A'ou language

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 family	Kra–Dai Kra Ge–Chi Gelao A'ou
Language codes
ISO 639-3	aou
Glottolog	aoua1234

Dialects

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]

Phonology

Consonants

		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

	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

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.