Vaiphei language

Last updated

Vaiphei
Region India
Ethnicity Vaiphei / Zo-Mizo
Native speakers
43,000 (2011 census) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 vap
Glottolog vaip1239
ELP Vaiphei

Vaiphei is a Sino-Tibetan language belonging to the Zo-Mizo linguistic subbranch of the Tibeto-Burman group of languages. It is spoken mainly in the Indian state of Manipur and minutely in Mizoram, Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura. The dialect spoken in Manipur exhibits a least partial mutual intelligibility with the other Zo-Mizo dialects of the area including Thadou, Hmar, Paite, Simte, Mizo and Gangte languages. [2]

Contents

Geographical distribution

Vaiphei is spoken in more than 30 villages of Lamka District, Southern Manipur ( Ethnologue ).[ full citation needed ] There are also speakers in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.[ citation needed ]

Orthography

There is no official single spelling system, but many use the orthography of Mizo. Some writers use the circumflex ⟨ˆ⟩, but its meaning is inconsistent. [3] /ɔ/ is represented by ⟨o⟩ in open syllables and ⟨aw⟩ in closed syllables in the orthography. [4] The glottal stop /ʔ/ is represented by the letter ⟨h⟩. [5]

Phonology

Consonants

Vaiphei has the following consonants, with the first symbol being its orthographical form and the second one its representation in the IPA: [6]

Labial Labiodental Alveolar Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless ⟨p⟩ /p/⟨t⟩ /t/⟨k⟩ /k/⟨h⟩ ʔ
aspirated ⟨ph⟩ /pʰ/⟨th⟩ /tʰ/⟨kh⟩ /kʰ/
voiced ⟨b⟩ /b/⟨d⟩ /d/⟨g⟩ /ɡ/
Affricate ⟨ch⟩ /ts/
Nasal ⟨m⟩ /m/⟨n⟩ /n/⟨ng⟩ /ŋ/
Fricative voiceless ⟨s⟩ /s/⟨h⟩ /h/
voiced ⟨v⟩ /v/⟨z⟩ /z/
Lateral ⟨l⟩ /l/

/p,t,k/ are heard as unreleased [p̚,t̚,k̚] in word-final position. The aspirated and voiced stops /pʰ,tʰ,kʰ,b,d,ɡ/ are restricted to syllable-initial position. [7]

The glottal stop occurs only in syllable-final position, always occurs with low tone, and can be deleted. [5]

The fricatives and the affricate do not occur word-finally. [8]

The voiceless plosives, nasals, and laterals can all be the first members in a vowel sequence, and all phonemes except the glottal stop can be the second. [9] Consonant clusters can be found in some loanwords, e.g., /ilektrik/'electric'. [10] /p,t,k,m,n,ŋ,l/ can all form geminates, e.g., /seppatni/'Monday'. [11]

Vowels

Monophthongs

Vaiphei has five phonemic monophthongs. [12]

Front Back
Close ⟨i⟩ /i/⟨u⟩ /u/
Mid ⟨e⟩ /e/⟨o/aw⟩ /ɔ/
Open ⟨a⟩ /ɑ/ [a]
  1. ↑ Suantak uses /a/. [13]


/e/ tends to be realized as [ ɛ ] word-finally. [14]

Diphthongs

Vaiphei has eight diphthongs, /ai,ei,ui,ɔi,au,eu,iu,ɔu/. These can all occur in word-medially and word-finally, but /au,eu,iu,ɔu/ cannot occur word-initially. [15]

Tone

Vaiphei is a tonal language with three contrastive tones, two contour tones and a low tone. Suantak (2013) uses numerals, where 1 is lowest and 5 is highest, and provides Chao tone letters. [16]

Tones [17]
Tone Chao tone letter IPAgloss
Low (21)˨˩/sa²¹/'sing'
Rising (23)˨˧/sa²³/'hot, meat'
Falling (52)˥˨/sa⁵²/'thick'

All three tones can occur on any vowel. All tones can occur with m,n,ŋ,l,p,t,k though the rising and falling tones do not co-occur with the glottal stop /ʔ/. [18]

Tone sandhi occurs in compound words; for example, a low tone becomes a rising tone when preceded by a rising tone (e.g., /in²³/'house' + /tsuŋ²¹/'above' → [in²³tsuŋ²³] 'roof'). [19]


Syllable structure

The syllable structure in Vaiphei is (C)V(C). The maximal syllable is CVC. [20]

Basic syllable patterns [21]
SyllableIPAGloss
V/u/'elder (brother/sister'
VC/in/'house'
CV/pa/'father'
CVC/gam/'land'

References

  1. ↑ Vaiphei at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. ↑ Singh, Chungkham Yashawanta (1995). "The linguistic situation in Manipur" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 18 (1): 129–134. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  3. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 129.
  4. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 130.
  5. 1 2 Suantak 2013, p. 80.
  6. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 66, 129.
  7. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 78.
  8. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 82-83.
  9. ↑ Suantak 2013, pp. 97–98.
  10. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 101.
  11. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 102.
  12. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 83, 129.
  13. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 85.
  14. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 84.
  15. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 86.
  16. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 117.
  17. ↑ Suantak 2013, pp. 117–119.
  18. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 121.
  19. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 122.
  20. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 106.
  21. ↑ Suantak 2013, p. 107.

Sources

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