Gelao Language

Gelao Language

Gelao (autonym: Kláo, Chinese: 仡佬 Gēlǎo, Vietnamese: Cờ Lao) is a dialect cluster of Kra languages in the Tai–Kadai language family. It is spoken by the Gelao people in southern China and northern Vietnam. Despite an ethnic population of 580,000 (2000 census), however, only a few thousand still speak the language. Estimates run from 3,000 in China by Li in 1999, of which 500 are monolinguals, to 7,900 by Edmonson in 2008. Edmondson (2002) estimates the three Gelao varieties of Vietnam to have only about 350 speakers altogether.

In 2009, a book allegedly written in a native Gelao script has been found in Guizhou, China. It is not known whether this find is authentic.