Telue (pinyin transcription: Duoluo 多罗; Tolo) or White Gelao is a Gelao language spoken in China and Vietnam.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.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.
Dialects The primary dialectal areas where Telue (White Gelao) is still spoken are: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].
Guizhou, China (in Liuzhi Special District): 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)Samarina, Irina Vladimirovna [Самарина, Ирина Владимировна]. 2011. The Gelao language: materials for a Kadai comparative dictionary [Языки гэлао: материалы к сопоставительному словарю кадайских языко]. Moscow: Academia.
Phonology Duoluo has many uvular and prenasalized consonants.
Consonants LabialDental/Alveolar(Alveolo-)palatalVelarUvularGlottalplainpal.lat.plainpal.plainpal.lab.StopvoicelessaspiratedvoicedAffricatevoicelessaspirated()voicedFricativevoicelessvoicedNasalvoicelessvoicedLateralfricativeglidelabialApproximant()
The sound of the affricates are frequently close to interdental affricate sounds . The pronunciation of can sometimes be close to an alveolo-palatal fricative , though may not be heard as clearly. This is likewise true for the preglottalized palatal , which may be interpreted as . can also form a syllabic nasal . Sounds mainly appear in modern Chinese loanwords.
Vowels FrontCentralBackCloseMidOpen Syllabic
only is heard after dental/alveolar fricatives and affricates only, is never heard in this position. and are typically free variants of each other. When used as a single vowel, it is commonly heard as , but when followed by a back vowel it is pronounced as .
Tones White Gelao of Yueliangwan, Yunnan has 4 tones.Ni 1990, p.217.
Tone Value ExampleTaken from Ni 1990, p.214-217. Meaning 1 55 Water 2 33 wrap, surround 3 35 Two 4 21 Door
White Gelao of Niupo, Guizhou has 4 tones.Ni 1990, p. 209.
Value ExampleTaken from Ni 1990, pp. 206-208. Meaning 55 harvest 33 Fish 35 Blood 31 Oil, grease
References