The Dao language (Chinese: 倒话; pinyin: dàohuà; lit. 'inverted language'; Daohua) is a Chinese–Tibetan mixed language or creolized language of Yajiang County, Sichuan, China. Word order is SOV as in Tibetan (Yeshes Vodgsal Atshogs 2004:6), while the lexicon consists of words derived from both Chinese and Tibetan.

Distribution

Yeshes Vodgsal Atshogs (2004:6) reports that Dao is spoken in the following townships of Yajiang County, Sichuan, China. Within these administrative townships, Dao is spoken in 8 villages, comprising a total of 504 households and 2,685 individuals as of 1995.

• Hekou town 河口镇 (including Mazishi village 麻子石村^[2])
• Bajiaolou township 八角楼乡
• Xiala township 呷拉乡

Choyo, a Qiangic language, is spoken just to the north of Dao, and is also spoken in Xiala township 呷拉乡.