Patsho denotes both an indigenous Tibeto-Burman language of the Kuki-Chin-Naga cluster and its associated ethnolinguistic community, primarily centered in eastern Nagaland, India. The term exhibits referential polysemy: it functions as a toponym for Patsho Village—a high-population settlement in Noklak District serving as the community’s cultural heartland; a demonym for the village-originating ethnic group; and a glossonym for their native tongue. While the village anchors Patsho identity geographically and demographically, the label extends secondarily to diaspora populations maintaining linguistic and cultural ties to this nucleus.[2]
Typology
Patsho Khiamniungan is a Sino-Tibetan,[4] compound of two words. Patsho is a village in Nagaland and Khiamniungan refers to one of the major tribes in Nagaland.[5]
Phonology
The phonological inventory of Patsho Khiamniungan is as follows:
Patsho Khiamniungan has the following triphthongs:
iai, as in hiai,
iau as in hiauh, kiau,
uai, as in huai,kuai,
üie, as in khǖîe
uau, as in liuau,
uou, as in Tiuou,
oua, as in touap,
Grammar
Case marking
èi sōih-à jǖ-shíu-shī-ê.
1sg.ABS go.away-INF NEG-be.able-RSMPT-IRR
‘I won't be able to go away again.’
(AC4-20170109_KIX1-002)
ngǖ-ōh yôh nǜ hâkūtî vâuh tèu-nyê.
1SG-ERG pig DEM large rear keep-REAL
I am rearing a large pig
(AC4-20050127_KIX1_001)
nyǖ-ōh ātsòu èi jūa-ê tə)náihtǖ,
2SG-ERG really 1SG.ABS call-IRR COND
nyǖ-ōh ā-jāmsǖkōuh mèi-kǖ ā-hīe.
2SG-ERG 2SG.POSS-household good-SIM IMP-make
If you really plan to call me (to marry), then you set your [6]
Verbs
Conjugation
The verbs are not conjugated as in languages such as English and French by changing the desinence of words, but the tense (in a sentence) is clarified by the aspect and the addition of some particles, such as
-e (Irrealis mood suffix -encoding a hypothetical or predicted situation. ),
For example: Ei phu-e/I will come
nye (Realis mood - used to encode actualized events and states),
For example: Ei khu nye/I went
-shī (resumptive aspect-nominal suffix),
For example: Lü khushi/go again(lü-imperative prefix/mood)(authoritative command)
nyü (Prohibitive mood),
For example: Nyü khu/Don't go
ie (nominal suffix. reciprocal suffix),
For example: Nyü vei-ie/Don't fight
Pluralisation
Nouns are pluralized by suffixing -hoi, for example:
Noun
Plurals
Meaning
kheunyoh mietshou jamkei
kheunyohhoi mietshouhoi jamkeihoi
kheunyoh – human hoi-beings or group/mietshouhoi – kids or children/jamkeihoi- vehicles
Negation
For declarative sentences, negation is achieved by adding the particle jü (not) in the beginning or middle of a sentence. For example,
Sentence
Negation
Lamnyu shi je Lamnyu is coming
Lamnyu jüshi Lamnyu did not come
Sümieh nong-oh lüvok nü tsie-ie je Three divides six
Sümieh nong-oh lüvok nü jütsie-ie je Three does not divide six
Lamnyu shi je Lamnyu is coming
Jüshi Lamnyu to Lamnyu is not coming
-
Replication and transfer(cognitive schemas)
(1).
“Standard” Nagamese (Indo-Aryan):
kana hik-i-bole song learn-EP-INF6
‘to learn a song’
Patsho Khiamniungan (Konyakian):
tsūihāng līam-ā song search-INF
‘to learn a song’
Nagamese of Patsho Khiamniungan speakersː
kana pisar-i-bole song search-EP-INF
‘to learn a song
(2)
Mongsen Ao (Indo-Burmic):
tāŋ%āɹ tʃū nə) tə)-pāʔ khə) tə)-jā nə)t other DIST AGT RL-father CONJ RL-mother two tāŋ tʃū nə) wā-ə+ɹ, SIDE DIST ALL go-SEQ
‘Others went to the mother and father,…’
(lit. to the mother and father's side), (Coupe 2017, p. 290)
Patsho Khiamniungan (Konyakian):
lōhō mīe-nyù nǖ tōŋ-lè khù-shī-nyè. again girl-F DEM SIDE-LOC go-RPET-REAL
‘Again he went to the girl.’ (lit. … to the girl's side’)
Patsho Khiamniungan is a tonal, agglutinative and SOV language with postpositions. Adjectives, numerals and demonstratives comes after the nouns they modify, whilst relative clauses may be either externally or internally headed. Interrogative such as ateitsoh? appears after the noun or subject but the word mou? usually comes at the end, transforming the sentence into question.
It has undergone systematic orthographic development using the Latin script, resulting in published standardized writing conventions. This orthography serves as a foundation for pedagogical resources (e.g., primers, grammatical descriptions) and a lexicographic corpus (notably a descriptive dictionary), collectively constituting a language documentation and revitalization framework.[2][7]
Writing system
The Patsho Khiamniungan orthography employs a Latin-based script comprising twenty-seven graphemes. This system exhibits shallow orthographic depth, with grapheme-phoneme correspondences maintained through both monographic and multigraphic representations. Crucially, multigraphs function as single orthographic units despite comprising multiple glyphs: Basic Latin characters (e.g., t,s,h) represent distinct phonemes as monographs. The trigraph <tsh>, constitutes a single complex grapheme, representing a unitary phoneme (likely a voiceless alveolar affricate with aspiration /tsʰ/).[3]
Kheunyoh tshou apem mongthah kü kihie-a nühe avi nü kou tshah nye. Asheuh nong alianghie a shiuko nühe atshümuajün nü kou ok kiuh nye. Nongteiphie, tsak hei tsak ajujie a-ie kü nühe teisüniu tü kihie-a apouting noi nye.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience. Therefore, they should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
1 2 3 4 Patsho Range Students' Union (2023): Patsho Khiamniungan Orthography: Published by Patsho range students' Union in collaboration with Patsho Khiamniungan dictionary team
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