Telue language explained

Telue
Nativename:	Duoluo
Also Known As:	White Gelao
States:	China, Vietnam
Region:	Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan, Ha Giang Province
Speakers:	1,220
Date:	1987
Ref:	e24
Familycolor:	Tai–Kadai
Fam2:	Kra
Fam3:	Ge–Chi
Fam4:	Gelao
Iso3:	giw
Glotto:	whit1267
Glottorefname:	Duoluo Gelao

Telue (pinyin transcription: Duoluo 多罗; Tolo) or White Gelao is a Gelao language spoken in China and Vietnam.^{[1] [2]}

Dialects

The primary dialectal areas where Telue (White Gelao) is still spoken are:^[3]

• Guizhou, China (in Liuzhi Special District^[4]): 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)^[5]

Phonology

Duoluo has many uvular and prenasalized consonants.^[6]

Consonants

		Labial			Dental/ Alveolar		(Alveolo-) palatal	Velar			Uvular	Glottal
		plain	pal.	lat.	plain	pal.		plain	pal.	lab.		plain	pal.
Stop	voiceless	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
	aspirated	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
	voiced	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
Affricate	voiceless				pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
	aspirated				pronounced as /ink/		(pronounced as /ink/)
	voiced				pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
Fricative	voiceless	pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/					pronounced as /ink/
	voiced	pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/
Nasal	voiceless	pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
	voiced	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Lateral	fricative				pronounced as /ink/
	glide				pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/						pronounced as /ink/
	labial				pronounced as /ink/
Approximant							pronounced as /ink/			(pronounced as /ink/)

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

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
Close	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Mid	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Open	pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/
Syllabic			pronounced as /ink/

• pronounced as //ɹ̩// only is heard after dental/alveolar fricatives and affricates only, pronounced as //i// is never heard in this position.
• pronounced as //ə// and pronounced as //ɯ// are typically free variants of each other. When used as a single vowel, it is commonly heard as pronounced as /[ɯ]/, but when followed by a back vowel pronounced as //ɯ, u// it is pronounced as pronounced as /[ə]/.^[7]

Notes and References

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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].
4. Book: Li, Jinfang 李锦芳 . 2019 . Guizhou Liuzhi Gelaoyu 贵州六枝仡佬语 . Beijing . . 1112270585.
5. 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.
6. Web site: Edmondson, Jerold A. . Kra or Kadai languages . Ling.uta.edu . 2013-11-30 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120315001746/http://ling.uta.edu/~jerry/krac.pdf . 2012-03-15 .
7. Book: Zhuo, Guoyan. The phonology system of Judu Gelao language. Hochiminh City: Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City University. 2000. The Fifth International Symposium on Languages and Linguistics.