MIAO-YAO LANGUAGES

languages spoken by the Miao and Yao peoples of southern China and Southeast Asia. The Miao-Yao language group includes Miao, Ch'i-lao (also called I-lao and closely related to Miao), Yao, and Sho (closely related to Yao and spoken in southern China). Miao-Yao languages are written with the Latin alphabet. In Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, the Miao language is known as Meo. The dialects of both Miao and Yao diverge enough that, in some cases, they are mutually unintelligible. Some scholars classify the Miao-Yao languages as a separate branch of the Sino-Tibetan family, whereas others place them in the Tai or Austronesian language families.