Tangsa language

Last updated
Tangsa
𖪰𖩵𖪂𖪫𖩸
Shukla Tangsa.svg
The word 'Gehay' (Dog) in Tangsa script
Native to Burma, India
Ethnicity Tangsa people
Native speakers
110,000 (2010-2012) [1]
Sino-Tibetan
Dialects
  • Muklom
  • Pangwa Naga
  • Ponthai
  • Tikhak
Latin alphabet, Tangsa alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Variously:
nst   Tangsa (multiple varieties)
nqq   Kyan-Karyaw
nlq   Lao Naga
Glottolog tang1379   Tangsa

Tangsa, also known as Tase and Tase Naga, is a Sino-Tibetan language or language cluster spoken by the Tangsa people of Burma and north-eastern India. Some varieties, such as Shangge (Shanke [2] ), are likely distinct languages. There are about 60,000 speakers in Burma and 40,000 speakers in India. The dialects of Tangsa have disparate levels of lexical similarity, ranging from 35%–97%. [3]

Contents

Geographical distribution

Tangsa is spoken in the following locations of Myanmar: [1]

In India, Tangsa is spoken in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Below are locations for some varieties of Tangsa.

Ethnologue also lists the following languages: [1]

Dialects

There are four principal varieties:

Morey (2017)

Within Tangsa, the Pangwa group has about 20 subgroups in India. The Pangwa had migrated from Myanmar to India in the 20th century (Morey 2017). Pangwa subgroups are listed below, with autonyms listed in parentheses, where superscript digits are language-specific tone-marks. [8]

  • Tonglum (autonym: cho¹lim¹, ʨolim, Cholim)
  • Langching (autonym: lo²cʰaŋ³, loʨʰaŋ, Lochhang)
  • Kimsing (autonym: ʨamʨaŋ, Chamchang)
  • Ngaimong (autonym: ŋaimɔŋ)
  • Maitai (maitai; Motai)
  • Ronrang (autonym: rɯra, Rera, Rüra)
  • Sangkhe
  • Lakkai (Lakki)
  • Mossang (Mueshaung)
  • Morang (Mungray)
  • Hachheng (Hacheng)
  • Khalak (Khilak)
  • Longri
  • Sangwal
  • Jogly (Joglei)
  • Lungkhe
  • Haso
  • Dunghi

The Tikhak group consists of: [8]

Other subgroups that do not belong to either the Pangwa or Tikhak groups are: [8]

Besides Pangwa and Tikhak, other Tangsa groups are: [9]

Lann (2018)

Lann (2018:8) classifies the Tangsa language varieties as follows, and recognizes 11 subgroups. [10] IPA transcriptions for dialect names are also provided (Lann 2018:4-6), where superscript digits are language-specific tone-marks. [11]

Lann (2018:4) lists the Aktung, Angsü-Angsa, Giiyii, Gawngkaq, Khangcyu, Khangdo, Kumgaq, Punlam, Nukyaq, and Vangtak-Vangkaq dialects as being extinct or nearly extinct. [12]

Kaisan is a Northern Naga language variety spoken in several villages (including the village of Kaisan Chálám) in the Patkai area of Sagaing Region, Myanmar, as well as in Arunachal Pradesh, India. [13]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m(n̪)nɲŋ
Plosive voicelessptkʔ
aspiratedt̪ʰ
voicedbdɡ
Affricate voicelesst͡st͡ɕ
aspiratedt͡ɕʰ
Fricative voicelesssʃxh
voicedβ ~ wʒ ~ j(ɣ)
Approximant centralɹ
laterall

Vowels

Vowels in the Mueshaungx dialect
Front Central Back
Close iɯu
Close-mid eəɤo
Open-mid ɔ
Open a

There are 12 diphthongs, noted as: /ui/; /ɯi, ɯu/; /əi, əu/; /oi/; /ɔə, ɔəi/; /ɤi, ɤu/; /ai, au/. [14]

Vowels in the Muklom dialect [15]
Front Central Back
Close iɨu, uː
Close-mid e
Open-mid ɛʌɔ, ɔː
Open a

Orthography

Tangsa
Script type
CreatorLakhum Mossang
Published
1990
LanguagesTangsa
ISO 15924
ISO 15924 Tnsa(275),Tangsa
Unicode
Unicode alias
Tangsa
U+16A70U+16ACF

In 1990, Mr. Lakhum Mossang from Namphai Nong, Arunachal Pradesh in India created an alphabet for the Tangsa language. He taught the alphabet in public events and festivals, and promoted the script with community organisations and schools. In 2021, there were about 100 people who are using the script. [16] The Tangsa Script Development Committee was founded in 2019 and continues development of the script after the passing of Lakhum Mossang in order ensure accommodation to the wide range of Tangsa varieties spoken in the region. The script has not yet gained widespread adoption.

Beyond the use of Lakhum Mossang's script, Tangsa varieties are generally written in the Latin alphabet with multiple different spelling conventions in use. One such Roman orthography is that for Mossang, designed by Reverend Gam Win and used in the Mossang translation of the Bible. Different Roman orthographies are in use among different subtribes, often with considerable variation. These differences tend to follow Christian denominational divisions.

