Jingpo language

Jingpho (''Jinghpaw'', ''Chingp'o'', ''Jìngphòʔ gà'' / ဈိာင်ဖေါစ်) or Kachin ( my, ကချင်ဘာသာ, ), is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sal branch mainly spoken in Kachin State, Burma and Yunnan, China. There are many meanings for Jingpho. In the Jingpho language, Jingpho means people or Jinghpho tribe. The term "Kachin language" can refer either to the Jingpho language or to a group of languages spoken by various ethnic groups in the same region as Jingpo: Lisu, Lashi, Rawang, Zaiwa, Lhao Vo, Achang and Jingpho. These languages are from distinct branches of the highest level of the Tibeto-Burman family. The Jingpho alphabet is based on the Latin script.

The ethnic Jingpho (or Kachin) are the primary speakers of Jingpho language, numbering approximately 900,000 speakers. The Turung of Assam in India speak a Jingpho dialect with many Assamese loanwords, called '' Singpho''.

Jingpho syllable finals can consist of vowels, nasals or oral stops.

Dialects

There are at least 16 Jingphoish (Kachinic) varieties (Kurabe 2014:59). The demographic and location information listed below is drawn from Kurabe (2014). Standard Jingpho and Nkhum are the best described varieties, whereas the Jingphoish varieties of India have been recently documented by Stephen Morey. Jingphoish varieties in northern Kachin State remain little described.

The ''Ethnologue'' lists Duleng (Dalaung, Dulong), Dzili (Jili), Hkaku (Hka-Hku), and Kauri (Gauri, Guari, Hkauri). According to the Ethnologue, Dzili might be a separate language, whereas Hkaku and Kauri are only slightly different.

Other underdescribed Jingphoish varieties include Mungji and Zawbung. Shanke is a recently described language closely related to Jingpho, although its speakers identify themselves as Naga.

Southern

*Standard Jingpho is the standard variety of Jingpho as used among the Kachin people in Myanmar, as well as by non-Kachin ethnic minorities in Kachin State. Most speakers live in Kachin State, though some live in Shan State and Sagaing Division. It is spoken primarily in Myitkyina, Bhamo, and Kutkai. Younger generations tend to pronounce and as and , contrasting them with (). Standard Jingpho as spoken in Shan State often has ''ʔə''- added to monosyllabic words, and also places the interrogative particle ''ʔi'' before verbs.
*Nkhum / Enkun 恩昆 (') is spoken in Lianghe, Ruili, Longchuan, and Luxi counties of Yunnan, China. It is the most widely spoken Jingpho dialect in China. The Nkhum dialect displays tense-lax register contrast, whereas Shadan does not. Although the Shadan dialect frequently has -ŋ, Nkhum often does not. The ''Tongbiguan 铜壁关'' variety of Nkhum is used as the Jingpho standard variety in China. Small pockets of speakers are also found in Gengma County.
*Shadan / Shidan 石丹 ('; ') is spoken in Yunnan, China. It is spoken in the townships of Kachang 卡昌 and Taiping 太平 (in Getong 格同 of Mengzhi 蒙支, Zhengtonghong 正通硔, and Longpen 龙盆), located in Yingjiang County 盈江县.
*Gauri / Khauri (') is spoken in the Gauri Hills, located to the east of Bhamo. Villages include Prang Hkudung, Man Dau, Hkarawm Kawng, Manda, Ka Daw, Lamai Bang, Bum Wa, Ma Htang, Jahkai, and Loi Ming. In China, Gauri is spoken by about 300 people in Hedao 贺岛 and Hongka 硔卡 villages of Longchuan County, and in Kachang 卡场镇 of Yingjiang County.
*Mengzhi 蒙支 (') is spoken by about 200 people in the two villages of Getong 格同 and Zhengtongyou 正通猶 in Mengzhi 蒙支, Yingjiang County 盈江县.
*Thingnai is spoken near Mohnyin, southern Kachin State.

