A'ou (阿欧方言) or Red Gelao (红仡佬语) is an endangered Gelao language spoken by fewer than 100 people in Guizhou, China.[2] Only the Hongfeng (红丰) and Bigong (比贡) dialects are still spoken, each with only a few dozen speakers.
| A'ou | |
|---|---|
| Native to | China |
| Region | Guizhou |
Native speakers | 50 (2011)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | aou |
| Glottolog | aoua1234 |
Dialects
editThe main dialects of A'ou, which all have limited mutual intelligibility, are:
Only one elderly speaker of the Houzitian (猴子田) dialect was found in 2013, and it is likely now extinct.[6]
Mulao (木佬) is sometimes also included, in addition to Yi (羿), an extinct A'ou variety of Sichuan.[7]
Phonology
editConsonants
edit| Labial | Alveolar | (Alveolo-) palatal |
Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | retroflex | |||||||
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | k | q | ʔ | ||
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | qʰ | ||||
| voiced | b | d | ||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | ts | tɕ | |||||
| aspirated | tsʰ | tɕʰ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ɕ | (x) | χ | h | |
| voiced | v | z | ʑ | ɣ | ʁ | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||
| Lateral | central | l | ɭ | (ˀl) | ||||
| fricative | ɬ | |||||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||||
- Consonant clusters may include /pl, bl, vl, ml/.
- /d/ may have an allophone of [ˀl], heard in free variation.
- Nasal sounds /m, n, ŋ/ may be heard as prenasal sounds [ᵐb, ⁿt, ᵑɡ] when in combination with low tones in initial position.
- /χ/ may also be heard as velar [x] in free variation.
Vowels
edit| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | (ɯ) | u | |
| Mid | ɛ | (ə) | (ɤ) | ɔ |
| Open | a | |||
| Syllabic | ɹ̩ | |||
- Sounds /ə, ɯ, ɤ/ are only heard when in vowel diphthongs /əu, aɯ, əɯ, ɤu/ or triphthongs /iəɯ, iəu, uəɯ/.
- /ə/ only rarely occurs as a monophthong.
- /ɛ/ may also be heard as [e] in free variation.[4]
References
edit- ^ A'ou at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Li Jinfang [李锦芳]. 2006. Studies on endangered languages in the Southwest China [西南地区濒危语言调查研究]. Beijing: Minzu University [中央民族大学出版社].
- ^ Zhou Guoyan 周国炎. 2004. Gelao zu mu yu sheng tai yan jiu 仡佬族母語生态硏究 (Studies on the linguistic ecology of the Gelao people). Beijing: Ethnic Publishing House 民族出版社.
- ^ a b Li Xia; Li Jinfang; Luo Yongxian. 2014. A Grammar of Zoulei, Southwest China. Bern: Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-0343-1344-5
- ^ Ostapirat, Weera. 2000. "Proto-Kra." Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 23 (1): 1-251.
- ^ Hsiu, Andrew. 2017. Red Gelao (Houzitian) audio word list. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1122531
- ^ Zhang Jimin 张済民. 1993. Gelao yu yan jiu 仡佬语研究 (A study of Gelao). Guiyang, China: Guizhou People's Press 贵州民族出版社.
