Zeme language

For the parent language branch, see Zeme languages.

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 family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Central Tibeto-Burman languages (?) Kuki-Chin-Naga Zemeic Zeme
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.

Geography and demography

Zeme (dialects: Paren, Njauna) is spoken in: ^[1]

• North Cachar hills district, Assam
• Tamenglong district, Manipur
• Peren district, Nagaland

Most Zeme speakers are bi- or multi-lingual in the regional lingua franca of Manipuri and English. ^[2]

Classification

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]

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants ^[4]

		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

Vowels

Monophthongs ^[5]

	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]

Grammar

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:

Cardinal numbers ^[8]

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]

Notes

1. Zeme at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. Chanu 2017.
3. Chanu 2016, p. 189.
4. Chanu 2017, p. 17.
5. Chanu 2017, p. 16.
6. Chanu 2017, p. 46.
7. Chanu 2016, p. 190.
8. Chanu 2016, p. 191.
9. Chanu 2016, p. 195.

References

• Chanu, Sapam Sangita (July 2016). "Numerals in Zeme". Language in India. 16 (7): 189–205. ISSN   1930-2940.
• Chanu, Sapam Sangita (2017). A descriptive grammar of Zeme (PhD thesis). Silchar: Assam University. hdl: 10603/293382 .