Mizo Grammar

Mizo grammar is the grammar of the Mizo language, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by about a million people in Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, Burma and Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. It is a highly inflected language, with fairly complex noun phrase structure and word modifications. Nouns and pronouns are declined, and phrasal nouns also undergo an analogous declension.

Word order

Mizo declarative word order is Object-subject-verb, as in:

Nouns

There is no grammatical gender in Mizo language, although some animals, birds etc. have names which contain one of the suffixes ''-nu'', which means ''female'', or ''-pa'' which means ''male''. Examples include ''chingpirinu'' (a type of big owl), ''kawrnu'' (a type of cicada), ''thangfènpa'' (a nocturnal bird).Chhangte, Lalnunthangi,
The Grammar of Simple Clauses in Mizo
'

Non-derived nouns

Mizo is an agglutinative language in which it is rare to find morphologically simple, non-derived nouns. However, common everyday objects and domestic animals tend to fall in this category, that is, the category of morphologically simple, non-derived nouns. For example,

Derived nouns

The most common form of noun is that of derived, morphologically complex, poly-syllabic nouns. Most abstract nouns belong to this category, and so do wild animals and other less common objects. Examples include

Pluralisation

Nouns are pluralised by the addition of one of the suffixes ''-te'', ''-ho'', ''-teho'' and ''-hote''. However, a non-pluralised noun can have the sense of a pluralised noun, and common nouns are usually not pluralised, as in:

Here ''sava'' is not pluralised to ''savate'' or ''savaho''; rather, ''sava'' functions as a plural.

Declension of nouns

Nouns are declined into cases as follows (here we show the tones in accordance with the usage i
Mizo Wiktionary
which is an extension of the common usage in Mizo newspapers such as Vanglaini and monthlies such as ''Lengzem chanchinbu''):This usage adapts Zoppen Club's usage.

Proper nouns are also declined in the same manner:

Nominalisation

Verbs and adjectives are nominalised by suffixing ''-na'', and adjectives can also be nominalised by suffixing ''-zia''. For example:

When ''-na'' is suffixed to a transitive verb then the resulting noun means either ''the instrument with which the action described by the verb is achieved'', or ''the object/sufferer of the action'' or ''the point of action of the verb''. For example, ''vùa'' means ''to beat/strike with a stick'', and ''vûakna'' means ''a whip'', ''an object with which one can beat'', or ''a point or place where the beating takes place'', ''a point where something is beaten''.

When ''-na'' is suffixed to an intransitive verb, then the resulting noun means ''a place etc. through which the action can take place''. For example, ''kal'' means ''to go'', ''kalna'' means ''where something/someone goes or can go'', ''way'', ''path''. For example:

When ''-zia'' is suffixed to an adjective, the resulting noun means ''the condition of having the quality described by the adjective''. For example, ''süal'' means ''evil'', ''sùalzìa means ''sinfulness'', ''evilness''.

Agentiviser

The suffix ''-tu'' in Mizo ṭawng is equivalent to the suffix ''-er'' or ''-or'' in English, as in:

Pronouns

Forms

All Mizo pronouns occur in two forms, namely in free form and clitic form:

The free form is mostly used for emphasis, and has to be used in conjunction with either the clitic form or an appropriate pronominal particle, as shown in the following examples:
# Kei (=''I'' free form) ka (=''I'' clitic form)lo tel ve kher a ngai em?. This is a somewhat emphatic way of saying ''Ka lo tel ve kher a ngai em?''
# Nangni (=''you'' pl., free form) in (''you'' pl., clitic form) zo tawh em? This is a somewhat emphatic way of saying ''Nangni in zo tawh em?''
# Ani (''he/she'') a (''s/he'') kal ve chuan a ṭha lo vang.

The clitic form is also used as a genitive form of the pronoun.

Declension

Mizo pronouns, like Mizo nouns, are declined into cases as follows:

Adjectives

Attributive

Mizo adjectives (Mizo: ''hrilhfiahna''), when used attributively, follow the nouns they describe, as follows:

Predicative

When used predicatively, Mizo adjectives are syntactically verbs, being usually preceded by the subject pronoun clitics, as in:

In these two sentences, ''a'' is the subject pronoun clitic, and the adjectives ''fel'' and ''ṭha'' function as verbs (syntactically).

Adjective sequences

When adjectives follow each other, the preferred order is the following:
# color
# quality or opinion
# size
# shape
as in
:''Puan sen (color) mawi (quality) hlai (size) bial (shape) deuh.''

Quantifiers

The most common quantifiers in Mizo ṭawng are ''zawng zawng'' (all/each and every), ''ṭhenkhat'' (some f a whole, ''väi'' (all/every), ''zà'' (all/every). Some examples are given below:

Verbs

Occurrence

Verbs ( Mizo: thiltih) and verb phrases occur last in a sentence. Since adjectives can function as verbs, it is common in sentences to have no true verb, as in:
:''A fel vek mai ang''
:''A dik vêl vek!''
In these two sentences, the adjectives ''fel'' and ''dik'' function syntactically as verbs, and there are no other verbs in either of them.

Tense

Mizo verbs are not conjugated by changing the desinence. The tense is clarified by the ''aspect'' and the addition of conjugating particles, such as
*''ang'' (for forming simple future),
*''tawh'' (for forming simple past and past perfect),
*''mék'' (for forming progressive tenses, present and past),
*''dáwn'' (for forming simple future),
*''dáwn mék'' (for forming near future),
etc.

Adverbs

Occurrence

Adverbs usually follow the verbs or adjectives they describe.

Notes and references

:''Others:''
:# Dokhuma, James, ''Mizo ṭawng kalphung''
:# Zoppen club, ''Mizo ṭawng thumal thar'', 2011.
:# SCERT, ''Mizo grammar and composition'', cl XI & XII textbooks.

{{language grammars
Mizo language
Sino-Tibetan grammars