Qau language

Qau, Central Gelao, or Sinicized Gelao (Chinese: 汉仡佬; pinyin: Hàn Gēlǎo) is a Gelao language spoken in Guizhou, China.^[2][3]

Qau
Native to	China
Region	Anshun City and Pingba County, Guizhou
Native speakers	2,000 (2011)[1]
Language family	Kra–Dai Kra Ge–Chi Gelao Qau
Language codes
ISO 639-3	gqu
Glottolog	qaua1234
ELP	Gao Gelao

Dialects

The dialects of Qau that are still spoken are:^[4]

• Dagouchang 大狗场 or Pingba Qau (in Pingba County)
• Wanzi 湾子 or Anshun Qau (in Anshun City)

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial		Alveolar	(Alveolo-) palatal	Velar		Uvular	Glottal
		plain	lat.			plain	lat.
Nasal		m		n	ɲ̟	ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	pˡ	t		k	kˡ	q	(ʔ)
	aspirated	pʰ		tʰ		kʰ		qʰ
	prenasal	ᵐp	ᵐpˡ	ⁿt		ᵑk	ᵑkˡ
Affricate	voiceless			ts	tɕ
	aspirated			tsʰ	tɕʰ
	prenasal			ⁿts	ᶮtɕ
Fricative	voiceless	f		s	ɕ	x			h
	voiced	v	vˡ	z	ʑ
Approximant				l		(w)

• [ʔ] is heard in syllable-initial position before vowels.
• [w] is heard as an initial consonant of Chinese loanwords.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		(ɯ)	u
Mid	e	ə ə˞	o
Open		a	ɒ

Diphthongs

	Front	Central	Back
Close	iu, ie, iɒ, io		ue, ua, uɒ
Mid	ei	əu, əɯ
Open		ai, au
Triphthong	iau		uei, uai

Final-nasal

	Front	Central		Back
Close	in			un	uŋ
Mid	en
Open		an	aŋ
Triphthong	ian	uan	uaŋ

• /i/ is heard as a syllabic [ɹ̩] when after sounds /s, ts/

• [ɯ] is only heard in the diphthong /əɯ/.
• Vowels with a word-final /n/ can also be heard as nasalized [Ṽ].^[5]

Tones

The Wanzi dialect has 6 tones.^[6]

Tone	Value	Example[7]	Meaning
˥	55	əɯ55	Water
˦	44	vla44	Eight
˧	33	plei33	Year
˨˦	24	plɐ24	Blood
˩˧	13	mpi13	Goat
˥˩	31	ntau31	Bird

Pronouns

The following are pronouns from Pingba Gelao.^[2]

Gloss	Pingba Gelao
I	(su33) i42
you	(su33) mu21
he, she, it	(su33) u42
we	(su33) ta33
you all	(su33) sa33
they	pə42 nu42
my household	qa33/a33 qei42
your household	qa33/a33 mu21
his/her household	qa33/a55 qu42

Numerals

Pingba Gelao numerals are given below.

1. si³³
2. su³³
3. ta³³
4. pu³³
5. mpu³³
6. naŋ³³
7. ɕi¹³
8. zua⁵⁵
9. sə¹³
10. pan¹³