Qau language

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

Qau
Native to	China
Region	Anshun City and Pingba County, Guizhou
Native speakers	2,000 (2011)
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:

• 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].

Pronouns

The following are pronouns from Pingba Gelao.

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