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Zo is a Northern Kuki-Chin-Mizo language originating in western Burma and spoken also in Mizoram and Manipur in northeastern India.
The Zo languages are a geographic and linguistic grouping within the Sino-Tibetan language family. This term is more factual and accurate than the widely used but imprecise term Kuki-Chin–Naga, which appears in James Matisoff's classification as a non-monophyletic branch of "Tibeto-Burman" used for convenience in Ethnologue. The genealogical relationships within the Zo languages, and their connections to the broader Sino-Tibetan family, remain unresolved and require further research.
Lai, Laiholh is a Kuki-Chin language spoken in central Chin State in Myanmar, and Lawngtlai district of Mizoram, India. Hakha Chin-speaking minorities are also found in the Sagaing and Magway Regions of Myanmar, and in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of southeastern Bangladesh by the Bawm minority.
The Ao or Central Naga languages are a small family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken by various Naga peoples of Nagaland in northeast India. Conventionally classified as "Naga", they are not clearly related to other Naga languages, and are conservatively classified as an independent branch of Sino-Tibetan, pending further research. There are around 607,000 speakers of the languages in total.
The Chin-Kuki-Mizo,are a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family spoken in northeastern India, western Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh. Most notable Chin-Kuki-Mizo speaking ethnic groups are referred to collectively as the Zo people which includes: the Kuki of Manipur and the Mizo of Mizoram, Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Bangladesh and the Chin of Chin state,Myanmar.
The Lai languages or Pawih/Pawi languages are various Central Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages spoken by the Lai people or Pawi. They include “ Laiṭong” (Falam-Chin) spoken in Falam district, Laiholh (Hakha-Chin) spoken around the Haka (Hakha/Halkha) capital of Chin State in Burma (Myanmar) and in the Lawngtlai district of Mizoram, India. In Bangladesh, a related language is spoken by the Bawm people. Other Lai languages are Mi-E, and the Zokhua dialect of Hakha Lai spoken in Zokhua village.
Kheyang is the exonym of the Hyow. There Kheyang or the Hyow (খিয়াং), are a group of indigenous people inhabiting in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and the Rakhine State of Myanmar. The Khyang are one of the smallest ethnic groups in Bangladesh with a population of only 4,826 according to the 2022 census.
Proto-Tibeto-Burman is the reconstructed ancestor of the Tibeto-Burman languages, that is, the Sino-Tibetan languages, except for Chinese. An initial reconstruction was produced by Paul K. Benedict and since refined by James Matisoff. Several other researchers argue that the Tibeto-Burman languages sans Chinese do not constitute a monophyletic group within Sino-Tibetan, and therefore that Proto-Tibeto-Burman was the same language as Proto-Sino-Tibetan.
Senthang is a Kuki-Chin-Mizo language of Burma. The Senthang dialects share 79% to 95% lexical similarity.
Sakachep also known as Khelma, is a Central Kuki-Chin-Mizo language of Northeast India. Dialects are Khelma, Thangachep, and Sakachep (Ethnologue). VanBik (2009) classifies Sakachep as closely related to Aimol, Anal, Chiru, Kharam, Koireng(Koren), Kom, Lamkang, Purum, Biate, Chorei, Ranglong, Molsom, Hrangkhol, Kaipeng, Bongcher and Thiek-Hmar.
Shö is a Kuki-Chin language dialect cluster of Burma and Bangladesh. There are perhaps three distinct dialects, Asho (Khyang), Chinbon, and Shendu.
Thor, also known as Tawr, Laamtuk Thet, or Ruavan Thet, is a Kuki-Chin language spoken in two villages of Hakha Township, Chin State, Myanmar.
Ranglong is an ethnic people belonging to the Kuki people. The majority of the Ranglong people live in a small and densely-packed area in the northeastern part of India, mainly in the border areas of Tripura, Assam and Mizoram.
Mruic or Mru–Hkongso is a small group of Sino-Tibetan languages consisting of two languages, Mru and Anu-Hkongso. Their relationship within Sino-Tibetan is unclear.
The Northwestern Kuki-Chin languages, originally called Old Kuki languages, is a branch of Kuki-Chin languages.
Northern Kuki-Chin is a branch of Kuki-Chin languages. It is called Northeastern Kuki-Chin by Peterson (2017) to distinguish it from the Northwestern Kuki-Chin languages. VanBik (2009:31) also calls the branch Northern Chin or Zo.
Central Kuki-Chin is a branch of the Kuki-Chin languages. Central Kuki-Chin languages are spoken primarily in Mizoram, India and in Hakha Township and Falam Township of Chin State, Myanmar.
Southern Kuki-Chin is a branch of Kuki-Chin languages. They are spoken mostly in southern Chin State, Myanmar and in southeastern Bangladesh.
The Hmaric languages or Hmar languages are a subbranch of the Kukish-Mizo branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family which comprises Hmar proper Țhiek/Thriek, Saihriem (Faihriem), Leiri, Dulien/Duhlian(a sub-clan of Faihriem) and others. The Hmar languages are often treated as dialects of a single language, since differences between them are reportedly minor. The speakers of the language are also known as Hmar.
The Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus was a linguistics research project hosted at the University of California at Berkeley. The project, which focused on Sino-Tibetan historical linguistics, started in 1987 and lasted until 2015.
References
- 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. ISBN 0-944613-47-0.
Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
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| Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim) |
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| Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal) | |||||
| Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border |
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| East and Southeast Asia |
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| Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal) |
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| Proposed groupings | |||||
| Proto-languages | |||||
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches. | |||||