Red Gelao (Tianba)
Audio recordings: Andrew Hsiu. (2017). Red Gelao (Tianba) audio word list. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1122535
Conference presentations: Hsiu, Andrew. 2013. The Gelao languages: Preliminary classification and state of the art.
In 1997, a divergent Red Gelao variety known as va³⁵ntɯ³¹ was discovered by Jerold Edmondson in Na Khê, Yên Minh District, Hà Giang Province, Vietnam. Edmondson reported that Red Gelao was still being acquired by children in the village, which exchanged brides with the other Red Gelao-speaking village of Bìch Đich (also known as Bạch Đích) in order to maintain Red Gelao culture. Even though Edmondson reported that in Vietnam, Red Gelao is spoken only in the two villages of Na Khê and Bìch Đich, my informants just across the border in Malipo County suggest that there could be more Red Gelao speakers living in the neighboring village of Mậu Long.
On August 25, 2012, I found a rememberer of Red Gelao named Wang Qiongying 王琼英, a 47-year-old woman, in Tianba 田坝, Dongdu village 董渡村, Tiechang township 铁厂乡, Malipo County 麻栗坡县, Yunnan, China. Wang Qiongying was born in Hà Giang province, Vietnam, but moved to Tianba after marrying Yang Changxing 杨昌兴, an ethnic White Gelao who does not speak any Gelao. Wang gave her Red Gelao autonym as ua³⁵ntei³¹. As of 2012, Wang speaks only Southwestern Mandarin fluently, and could produce some words, phrases, and basic sentences in her native Red Gelao variety. Despite being born in Vietnam, she does not speak any Vietnamese. Wang has not conversed in Red Gelao with anyone since her move to China about 30 years ago, and does not remember many basic vocabulary items such as the colors (e.g., ‘black’, ‘white’).
Wang moved to China at the age of 17 when she married Yang Changxin 杨昌兴 in Tianba 田坝. She is a rememberer of Red Gelao, and cannot say complete sentences in it. Wang has not conversed fluently in Red Gelao since she had moved to China.
Neither Wang nor her husband was able to recognize the names of Na Khê and Bìch Đich. However, her husband Yang Changxing said that Wang was born in a location in Hà Giang province called “Moudan 某丹”, which I believe is most likely the village of Mậu Long, located just to the north of Na Khê in Yên Minh District, Vietnam. A visit to Mậu Long would be needed to determine if there are still any remaining Red Gelao speakers of the ua³⁵ntei³¹ variety. Unfortunately, there is no other Red Gelao speaker or rememberer in Tianba, even though Li Jinfang’s informant Yang Yucai 杨玉才 had reported that his mother was a Red Gelao from Tianba, of the autonym u³³wei⁵⁵ . Even though there were several Red Gelao households in Tianba, none of the local Red Gelao people recognized the autonym u³³wei⁵⁵.
Tianba also has a few elderly fluent White Gelao speakers of the autonym te³⁵lɯ³¹ , including 78-year-old Yang Guangsheng 杨光升. Yang reported that his brother Yang Guangqing 杨光睛, residing in Fanpo 翻坡, Yangwan township 杨万乡, also speaks White Gelao fluently. Yang Guangsheng also informed me that there were more White Gelao speakers in the nearby village of Fengyan 峰岩, including Yang Guangfu 杨光甫.
In the meantime, her husband and another White Gelao man were arguing about a Gelao bride who was going to be migrating to China, highlighting the tense issues that may result from cross-border migrations in the region.