Small pockets of Jingpho speakers are also scattered across Gengma County 耿马县, including the following villages (Dai Qingxia 2010). Dai (2010) also includes 1,000-word vocabulary lists of the Yingjiang 盈江, Xinzhai 新寨, and Caoba 草坝 dialects.
*Jingpo Xinzhai 景颇新寨, Mangkang Village 芒抗村, Hepai Township 贺派乡
*Nalong 那拢组, Nongba Village 弄巴村, Gengma Town 耿马镇
*Hewen 贺稳组, Jingxin Village 景信村, Mengding Town 孟定镇
*Hebianzhai 河边寨, Qiushan Village 邱山村, Mengding Town 孟定镇
*Caobazhai 草坝寨, Mang'ai Village 芒艾村, Mengding Town 孟定镇

Northeastern

*Dingga: a recently discovered Jingpho variety spoken near Putao, Kachin State, in the villages of Ding Ga, Ding Ga Gabrim, Tsa Gung Ga, Layang Ga, Dai Mare, and Mărawt Ga. These villages are all located between the Shang Hka and Da Hka rivers in northern Kachin State. There are between 2,000 and 3,000 speakers.
*Duleng (') is spoken near Putao, in Machanbaw, and in the Nam Tisang valley of Kachin State. The only published description is that of Yue (2006).
*Dingphan is spoken near Putao, Kachin State.
*Jilí / Dzili
*Khakhu is spoken near Putao, Kachin State.
*Shang is spoken near Putao, Kachin State.
*Tsasen is spoken in northwestern Kachin State.

Northwestern

Singpho (Northwestern Jingphoish) varieties of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, India include the following.
*Diyun is spoken in India.
*Numphuk is spoken by about 2,000 speakers in 20 villages, including Ingthong, Ketetong, Inthem, Kumsai, Bisa, Wagun 1, Wagun 2, Wagun 3, Wakhet Na, Kherem Bisa, Guju, and Giding. These villages are situated along the Burhi Dihing river in Assam, which is called the Numhpuk Hka river in Numphuk.
*Tieng is spoken in India.
*Turung is spoken by about 1,200 speakers mainly in the Titabor area (in the 3 villages of Pathargaon (Na Kthong), Tipomia, and Pahukatia) and the Dhonsiri river valley (in the villages of Balipathar, Rengmai, and Basapathar). There are many Tai loanwords in Turung. Some Turung speakers also self-identify as ethnic Tai.

Internal classification

Kurabe (2014) classifies seven Jingphoish dialects as follows.
*Proto-Jingpho
**Southern
***''Gauri'' (''Khauri'')
***''Standard Jingpho'', ''Nkhum'' (''Enkun'')
**Northern
***Northwestern
****''Numphuk''
****''Turung''
***Northeastern
****''Duleng''
****''Dingga''

The Southern branch is characterized the loss of Proto-Jingpho final stop *-k in some lexical items. The Northern branch is characterized by the following mergers of Proto-Jingpho phonemes (Kurabe 2014:60).
* *ts- and *c-
* *dz- and *j-
* *ʔy- and *∅- (before front vowels)
*merger of Proto-Jingpho plain and preglottalized sonorants

Grammar

Jingpho has verbal morphology that marks the subject and the direct object. Here is one example (the tonemes are not marked). The verb is 'to be' (rai).

Phonology

The following is in Standard Jingpho:

Consonants

* is only marginal and often appears in loanwords.
* can also be heard as a fricative .

Vowels

Tones

Jingpho has four tones in open syllables, and two tones in closed syllables (high and low). Tones are not usually marked in writing, although they can be transcribed using diacritics as follows:

Vocabulary

The Jingpho lexicon contains a large number of words of both Tibeto-Burman and non-Tibeto-Burman stock, including Burmese and Shan. Burmese loan words reflect two stratas, an older stratum reflecting the phonology of conservative written Burmese, and a newer stratum reflecting words drawn from modern Burmese phonology. The older strata consist of vocabulary borrowed from Burmese via Shan, which also exhibits the pre-modern phonology of Burmese vocabulary. Jingpho has also borrowed a large number of lexical items from Shan, with which it has been in close ethnolinguistic contact for several centuries. Jingpho, as the lingua franca in the northern highlands of Myanmar, has in turn been the source language of vocabulary into other regional languages like Rawang and Zaiwa.

