Bunu languages

The Bunu (Punu) are the Yao people who speak Hmongic languages. That is, ''Bunu'' in the broad sense is a cultural rather than linguistic group. Strecker (1987) had classified Bunu proper (Bu-Nao) as a Western (Chuanqiandian) Hmongic language, and the other Bunu (or ''Punuic'') languages— Younuo, Wunai (Hm Nai), and Jiongnai (Kiong Nai)—as distinct branches of Hmongic.Strecker, David. 1987.
The Hmong-Mien Languages
" In ''Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area'', 10 , no. 2: 1-11. Matisoff (2001) grouped all of these together in a ''Bunu'' branch of Hmongic (that is, outside Western Hmongic). Ratliff (2010) returned Bunu proper (Bu-Nao) to Western Hmongic, and moved Jiongnai to its own peripheral branch of Hmongic, but did not address Younuo or Wunai.Ratliff, Martha. 2010. ''Hmong–Mien language history''. Canberra, Australia: Pacific Linguistics. Mao Zongwu (1997) found that Younuo, Wunai, and Pa-Hng form a distinct branch of Hmongic.

The Bunu languages form a group in Chinese classification, but that is because Chinese classifications are not purely linguistic, but take into account ethnic identity.Wang Fushi, cited in Strecker (1987b)
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References

Hmongic languages
Languages of China

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