Mulao (), also known as Ayo, is a possibly extinct Kra language spoken in

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

, China. Spoken in Longli County and

Majiang County Majiang County () is a county of southeast-central Guizhou province, China. It is the westernmost county-level division of the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture (; Hmu language: ''Qe ...

, it is estimated that the language may be extinct or have only have a few living speakers. As of 2011, there are no newspapers, radio programs, or television broadcasts in the language, and it is not recognized by the government, nor taught in schools. Mulao speakers are classified as

Gelao people The Gelao people (also spelled Gelo) ( Gelao: ''Klau'', ) are an ethnic group of China and Vietnam. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. However, many Gelao are also variously classified ...

by the

government of China The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, ...

, but Mulao speakers do not understand the

Gelao languages Gelao (Endonym, autonym: Kláo, Chinese: 仡佬 Gēlǎo, Vietnamese: Cờ Lao) is a cluster of Kra languages in the Kra–Dai languages, Kra–Dai language family. It is spoken by the Gelao people in southern China and northern Vietnam. Despite an ...

. It is closely related to A'ou.

Demographics

The Mulao number 28,000 people, and are distributed in Majiang, Kaili, Huangping,

Duyun Duyun () is the capital of Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Guizhou province in the People's Republic of China. The area surrounding the city was affected by the Miao rebellion of 1735–36. The city participated in the uprising ...

Weng'an Weng'an County () is a county in Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou, China. Weng'an has an area of 1973.8 square kilometers and a population of 460,600 as of 2003. Gallery Voa chinese +stone tablet 29jun10 300.jpg, Stone table ...

, Fuquan, and other

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

of southeastern Guizhou. The Mulao of Xuanwei and Jidong villages refer to themselves as the ''Mu'', and in Longli village () they call themselves '. Luo (1997) describes the two Mulao varieties of ' (') in Majiang County and ' in Kaili City. One dialect is represented by the datapoints of Bamaozhai () and Madizhai () of Xuanwei District (), Majiang County (Luo 1997:105, 115), and the other by Bailazhai (), (), Kaili City (Luo 1997:189); the latter is also spoken in Dafengdong (), Pingliang (), and Chong'anjiang (). The last speaker in Longli County was recorded by Bo Wenze (2003).

Documentation

Monographs of Mulao include Bo (2003)Bo, Wenze 薄文泽. 2003. ''Mulaoyu yanjiu (A Study of Mulao)'' ��佬语硏究 Beijing: Central University for Nationalities Publishing House ��央民族大学出版社 and Luo (1997).Luo, Shiqing ��世庆 1997. ''The ethnic Mulao of Guizhou'' ��州仫佬族 Guiyang: Guizhou People's Press ��州民族出版社 A word list is also given in Zhang (1993). Mulao data from Majiang and Kaili is also given in Guizhou (1985).Guizhou provincial ethnic classification commission ��州省民委民族识别办公室编 1985. ''Guizhou ethnic classification materials, no. 5: Ethnic classification of the Mulao people'' ��州民族识别资料集, 第5集: 木佬人族识别问题调查资料专辑 m.s.

References

External links

Basic Mulao vocabulary database compiled by the University of Auckland

{{Tai-Kadai languages Kra languages Languages of China