monosyllabic.
Linguists in China consider the dialect spoken in Changdong, Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi to be the standard. However most Iu Mien people in the West are refugees from Laos, so people in the west focus on their dialect.
Iu Mien has 78% lexical similarity with Kim Mun (also known as Lanten), 70% with Biao-Jiao Mien, and 61% with Dzao Min.
There are about 400,000 speakers in China, 350,000 in Vietnam, 60,000 in Laos, 40,000 in Thailand, 25,000 in the USA and 2,000 in France.
In China it is spoken in the Dayao Mountains, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Ruyuan county of Guangdong province, Yunnan, and Hunan provinces, and in the Rongjian, Congjian and Libo counties of Guizhou province.
In the past, lack of an alphabet has caused low rates of literacy amongst the Iu Mien speakers. It has..... full article at Wikipedia |