The Gam Win Romanization for Mossang is as follows:

Tonal vowels

Each vowel of the Tangsa alphabet notes a combination representing one of 11 phonemic base vowels: [17]

modified by one of four distinctive vocalic tones (noted in Latin transcriptions by trailing consonnants appended after the base vowel):

-c[˦]thuic tsanz (voice-hard) - mid-high level or rising
-x[˧]thuic hvlz (voice-middle) - mid-high falling
-z[˩]thuic nyenz (voice-soft) - low falling with creaky phonation
-q[ˀ]thuic htaq (voice-break/cut) - short, final glottal stop [17]

As well, the Tangsa alphabet includes a few additional separate letters for distinctive tonal vowels  :

-ng[ŋ](final) - modifier written after the base vowel+tone
awx[ɔ̆˧](short variant) - usually not distinguished in Latin transcriptions
uex[ɤː˧](long variant) - usually not distinguished in Latin transcriptions
uez[ɤ̆˩](short variant) - usually not distinguished in Latin transcriptions

Consonants

Unlike Brahmic-derived abugidas most often used for languages in India and Burma, the 31 consonants of the Tangsa alphabet (used to write Sino-Tibetan languages and not Brahmic-based languages) don't carry any inherent vowel: [17]

Unicode

The Tangsa alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in September, 2021 with the release of version 14.0.

The Unicode block for Tangsa is U+16A70–U+16ACF. The 48 base vowels (with tones) are encoded in U+16A70–U+16A9F, the 31 base consonants are encoded in U+16AA0–U+16ABE, and ten decimal digits are encoded in U+16AC0–U+16AC9:

Tangsa [1] [2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
U+16A7x𖩰𖩱𖩲𖩳𖩴𖩵𖩶𖩷𖩸𖩹𖩺𖩻𖩼𖩽𖩾𖩿
U+16A8x𖪀𖪁𖪂𖪃𖪄𖪅𖪆𖪇𖪈𖪉𖪊𖪋𖪌𖪍𖪎𖪏
U+16A9x𖪐𖪑𖪒𖪓𖪔𖪕𖪖𖪗𖪘𖪙𖪚𖪛𖪜𖪝𖪞𖪟
U+16AAx𖪠𖪡𖪢𖪣𖪤𖪥𖪦𖪧𖪨𖪩𖪪𖪫𖪬𖪭𖪮𖪯
U+16ABx𖪰𖪱𖪲𖪳𖪴𖪵𖪶𖪷𖪸𖪹𖪺𖪻𖪼𖪽𖪾
U+16ACx𖫀𖫁𖫂𖫃𖫄𖫅𖫆𖫇𖫈𖫉
Notes
1. ^ As of Unicode version 15.1
2. ^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

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Tangsa is a Unicode block containing characters of the alphabet designed by Mr. Lakhum Mossang for writing the Tangsa language of India and Myanmar.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Tangsa (multiple varieties) at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
    Kyan-Karyaw at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
    Lao Naga at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. Shintani, Tadahiko. 2015. The Shanke language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 104. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
  3. "Myanmar". Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-10-10.
  4. Rekhung, Winlang. 1988. Jugli Language Guide. Itanagar: Directorate of Research, Government of Arunachal Pradesh.
  5. Rekhung, Winlang. 1988. Lungchang Language Guide. Itanagar: Directorate of Research, Government of Arunachal Pradesh.
  6. Rekhung, Winlang. 1992. Tutsa Language Guide. Itanagar: Directorate of Research, Government of Arunachal Pradesh.
  7. Rekhung, Winlang. 1999. Mungshang Language Guide. Itanagar: Directorate of Research, Government of Arunachal Pradesh.
  8. 1 2 3 Morey, Stephen (2011), "Tangsa song language - art or history? a common language or a remnant?", Als2011 Australian Linguistics Society Annual Conference Conference Proceedings
  9. Morey, Stephen (2015). "The internal diversity of Tangsa: vocabulary and morphosyntax". In Post, Mark; Konnerth, Linda; Morey, Stephen; et al. (eds.). Language and Culture in Northeast India and Beyond: In honor of Robbins Burling. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. pp. 23–40. hdl: 1885/38458 . ISBN   9781922185259.
  10. Lann 2018 , p. 8
  11. Lann 2018 , pp. 4–6
  12. Lann 2018 , p. 4
  13. van Dam, Kellen Parker. 2023. A first description of Kaisan, a North Patkaian language of Myanmar . 26th Himalayan Languages Symposium, 4–6 September 2023. Paris: INALCO.
  14. 1 2 Morey, Stephen (2017). Tangsa (2nd ed.). In Randy J. LaPolla and Graham Thurgood (eds.), The Sino-Tibetan languages: London: Routledge. pp. 350–368.
  15. 1 2 Mulder, Mijke (2020). A Descriptive Grammar of Muklom Tangsa. La Trobe University.
  16. "Tangsa Alphabet and Language". Omniglot. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  17. 1 2 3 "Tangsa Alphabet and Language". Omniglot. Retrieved 5 March 2021.