Northeastern Kuki-Chin languages
Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Myanmar and Northeast India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Northeastern Kuki-Chin is a branch of Kuki-Chin languages. It was formerly called Northern Kuki-Chin, but renamed to distinguish it from the Northwestern Kuki-Chin languages.[1] VanBik also calls the branch Northern Chin or Zo.[2]
distributionMyanmar and Northeast India
- Tibeto-Burman
- Central Tibeto-Burman (?)
- Kuki-Chin–Naga
- Kuki-Chin
- Northeastern Kuki-Chin
- Kuki-Chin
- Kuki-Chin–Naga
- Central Tibeto-Burman (?)
| Northeastern Kuki-Chin | |
|---|---|
| Northern Kuki-Chin Northern Chin | |
| Geographic distribution | Myanmar and Northeast India |
| Linguistic classification | Sino-Tibetan
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | nort3179 (Northeastern Kuki-Chin) |
These languages are spoken in northern parts of Chin State in Myanmar, and various parts of Northeast India, most notably in the state of Manipur.
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.
Tedim is the local lingua franca of northern Chin State, Myanmar, while Paite (also known as Zokam) is the local lingua franca of some parts of Churachandpur Town while Thadou is the lingua franca of most of the areas inhabited by the non-Nagas of Manipur.
Classification
Sound changes
VanBik (2009) lists the following sound changes 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-