Northeastern Kuki-Chin languages

Northeastern Kuki-Chin
Northern Kuki-Chin Northern Chin
Geographic distribution	Myanmar and Northeast India
Linguistic classification	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Central Tibeto-Burman (?) Kuki-Chin–Naga Kuki-Chin Northeastern Kuki-Chin
Language codes
Glottolog	nort3179  (Northeastern Kuki-Chin)
ELP

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. VanBik (2009:31) also calls the branch Northern Chin or Zo.

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.

• Thado (Kuki)
• Tedim
• Paite
• Gangte
• Simte
• Chiru
• Sizang
• Ralte
• Vaiphei
• Zou
• Ngawn

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

VanBik (2009:31) divides the Northern Kuki-Chin branch into two major language clusters, namely the Thado cluster and Sizang cluster.

• Thado cluster: Thado/Kuki, Tedim, Khuangsai, Paite, Vuite, Chiru, Zou, Ralte
• Sizang cluster: Sizang/Siyin, Guite/Nguite, Vaiphei, Zou

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-

Bibliography

• Button, Christopher. 2011. Proto Northern Chin. STEDT Monograph 10. .
• Pau, S. Dal Sian. 2014. The comparative study of Proto-Zomi (Kuki-Chin) languages. Lamka, Manipur, India: Zomi Language & Literature Society (ZOLLS). [Comparative word list of Paite, Simte, Thangkhal, Zou, Kom, Tedim, and Vaiphei]
• 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. .