Vaiphei language

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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 ). There are also speakers in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura

Phonology

Consonants

Vaiphei has the following consonants, with the first symbol being its orthographical form and the second one its representation in the IPA: [3]

Labial Labiodental Alveolar Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless ⟨p⟩ /p/⟨t⟩ /t/⟨k⟩ /k/⟨h⟩ /ʔ/¹
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. [3]

The aspirated and voiced stops /pʰ, tʰ, kʰ, b, d, ɡ/ and the affricate /ts/ are restricted to syllable-initial position. [3]

¹ The phoneme /ʔ/ is represented by the letter ⟨h⟩ in the orthography and occurs only in syllable-final position. [3]

Vowels

Monophthongs

Vaiphei has five monophthongal vowel phonemes. [3]

Front Back
Close ⟨i⟩ /i/⟨u⟩ /u/
Mid ⟨e⟩ /e/⟨o/aw⟩ /ɔ/
Open ⟨a⟩ /a/

/ɔ/ is a mid-low back rounded vowel. It is represented by ⟨o⟩ in open syllables and ⟨aw⟩ in closed syllables in the orthography. [3]

Diphthongs

There are eight diphthongs, all of which occur only in open syllables. [3]

Closing: /ai/, /ei/, /ui/, /ɔi/, /au/, /eu/, /iu/, /ɔu/

Tone

Vaiphei is a tonal language with three contrastive tones. The analysis follows the Chao tone letter system, where pitch levels are numbered from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). [3]

Low (21): /sa²¹/ 'sing', /mu²¹/ 'see'

Rising (23): /sa²³/ 'hot', /na²³/ 'pain'

Falling (52): /sa⁵²/ 'thick', /na⁵²/ 'work'

All three tones can occur on any vowel and with most syllable-final consonants, though the rising and falling tones do not co-occur with the glottal stop /ʔ/. [3]

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'). [3]

While the orthography sometimes uses the diacritic mark ⟨ˆ⟩ (circumflex), the representation is inconsistent. The phonological analysis is based on the numerical pitch values. [3]

Syllable structure

The syllable structure in Vaiphei is (C)V(C). The maximal syllable is CVC. All consonants except the glottal stop /ʔ/ can occur in the syllable onset. The syllable coda can be filled by voiceless unaspirated stops /p, t, k/, nasals /m, n, ŋ/, the lateral /l/, and the glottal stop /ʔ/. [3]

The basic syllable patterns are:

V: /ɔ/ 'voice'

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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Suantak, Khawlsonkim (2013), Vaiphei Phonetic, Phonology, and Morphology: A Descriptive Study, Department of Linguistics (PhD), North-Eastern Hill University, retrieved 7 November 2025

Sources


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