Orthography

The Jingpho writing system is a Latin-based alphabet consisting of 23 letters, and very little use of diacritical marks, originally created by American Baptist missionaries in the late 19th century. It is considered one of the simplest writing systems of the Tibeto-Burman languages, as other languages utilise their own alphabets, such as abugidas or syllabary.

Ola Hanson, one of the first people to establish an alphabet, arrived in Myanmar in 1890, learnt the language and wrote the first Kachin–English dictionary. In 1965, the alphabet was reformed to distinguish further consonants.

Initials

* k.y – .j* n-g – .g* pf – f~ʰp* p.y – .j

Finals

Burmese orthography

Jingpho is also written in the Burmese alphabet.

Consonants

* ဗ – b – * ပ – p – * ဖ – hp – ʰ* မ – m – * ဝ – w – * ဒ – d – * တ – t – * ထ – ht – ʰ* န – n – * ည – ny – ʲ* စ – s – ~sʰ* ၡ – sh – �* ရ – r – �~ʒ* လ – l – * ယ – y – * ဇ – z – ͡s* သ – ts – ͡sʰ* ဆ – ch – ͡ɕ* ဈ – j – ͡ʑ* ဂ – g – * က – k – * ခ – hk – ʰ* င – ng – �* ဟ – h – * အ – ' – �
* ပ် – pf – f~ʰp
* ဖွ – f – * ွ – -w- – ʷ-* ြ – -r- – ᶼ-* ျ – -y- – ʲ-

Vowels

ais the inherent vowel in every syllable.
* ိ – i – * ု – u – * ေ – e – * ေါ – o –
* ဝ် – -u – u* ယ် – -i – i

Other diacritics

* ာ – tone
* ် – marks final consonant by silencing aref name="Omniglot" />

Other diacritics

* ာ – tone
* ် – marks final consonant by silencing aref name="Omniglot" />

References

Bibliography

* 景颇语-汉语词典 ''Jingpoyu – Hanyu cidian'' / Jingpho–Chinese dictionary, 戴庆夏 Dai Qingxia et al.
* 景颇语语法 ''Jingpoyu yufa'' / Jingpho Grammar, 戴庆夏 Dai Qingxia et al.
* ''Structures élémentaires de la parenté'', de Claude Lévi-Strauss, devotes a chapter to the study of parenthood in the Jingpho ethnicity.
* Inglish, Douglas. 2005
A Preliminary Ngochang – Kachin – English Lexicon
Payap University, Graduate School, Linguistics Department.
* Kurabe, Keita. 2014. "Phonological inventories of seven Jingphoish languages and dialects." In ''Kyoto University Linguistic Research'' 33: 57–88, Dec 2014.
* Kurabe, Keita. 2013. Kachin folktales told in Jinghpaw. Collection KK1 at catalog.paradisec.org.au pen Access https://dx.doi.org/10.4225/72/59888e8ab2122
* Kurabe, Keita. 2017. Kachin culture and history told in Jinghpaw. Collection KK2 at catalog.paradisec.org.au pen Access https://dx.doi.org/10.26278/5fa1707c5e77c

External links

*Glottolog , Jingph

*Ethnologue , Jingph

*OLAC resources , Kachi

*PARADISEC , Kachin folktales told in Jinghpa

*PARADISEC , Kachin culture and history told in Jinghpa
Akyu Hpyi Laika: Jinghpaw Service Book
(Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Jinghpaw, 1957) digitized by Richard Mammana

{{Sal languages

Sal languages
Languages of China
Languages of Myanmar
Jingpo people