Shö language
Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar, Bangladesh and India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shö, or Asho, is a Kuki-Chin language of Myanmar, with a few thousand speakers in Bangladesh.
A written script was developed by Rev. Lyman Stilson in 1842.[2]
Geographical distribution
Asho is spoken in Ayeyarwady Region, Bago Region, and Magway Region, and Rakhine State, Myanmar. VanBik (2009:38)[3] lists the following Asho dialects.
Phonology
Asho (K'Chò) has 26 to 30 consonants and ten to eleven vowels depending on the dialect.
- Voiced plosives /b d ɡ z/ are only heard in the Plains dialect.
- In the Plains dialect, dental plosives /t̪ t̪ʰ/ are pronounced as alveolar [t tʰ], along with /d/ being only alveolar.
- Velar plosives /k kʰ/ may be palatalized as affricates [tʃ tʃʰ] before front vowels.
- In some dialects a voiceless [j̊] is heard in place of /ʃ/.
- /j/ may also be heard as a fricative [ʒ] in free variation among dialects.
Diphthongs: ei, ai, au
- Sounds /ʏ ʉ/ only occur in the Hill dialect. In the Plains dialect, /ʊ u/ is heard in place of /ʏ ʉ/.
- A shortened [ə̆] is heard in unstressed syllables.
- /ɤ/ can sometimes be heard as more central [ɘ].
- A prevelarized /ˠi/ occurs in the Plains dialect.
Morphology
Similar to other Kukish languages, many Asho verbs have two distinct stems. This stem alternation is a Proto-Kukish feature, which has been retained to different degrees in different Kukish languages.[5]
