Northern Kuki-Chin (or Northeastern Kuki-Chin) is a branch of
Kuki-Chin languages
The Kuki-Chin languages (also called Kuki-Chin-Mizo, Kukish or South-Central Tibeto-Burman languages) are a branch of 50 or so Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in northeastern India, western Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh. Most speakers of the ...
. It is called ''Northeastern Kuki-Chin'' by Peterson (2017) to distinguish it from the
Northwestern Kuki-Chin languages
Southern Naga, also Old Kuki or Northwestern Kuki-Chin,Andrew Hsiu (2019) is a branch of Kuki-Chin-Naga languages. Speakers are from Kuki-Chin-Mizos people like Kom tribes such as Aimol, Kom, Koireng and others and Nagas.
Languages
Scott DeLa ...
. VanBik (2009:31) also calls the branch ''Northern Chin'' or ''Zo''.
Except for
Thado speakers, most Northern Kuki-Chin speakers self-identify as part of a wider
Zomi ethnic group.
Lingua francas
Tedim
Tedim (, , ( Zo: ''Tedim Khawpi'', pronounced ; is a town in and the administrative seat of Tedim Township, Chin State, in the north-western part of Burma. It is the second largest town in Chin State. The town's four major boroughs (''vengte'') a ...
is the local
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
of northern
Chin State
Chin State (, ) is a state in western Myanmar. The Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, Bangladesh to the south-west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to the west and Manipur t ...
, Myanmar, while
Thado (also known as Kuki) is the local
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
of much of southern
Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...
State, India.
Languages
VanBik (2009) includes the following languages as Northern Kuki-Chin languages. The positions of
Ngawn and
Ralte are not addressed by VanBik (2009), but they are classified as Northern Kuki-Chin in
Glottolog
''Glottolog'' is a bibliographic database of the world's lesser-known languages, developed and maintained first at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany (between 2015 and 2020 at the Max Planck Institute for ...
.
*
Thado (Kuki)
*
Tedim
Tedim (, , ( Zo: ''Tedim Khawpi'', pronounced ; is a town in and the administrative seat of Tedim Township, Chin State, in the north-western part of Burma. It is the second largest town in Chin State. The town's four major boroughs (''vengte'') a ...
*
Paite
*
Gangte
Gangte is an ethnic group mainly living in the Indian state of Manipur. They belong to the Zo people and are parts of the Kuki or under Mizo tribe and are recognised a tribe of Manipur, India. They are also indigenous inhabitants of Mizoram, ...
*
Simte
*
Chiru
*
Sizang
*
Ralte
*
Vaiphei
*
Zo
*
Ngawn
Zomi languages
The ''Zomi'' languages refer to most of the Northern Kuki-Chin languages, excluding
Thado (Kuki) and a few other peripheral languages. ''Zomi'' is a cultural cover term that refers to speakers of languages such as
Tedim
Tedim (, , ( Zo: ''Tedim Khawpi'', pronounced ; is a town in and the administrative seat of Tedim Township, Chin State, in the north-western part of Burma. It is the second largest town in Chin State. The town's four major boroughs (''vengte'') a ...
,
Paite,
Simte,
Zou,
Vaiphei, and
Ralte. Organizations such as the Zomi Language & Literature Society (ZOLLS) in
Churachandpur, Manipur, India are currently working on developing a unified standard "Zomi" language.
[S. Dal Sian Pau. 2014. ''The comparative study of Proto-Zomi (Kuki-Chin) languages''. Lamka, Manipur, India: Zomi Language & Literature Society (ZOLLS).]
Classification
VanBik (2009:31) divides the Northern Kuki-Chin branch into two major
language cluster
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...
s, namely the ''Thado'' cluster and ''Sizang'' cluster.
*''Thado'' cluster:
Thado/
Kuki,
Tedim
Tedim (, , ( Zo: ''Tedim Khawpi'', pronounced ; is a town in and the administrative seat of Tedim Township, Chin State, in the north-western part of Burma. It is the second largest town in Chin State. The town's four major boroughs (''vengte'') a ...
, Khuangsai,
Paite, Vuite,
Chiru,
Zou,
Ralte
*''Sizang'' cluster:
Sizang/Siyin,
Guite
Guite is the progenitor clan of Mizo people He is also said to be the Older Brother of Thadou progenitor of the Thadou people. Mostly the Guite clan speak mizo language . Some known as Zomi and few also as kuki in India and as Zogam in Myanmar ...
/Nguite,
Vaiphei,
Zo
Sound changes
VanBik (2009) lists the following
sound change
A sound change, in historical linguistics, is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chang ...
s from Proto-Kuki-Chin to Proto-Northern Chin.
*Proto-Kuki-Chin *-r > Proto-Northern Chin *-''k''
*Proto-Kuki-Chin * θ- > Proto-Northern Chin *''ts''-
*Proto-Kuki-Chin *kl- > Proto-Northern Chin *''tl''-
Further reading
*S. Dal Sian Pau. 2014. ''The comparative study of Proto-Zomi (Kuki-Chin) languages''. Lamka, Manipur, India: Zomi Language & Literature Society (ZOLLS).
Paite,
Simte,
Thangkhal,
Zou, Kom language (India)">Kom
Kom or KOM may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Kom people (Afghanistan), a Nuristani tribe in Afghanistan and Pakistan
* Kom people (Cameroon), an ethnic group of northwest Cameroon
* Kom people (India) a subgroup of the Kuki in north-eastern India
* ...
,
Tedim
Tedim (, , ( Zo: ''Tedim Khawpi'', pronounced ; is a town in and the administrative seat of Tedim Township, Chin State, in the north-western part of Burma. It is the second largest town in Chin State. The town's four major boroughs (''vengte'') a ...
, and
Vaiphei]
References
*Button, Christopher. 2011. ''Proto Northern Chin''. STEDT Monograph 10. .
*Peterson, David. 2017. "On Kuki-Chin subgrouping." In Picus Sizhi Ding and Jamin Pelkey, eds. ''Sociohistorical linguistics in Southeast Asia: New horizons for Tibeto-Burman studies in honor of David Bradley'', 189-209. Leiden: Brill.
*VanBik, Kenneth. 2009. ''Proto-Kuki-Chin: A Reconstructed Ancestor of the Kuki-Chin Languages''. STEDT Monograph 8. .
{{Kuki-Chin–Naga languages
*