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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. Only the Hongfeng (红丰) and Bigong (比贡) dialects are still spoken, each with only a few dozen speakers.

Dialects

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

• Hongfeng (红丰)
• Bigong (比贡)
• Qiaoshang (桥上) (extinct)

Only one elderly speaker of the Houzitian (猴子田) dialect was found in 2013, and it is likely now extinct.

Mulao (木佬) is sometimes also included, in addition to Yi (羿), an extinct A'ou variety of Sichuan.

Phonology

Consonants

• Consonant clusters may include /pl, bl, vl, ml/.
• /d/ may have an allophone of , heard in free variation.
• Nasal sounds /m, n, ŋ/ may be heard as prenasal sounds when in combination with low tones in initial position.
• /χ/ may also be heard as velar in free variation.

Vowels

• 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 in free variation.

References

1. A'ou at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. Li Jinfang . 2006. Studies on endangered languages in the Southwest China . Beijing: Minzu University .
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.

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