Iu Mien language
| Iu Mien | |
|---|---|
| Iu Mienh | |
| Pronunciation | [ju˧ mjɛn˧˩] |
| Native to | China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Communities in United States, and France. |
Native speakers | (800,000 cited 1995–2019) |
Hmong–Mien
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in | (Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ium |
| Glottolog | iumi1238 |
The Iu Mien language (Iu Mien: Iu Mienh, [ju˧ mjɛn˧˩]; Chinese: 勉語 or 勉方言; Thai: ภาษาเมี่ยน or ภาษาอิ้วเมี่ยน) is the language spoken by the Iu Mien people in China (where they are considered a constituent group of the Yao peoples), Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and, more recently, the United States in diaspora. Like other Mien languages, it is tonal and monosyllabic.
Linguists in China consider the dialect spoken in Changdong, Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi to be the standard. This standard is also spoken by Iu Mien in the West, however, because most are refugees from Laos, their dialect incorporates influences from the Lao and Thai languages.
Iu Mien has 78% lexical similarity with Kim Mun (Lanten), 70% with Biao-Jiao Mien, and 61% with Dzao Min.