Telue language

Telue (pinyin transcription: Duoluo 多罗; Tolo) or White Gelao is a Gelao language spoken in China and Vietnam.^[2][3]

Telue
White Gelao
Duoluo
Native to	China, Vietnam
Region	Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan, Ha Giang Province
Native speakers	(1,220 cited 1987)[1]
Language family	Kra–Dai Kra Ge–Chi Gelao Telue
Language codes
ISO 639-3	giw
Glottolog	whit1267
ELP	White Gelao

Dialects

The primary dialectal areas where Telue (White Gelao) is still spoken are:^[4]

• Guizhou, China (in Liuzhi Special District^[5]): Judu 居都
• Guangxi, China (in Longlin County): Moji 磨基 (also spoken in Wantao 湾桃)
• Yunnan, China (in Malipo County): Yueliangwan 月亮湾 (also spoken in Fengyan 峰岩 and Laozhai 老寨)
• Vietnam (in Hà Giang Province)^[6]

Phonology

Duoluo has many uvular and prenasalized consonants.^[7]

Consonants

		Labial			Dental/ Alveolar		(Alveolo-) palatal	Velar			Uvular	Glottal
		plain	pal.	lat.	plain	pal.		plain	pal.	lab.		plain	pal.
Stop	voiceless	p	pʲ	pˡ	t	tʲ		k	kʲ	kʷ	q	ʔ	ʔʲ
	aspirated	pʰ	pʲʰ	pˡʰ	tʰ	tʲʰ		kʰ	kʲʰ	kʷʰ	qʰ
	voiced	b	bʲ	bˡ	d	dʲ		ɡ
Affricate	voiceless				ts		tɕ
	aspirated				tsʰ		(tɕʰ)
	voiced				dz		dʑ
Fricative	voiceless	f			s		ɕ					h
	voiced	v			z			ɣ
Nasal	voiceless	m̥			n̥		ɲ̟̊	ŋ̊
	voiced	m	mʲ	mˡ	n		ɲ̟	ŋ
Lateral	fricative				ɬ
	glide				l	lʲ						ˀl
	labial				lʷ
Approximant							j			(w)

• The sound of the affricates /ts, tsʰ, dz/ are frequently close to interdental affricate sounds [tθ, tθʰ, dð].
• The pronunciation of /j/ can sometimes be close to an alveolo-palatal sound [ʑ], but not as fully articulated.
• /ŋ/ can also form a syllabic nasal [ŋ̍].
• Sounds /tɕʰ, w/ mainly appear in modern Chinese loanwords.

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
Close	i	y		ɯ	u
Mid	e		ə	o
Open	a			ɑ
Syllabic			ɹ̩

• /ɹ̩/ only is heard after dental/alveolar fricatives and affricates only, /i/ is never heard in this position.
• /ə/ and /ɯ/ are typically free variants of each other. When used as a single vowel, it is commonly heard as [ɯ], but when followed by a back vowel /ɯ, u/ it is pronounced as [ə].^[8]

Tones

White Gelao of Yueliangwan, Yunnan has 4 tones.^[9]

Tone	Value	Example[10]	Meaning
1	55	ʔm̩55	Water
2	33	gɯ33	wrap, surround
3	35	səŋ35	Two
4	21	ko21h̃uŋ55	Door

 White Gelao of Niupo, Guizhou has 4 tones.[11]

Value	Example[12]	Meaning
55	mlɯ55	harvest
33	pu33liɯ31	Fish
35	pla35	Blood
31	mlaŋ31	Oil, grease