"Yao languages" redirects here. For the Yao language of east Africa, see Yao language. For the extinct Yao language of Trinidad, see Yao language (Trinidad).
Strecker 1987,[2] followed (with the addition of Moxi) by Matisoff 2001, proposed the following, with some of the more divergent varieties as additional languages:
Luang-Thongkum (1993:170)[3] proposes the following classification for Mjuenic, a proposed branch consisting of the Mien, Mun, and Muen (Biao Mon) languages. The classifications of Biao Min and Dzao Min are not addressed.
A Mienic lect called bjau2 mwan2 ("Biao Man 标曼"), related to Mien of Changping and Luoxiang, is spoken in Liuchong 六冲, Qiaoting Township 桥亭乡, Pingle County 平乐县, Guangxi (Tang 1994); another "Biao Man 标曼" dialect is spoken in Dongpingdong 东坪洞 (Tang 1994).[7] There are about 10,000 speakers in Mengshan, Lipu, Pingle, and Zhaoping counties.
The comparative vocabulary chart in Mao Zongwu (2004) consists of the following languages.
Shikou Biao Min ( = Chao Kong Meng); autonym: mɔu31jɔu55
Niuweizhai Biao Min ( = Moxi); autonym: mɔ433ɕi53
Aumann & Sidwell (2004)
Using Mao's (2004) new data, Aumann & Sidwell (2004) propose the following classification of the Mienic languages, based on innovations in rhotic consonants.[8] 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 (2004) consider the following classification by Wang & Mao to be unlikely, which is based on the voicing of voiceless sonorants, a common areal feature.
Hsiu (2018) 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.
Hsiu (2023)
Hsiu (2023) announced the discovery of the previously undocumented Yangchun Pai Yao, likely a sister branch to Dzao Min, or possibly belonging to its own branch outright.[11]
Mixed languages
Some languages may be mixed Chinese and Mienic (Yao) languages, such as:
Various Lowland Yao languages (平地瑶话) that are unclassified Sinitic languages, such as:
Shaozhou Tuhua, the language of the nüshu script, is an unclassified variety of Chinese spoken by ethnic Yao. Its origin is obscure, but it may have started out as a Sinicized Mienic language.[12]
^Aumann, Greg and Paul Sidwell. 2004. "Subgrouping of Mienic Languages: Some Observations." In Papers from the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, edited by Somsonge Burusphat. Tempe, Arizona, 13-27. Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies.
Đoàn Thiện Thuật; Mai Ngọc Chừ. 1992. Tiếng Dao. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội.
Duan Shanshu [段善述]; Mei Yuzhu [梅玉诸]; Pan Meihua [盘美花] (ed). 2013. Yao languages of Vietnam [越南瑶语]. Beijing: Ethnic Publishing House [民族出版社]. ISBN9787105128228
Liu Hongyong [刘鸿勇] (2016). Yuebei Ruyuan Guoshan Yao Mianyu yanjiu [粤北乳源过山瑶勉语研究]. Beijing: Wenhua yishu chubanshe [文化艺术出版社].
Phan Hữu Dật & Hoàng Hoa Toàn. 1998. "Về vấn đề xác minh tên gọi và phân loại các ngành Dao Tuyên Quang." In Phan Hữu Dật (ed). Một số vấn đề về dân tộc học Việt Nam, p. 483-567. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Đại Học Quốc Gia Hà Nội. [Comparative word list of 9 Dao dialects in Tuyen Quang Province from p. 524-545]
Sun Yelin [孙叶林] (2013). Xiangnan Yaoyu he Hanyu fangyan de jiechu yu yingxiang yanjiu: yi Hengyang Changning Tashan Yaozuxiang wei ge an 湘南瑶语和汉语方言的接触与影响研究——以衡阳常宁塔山瑶族乡为个案.
Tan Xiaoping [谭晓平]. (2012). Yuyan jiechu yu yuyan yanbian: Xiangnan Yaozu Jiangyong Mianyu ge an yanjiu 语言接触与语言演变——湘南瑶族江永勉语个案研究. Wuhan: Huazhong Normal University Publishing House 华中师范大学出版社.
