Honi language

Not to be confused with Hani language.

The Honi language (豪尼語), also known as Haoni, Baihong, Hao-Bai, or Ho, is a language of the Loloish (Yi) branch of the Tibeto-Burman linguistic group spoken in Yunnan, China. The Chinese government groups speakers of this language into the Hani nationality, one of China's 56 recognized nationalities and considers the language to be a dialect of the wider Hani languages. Honi itself is divided into two distinct dialects, Baihong and Haoni, which may be separate languages.

Honi
Native to	Southern China, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar
Ethnicity	Hani
Native speakers	140,000 (2007)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Lolo–Burmese Loloish Southern Hanoid Honi
Dialects	Baihong Haoni
Language codes
ISO 639-3	how
Glottolog	honi1244

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants of the Mojiang dialect

		Labial	Alveolar		Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar
			plain	sibilant
Nasal		m	n			ȵ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	unaspirated	p	t	ts	tʃ	tɕ	k
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	tsʰ	tʃʰ	tɕʰ	kʰ
Continuant	voiceless	f	l̥	s	ʃ	ɕ	x
	voiced	v	l	z	ʒ		ɣ
Semivowel		w				j

A voiceless /l̥/ may also be realized as a lateral fricative [ɬ].

Vowels

Vowels of the Mojiang dialect

	Front		Central	Back
High	i			ɯ	u
High-mid				ɤ	o
Low-mid	ɛ			ɔ
Low	æ		a
Syllabic	v̩	ɹ̩

In the Mojiang dialect, vowel length is distinctive among vowels /iː ɛː/ and syllabic vowels /v̩ː ɹ̩ː/.

		Front		Back
Diphthong	Close	iu		ui
	Mid	io	iɔ	uɛ
	Open	ia		ua
Nasal	Close	ĩ
	Mid	ɛ̃	õ
	Open	ã
Nasal Diphthong	Mid	ĩɛ̃	ĩõ	ũɛ̃
	Open	ĩã		ũã

References

• Wang Hongxiao [王红晓]; Zhao Dewen [赵德文]. 2017. Zhongguo Mojiang Hanizu Haoniren wenhua shilu [中国墨江哈尼族豪尼人文化实录]. Kunming: Yunnan People's Press [云南人民出版社].