| Younuo | |
|---|---|
| Yuno | |
| ʑou13 nɔ13 | |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County,Guangxi,China |
Native speakers | (9,700 cited 1995)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | buh |
| Glottolog | youn1235 |
| ELP | Younuo Bunu |
 | |
Younuo (also spelledYuno,Chinese:优诺语yōunuò; autonym:ʑou13nɔ13) is a divergentHmongic language spoken inLongsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County,Guangxi, China. Mao (2007:129) reports a total of approximately 4,000 speakers.
The classification of Younuo withinHmongic is uncertain, although it may be more closely related toPa-Hng orShe. 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 toShe,Jiongnai, andPana. Li (2018) also treats Younuo as closely related toShe,Jiongnai, andPana.[4]
LikePa-Hng speakers, the Younuo are also called "Red Yao" 红瑶, which can refer to variousYao 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 aPinghua dialect related to theChinese varieties of Guibei Pinghua 桂北平话 andShaozhou Tuhua, and number just over 10,000 people (Mao 2007).
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.
The tables below present the vowels[5] and consonant phonemes[6] of Younuo as spoken in Xiaozhai (小寨).
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | a | ɔ |
Younuo has relatively few diphthongs. These are:ei,ai,au,ui,iu, andou.In addition to vowels and diphthongs, other possible syllable codas aren andŋ.
| 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 | |||||||
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 | — | — |