Unique Language and Culture of Gelao Nationality

Language is the most important communication tool for human beings, and it is a variety of expression symbols for people to communicate. In China, most people speak Chinese, but in different regions, there are different languages and dialects, especially some ethnic minorities have their own languages. The language of the Gelao nationality is the language of the Gelao nationality and an important part of the culture of the Gelao nationality. Next, let's learn about the unique language of the Gelao nationality.

Gelao people have their own language-Gelao language, and only 1,000 Gelao people can speak this language. Due to the scattered residence, the language of Gelao people varies greatly from place to place. Most Gelao people can speak Chinese, Miao, Yi, Buyi and other languages. Gelao language is regarded as a Sino-Tibetan language family in China, but it is generally regarded as an independent branch of Zhuang-Dong language family internationally. There are many different views abroad on whether Zhuang and Dong languages belong to Sino-Tibetan languages. Generally speaking, there are few Gelao people who still use the language of Gelao people, mainly concentrated in Pingba, Anshun, Puding, Guanling, Liuzhi, Dafang and other counties in Guizhou, with a little distribution in Guangxi, Yunnan and Vietnam.

According to the phonetic system, lexical composition and grammatical features of the Gelao language, the Gelao language can be divided into four dialects, and each dialect can be divided into several dialects. Due to the long-term dispersion of the Gelao nationality, there are great differences in dialects. The Gelao people in northern Guizhou call themselves "Hagai" and are distributed in Renhuai, Guanling, Qinglong, Zhenfeng and Longlin, Guangxi. The Gelao people in the central Guizhou dialect call themselves "Gao" or "Laode" and are distributed in Pingba and Zhijin. The Gelao people in Qianxi dialect call themselves "Pa 'er" and are distributed in Qianxi, Zhijin and other places. The Gelao people in southwest Guizhou dialect call themselves "Duoluo" and are distributed in Shuicheng, Zhijin, Malipo, Maguan and other places in Yunnan.

The Gelao people in the northeast of Guizhou once had their own language. According to the Ming Dynasty's Annals of Sinan Prefecture, "People who live in the northwest of the county are called natives if they live in Wuchuan and along the river, saying that they have a local dialect." Volume 7 of Wei Yuan's "Three Wu Ji" also makes it clear: "When Miao rebelled, the border soil was not chaotic. Man Zi, the number is awkward. " It can be seen that today's "Tujia" along the river and other places is actually the Gelao nationality. Gelao language's characteristic grammar still exists in Chinese dialects in Sinan, Wuchuan and along the river. For example, before ten, when combined with some gelao language numerals 1 1- 19 and quantifiers, the single digit is in the front and the quantifier is in the middle,' ten. For example,' Thirteen' is said to be similar to' Thirty Years' in form, but it is not found in other languages such as Tujia. It is considered to be the remains of the language of the Gelao nationality, which proves the correctness of the national records in Sinan Fuzhi.

Due to the scattered residence, Chinese has become a lingua franca, and many people are also familiar with Miao, Yi and Buyi languages. In the past, it was thought that the Gelao people had no mother tongue, and Chinese characters were used as homographs. However, at the end of 2008, the Gelao Society of Guizhou discovered the book "Nine Days History of Tai Po" among the people in Guizhou, which proved that the Gelao people have their own language-Gelao language.