Jinuo, Youle

A language of China

ISO 639-3

Alternate Names

Jino, Youle

Population

10,000 (Bradley 2007). Ethnic population: All Jinuo: 20,900 (Bradley 2007).

Location

South Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture, near Laos and Myanmar borders, east of Jinghong. Youle mountains. 40 villages.

Language Status

6b (Threatened).

Classification

Dialects

Youle and Buyuan dialects not mutually inherently intelligible. Chinese used to communicate.

Typology

SOV; initial consonant clusters (stop or nasal plus, r); no syllable-final consonants; mostly monosyllabic words; tonal, 6 tones

Language Use

Vigorous. All domains. All ages. Positive attitudes. Some also use Lu [khb] or Chinese [cmn]. Chinese used in education.

Language Development

Literacy rate in L2: 83%. Films.

Language Resources

Writing

Latin script.

Other Comments

Officially classified within Jinuo nationality. Traditional religion.