A'ou language

Summary

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 toChina
RegionGuizhou
Native speakers
50 (2011)[1]
Kra–Dai
Language codes
ISO 639-3aou
Glottologaoua1234

Dialects edit

The main dialects of A'ou, which all have limited mutual intelligibility, are:

  • Hongfeng (红丰)[3]
  • Bigong (比贡)[4]
  • Qiaoshang (桥上)[5] (extinct)

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]

A’ou Phonology edit

Source:[8]

Consonants edit

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
m̥,m n ɲ ŋ
b,p t,d k,g q ʔ
v s,z ɕ,ʑ x,ɣ χ h
j w
dz,ts
l
ɬ

Vowels edit

Vowels
Front Central Back
i,y u
ɪ
e o
ə
ɛ
a

References edit

  1. ^ A'ou at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  
  2. ^ 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].
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Ostapirat, Weera. 2000. "Proto-Kra." Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 23 (1): 1-251.
  6. ^ Hsiu, Andrew. 2017. Red Gelao (Houzitian) audio word list. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1122531
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:A%27ou_lemmas[user-generated source?]