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]

A’ou Phonology

Source:^[8]

Consonants

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

Vowels

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

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. . 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?]}