| Zeme | |
|---|---|
| Zeliang | |
 "Zeliang" written in Meitei script | |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Assam, Manipur, Nagaland |
| Ethnicity | Zeme Naga |
Native speakers | 110,000 (2011 census) [1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nzm |
| Glottolog | zeme1240 |
| ELP | Zeme Naga |
Zeme (also called Empeo, Jeme, Kacha and Zemi [1] ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in northeastern India. It is one of the dialects spoken by the Zeme Naga, the other being Mzieme.
Zeme (dialects: Paren, Njauna) is spoken in: [1]
Most Zeme speakers are bi- or multi-lingual in the regional lingua franca of Manipuri and English. [2]
Zeme belongs to the Kuki-Chin section of the Kamarupan group of the Baric sub-division of Tibeto-Burman language family. It is closely related to the neighboring languages of Liangmai and Rongmei. [3]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | |
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | |||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | h | |||
| voiced | z | |||||
| Trill | r | |||||
| Approximant | lateral | l | ||||
| central | w | j | ||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | a |
Zeme also has six diphthongs: /ai,ao,oi,əu,ui,əi/. [6]
Like other Tibeto-Burman languages, Zeme is a tonal language. Most of the words in the language are monosyllabic in nature. [7]
Gender and number are not marked on Zeme verbs. The basic word order is SOV, with an alternate order of OSV, making it a verb-final language.
There are 7 categories of numerals in the language: Cardinals, ordinals, fractionals, multiplicatives, distributives, restrictives, and approximates. The following are cardinal numerals:
| Value | Gloss | Num |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | one | ə-ket |
| 2 | two | ke-na |
| 3 | three | kə-čum |
| 4 | four | mə-dai |
| 5 | five | mə-ŋəiyu |
| 6 | six | sə-rok |
| 7 | seven | sə-na |
| 8 | eight | tə-set |
| 9 | nine | sə-kui |
| 10 | ten | kə-rəiyu |
| 20 | twenty | iŋkai |
| 30 | thirty | him-rəiyu |
| 40 | forty | he-dai |
| 50 | fifty | riŋ-ŋəiyu |
| 60 | sixty | riyak-sərok |
| 70 | seventy | riyak-səna |
| 80 | eighty | riyak-təset |
| 90 | ninety | riyak-səkui |
| 100 | one hundred | hai |
| 1000 | one thousand | čəŋ |
Compound numerals are formed by adding two numerals together, with the bigger numeral, usually a multiple of 10, preceding the smaller one. The decade numerals from 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 are formed by multiplication of decade by basic numerals by 10. The numeral ‘ten’ in Zeme has four allomorphs: kərəiyu, he, riŋ and riyak. [9]
Assamese or Asamiya is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language. It serves as a lingua franca in parts of the Northeast India from a long time, in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland of India the Assamese language developed as a creole and pidgin language known as Nefamese and Nagamese creole which has become a lingua franca in Nagaland. It has over 15 million native speakers according to Ethnologue.
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Kanashi is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in the isolated Malana (Malani) village area in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, India. It is, to some extent mutually intelligible with other Sino-Tibetan language like Kinnauri.
Manang, also called Manangba, Manange, Manang Ke, Nyishang, Nyishangte and Nyishangba, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Nepal. Native speakers refer to the language as ŋyeshaŋ, meaning 'our language'. Manang and its most closely related languages are often written as TGTM in literature, referring to Tamang, Gurung, Thakali, and Manangba, due to the high degree of similarity in the linguistic characteristics of the languages. The language is unwritten and almost solely spoken within the Manang District, leading it to be classified as threatened, with the number of speakers continuing to decline. Suspected reasons for the decline include parents not passing down the language to their children, in order to allow for what they see as more advanced communication with other groups of people, and thus gain more opportunities. Due to the proximity of the district to Tibet, as well as various globally widespread languages being introduced into the area, use of the native language is declining in favor of new languages, which are perceived to aid in the advancement of the people and region.
Aimol, also known as Aimual, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Aimol people of Manipur, India. It is considered endangered and has less than 9,000 speakers worldwide as per 2011 census. The speakers of this language use Meitei language as their second language (L2) according to the Ethnologue.
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Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim) |
|  | |||
| 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. | |||||
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