Nomvai language
 | This article is incomplete because it is pending further input from participants, or it is a work-in-progress by one author. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. Note: To contribute to this article, you may need to seek help from the author(s) of this page. |
| Nomvai | |
|---|---|
| Southern Yu | |
| 南話, nom-ɦai 虎話, hüq-ɦai | |
| Pronunciation | [nom.ɦaɪ̯], [hɨʔ.ɦaɪ̯] |
| Native to |  Zyang |
| Region |  South Zyang |
| Ethnicity | Zyangan people |
Native speakers | [Placeholder] million (2018) |
Oriental
| |
| Sinitic characters | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
The Nomvai language, also known as Southern Yu, is a variety of Yu natively spoken in the majority of the southern regions of the Kingdom of Zyang. It is classified as part of the Oriental language family. Unlike any other Sinitic language.
The standard literary language is based on the dialect of Zavun, which like most southern varities and unlike the rest of the Yu dialects as a whole lacks tone, but instead distinguish vowel lenght. This is thought to have occured due to influence from an ancient language spoken in the area and more recently the Zhoushi language. Some northern subdialects have kept tone due to influence from Northern Yu.
The status of Nomvai as a language or a dialect is disputed, however most linguist concider it a language, and it is recognized as a regional language in the southern regions of The Kingdom of Zyang.