Hakha Chin language

Hakha Chin
Laiholh
Native to	Myanmar, India, Bangladesh[1]
Ethnicity	Chin
Native speakers	170,000 (2011–2017)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Central Tibeto-Burman (?) Kuki-Chin-Naga Kuki-Chin Central Lai Hakha Chin
Writing system	Latin Mon–Burmese
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cnh
Glottolog	haka1240
ELP	Hakha Chin

Hakha Chin, or Laiholh, is a Kuki-Chin language spoken by 446,264 people, mostly in Myanmar.^[1] In Mizoram, the language is recognized as Pawi. The total figure includes 2,000 Zokhua and 60,100 Hakha speakers.^[1] The speakers are largely concentrated in Chin State in western Myanmar and Mizoram in eastern India, with a small number of speakers in south-eastern Bangladesh.

Distribution

The Hakha Chin (Lai) speakers are largely in Chin State, Burma and Mizoram in Northeast India, with a small number of speakers in south-eastern Bangladesh. Nowadays, more than fifty thousand Hakha Chin speakers are living in the Western countries, such as Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, and the United States, as well as Australia and New Zealand.^{[citation needed]}

Mutual intelligibility

Hakha Chin serves as a lingua franca in most parts of Chin State and is a native language in Hakha, Thantlang, and parts of Matupi. Derived from the same Lai dialect and sharing 85% of their phonology, Falam Chin speakers can easily communicate with Hakha speakers. As the capital of Chin State, Hakha provides government employment and business opportunities to people living elsewhere in Chin State. These people live here temporarily or permanently, and their families eventually learn how to speak Lai holh (Hakha).

The Chin people use Latin script (Hakha alphabet) as their writing system.

Phonology

Syllable structure

Words in the Hakha Chin language are predominantly monosyllabic with some sesqui syllables featuring a "reduced syllable".^[2] Full syllables are either open or closed with a rising, falling, or low tone.^{[citation needed]}

Consonants

The Hakha Chin language differentiates between voiced, voiceless, and voiceless aspirated obstruents. Additionally, two sets of sonorants are realised.^[3]

		Labial	Alveolar		Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			central	lateral
Nasal	voiced	m	n				ŋ
	voiceless	m̥	n̥				ŋ̊
Plosive	tenuis	p	t		ʈ		k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		ʈʰ		kʰ
	voiced	b	d				(ɡ)
Affricate	tenuis		t͡s	tɬ
	aspirated		t͡sʰ	tɬʰ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s					h
	voiced	v	z
Liquid	voiced		r	l
	voiceless		r̥	l̥
Semivowel		w				j

Consonants allowed in syllable codas are /p, t, k, m, n, ŋ, l, r, j, w/.

Consonants /m, n, ŋ, l, r/ occurring in syllable-final position may also occur as glottalized [mˀ, nˀ, ŋˀ, lˀ, rˀ].^[4]

The unattested parent language, Proto-Chin, featured a voiced velar plosive ɡ. The phoneme itself was lost in all of its daughter languages, due to a spirantisation to ɣ, which a labialisation followed afterwards.^[3] Only certain loanwords, not native words, have the voiced velar plosive.

In the Hakha alphabet, ⟨h⟩ transcribes the glottal fricative in initial position, but a glottal stop in coda position.^[5] Voiceless approximants are distinguished in writing from their voiced counterparts with a prefixed ⟨h⟩.

Vowels

The Hakha language features seven vowels which may be long or short. Allophones occur for closed syllables.^[3]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		ɔ
Open		a

In final position, /e/ can be heard as [ɛ].^[4]

The Hakha language also features diphthongs.^[3]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	ia   iu		ui   ua
Mid	ei   eu		ɔi
Open		ai   au

Grammar

Hakha-Chin is a subject-object-verb (SOV) language, and negation follows the verb.

Literacy and literature

Literacy rates are lower for older generations and higher in younger generations.^[1] The Hakha-Chin language uses the Latin script and reportedly the Pau Cin Hau script, unlike most languages of India and Bangladesh which use Devanagari or other Southeast Asian alphabets. Between 1978 and 1999, the Bible was translated into the language.^[1]

Distribution

The Hakha-Chin language is also known as Haka, Baung-shè, and Lai in Burma, India, and Bangladesh.^[1] The Hakha-Chin people are largely members of the Lai tribe. In India, they are a Scheduled Tribe, which means the government recognizes them as a distinct people. As they mostly live in hilly or even mountainous remote areas, most Hakha-Chin speakers rely on swidden agriculture.^[1] Hakha-Chin speakers are predominantly Christian.^[1]

Burma

As of 1991, there were 100,000 Hakha-Chin speakers in Burma.^[1] Dialects vary from village to village.

Bangladesh

As of 2000, there were 1,264 Hakha-Chin speakers in Bangladesh.^[1] In Bangladesh, the Senthang dialect Shonshe is spoken and it may be a language in its own right.^[1]

India

As of 1996, there were 345,000 Hakha-Chin speakers in India, mostly in the Lawngtlai, Lunglei, and Aizawl districts of Mizoram as well as the southernmost tip of Assam.^[1] In India, the language is also known as Lai Pawi and Lai Hawlh and is taught in some primary schools. Most of its younger speakers in India are literate.^[1]

Bibliography

• Peterson, David A. (2003). "Hakha Lai" In Graham Thurgood and Randy J. LaPolla, eds. The Sino-Tibetan Languages, 409–426. London: Routledge

See also

• Lai languages
• Lai people

References

External links

Western Himalayas
(Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim)

Greater Magaric	Magaric Magar Kham Chepangic Chepang Bhujel Raji–Raute Dura–Tandrange

Eastern Himalayas
(Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal)Myanmar and Indo-Burmese border

"Naga"	Ao Angami–Pochuri Meitei Tangkhulic Zeme
Sal	Boro–Garo Konyak Jingpho–Luish

East and Southeast Asia

Burmo-Qiangic	Qiangic Gyalrongic Ersuic Naic Lolo-Burmese Mondzish Burmish Loloish

Dubious (possible isolates)
(Arunachal)

Greater Siangic	Siangic Koro Milang Idu–Taraon

Proposed groupingsProto-languages