TheJino language (Jinuo 基諾語;^[4] autonyms:tɕy˦no˦,ki˦ɲo˦) constitutes a pair ofLoloish language varieties spoken by theJino people ofYunnan,China.

In total, there are about 28,320 Jinuo people living in China.^[5] A total of 70–80% of Jinuo people can speak either of the Jino varieties fluently.^[6] The Jino language constitutes the two subdialects of Youle Jino and Buyuan Jinuo,^[7] and they are notmutually intelligible.

Buyuan Jino is spoken by 21,000 people;^[8] most of the speakers are monolingual, which means they only speak Buyuan Jino.^[4] There is no official written form. Most Jino people also speak one of theTai languages or Chinese. The ISO 639-3 code for the Jino varieties are "jiu" for Youle Jino and "jiy" for Buyuan Jino.^[8] The Glottocodes for the Jino varieties are "youl1235" for Youle Jino^[9] and "buyu1238" for Buyuan Jino.^[10]

The exact classification of Jino within theLoloish branch ofSino-Tibetan language family remains uncertain. Jino is classified as aSouthern Loloish (Hanoish) language by Ziwo Lama (2012),^[2] but as aCentral Loloish language by Bradley (2007).^[11] Jino is also classified as a Southern Loloish language in Satterthwaite-Phillips' (2011) computational phylogenetic analysis of the Lolo-Burmese languages.^[12]

The use of Jino is rapidly declining: in the 1980s, 70–80% of the Jino people used Jino; in 2000, less than 50% of the population could speak Jino.^[13]

The Jino people were recognized by the state council on 6 June 1979 as the last recognized minority nationality in China.^[13]

Historically, the Jino people were organized as a matriarchal culture, and “Jino” means “descending from the uncle,” and it refers to the importance of mother’s brother in matriarchal societies.^[14]

From a language aspect, Jino is similar to other languages under the branch of the Tibeto-Burman languages, because the Jino people moved from the northwest of Yunnan province to the territories they are at now, but the timing and routes of this migration remain uncertain.^[1]

Jino is spoken in Jinuo Township (Jinuo Mountain), located inJinghong City of theSipsongpanna Dai autonomous prefecture ofYunnan province, China.^[13]

The Youle Jino language features five tonemes: /55/, /44/, /33/, /31/, and /35/, with /35/ primarily appearing in loanwords. The tonal system of Jino, as spoken in Baka village, aligns closely with the previously reconstructed *Proto-Lolo tones. Specifically, the *Proto-Lolo H and L tones correspond to Baka’s T1 and T4, respectively, while *Proto-Lolo tone 2 and tone 3 align with Baka’s T2 and T3. Notably, *Proto-Lolo tone 1 has evolved in Baka into a unique tone with variable pitch values, resulting in a distinctive iambic pattern.^[15]

There are five tonemes in Buyuan Jino. Gai believes that the function of tonemes are distinguishing lexical meanings and grammatical meanings.^[16]

1. /˥/ (high level tone, 55): it tends to phonetically shorten vowels
2. /˦/ (mid level tone, 44): lower than 55, though still high
3. /˧˩/ (low falling tone, 31)
4. /˧˥/ (rising tone, 35)
5. /˥˧/ (high falling tone, 53)

/˥˧/ (53) tone is considered difficult to distinguish when listening to a native speaker.^[7]

Jino does not have an official writing system, but it developed several systems of signs to cover communication in different situations.^[1] The Jino used engraved wooden or bamboo boards to record debts between villages.

• Southern Loloish languages
• Languages of Yunnan

• Pages containing links to subscription-only content
• Language articles citing Ethnologue 18
• CS1 uses Chinese-language script (zh)
• CS1 Chinese-language sources (zh)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages with Youle Jinuo IPA
• Pages with plain IPA