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)[1]
Language family	Hmong–Mien Mienic Mian–Jin Iu Mien
Official status
Official language in	China (in Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ium
Glottolog	iumi1238
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The Iu Mien language (Iu Mien: Iu Mienh, [ju˧ mjɛn˧˩]; Chinese: 勉語 or 勉方言; Thai: ภาษาอิวเมี่ยน) 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.^[1]

Iu Mien has 78% lexical similarity with Kim Mun (Lanten), 70% with Biao-Jiao Mien, and 61% with Dzao Min.^[1]