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The Chin people are a Southeast Asian Zo people native to Chin State of Myanmar. The Chin are one of the founding groups of the Union of Burma. The Chin speak a variety of related languages, share elements of cultures and traditions. According to the British state media BBC News, "The Chin people... are one of the most persecuted minority groups in Burma." These people predominantly live in the Chin State, Bago Division, Ayeyarwady Division, Magwe Division, Rakhine State and Sagaing Region of Myanmar, but are also spread throughout Burma, Bangladesh and India. In the 2014 Burmese ethnic census, the Chin ethnicity was again dismissed by the people of the Chin State.
The Mara are the native inhabitants of Mizoram in India, native to northeastern India, primarily in the Mara Autonomous District Council of the state of Mizoram, where they form the majority of the population. The Maras are related to Kuki and Mizos in India and Kachin, Karen, Shan and Chins in Myanmar. Significant numbers of Maras also live in the southwestern and south-central parts of Chin State (Burma) in Myanmar - the contiguous area of Mara area in India mostly separated by Kolodyne / Chhimtuipui / Beino river, which forms an international boundary.
The Kuki-Chin–Naga languages are a geographic clustering of languages of the Sino-Tibetan family in James Matisoff's classification used by Ethnologue, which groups it under the non-monophyletic "Tibeto-Burman". Their genealogical relationship both to each other and to the rest of Sino-Tibetan is unresolved, but Matisoff lumps them together as a convenience pending further research.
The Naga languages are a geographic and ethnic grouping of languages under the Kuki-Chin-Naga languages, spoken mostly by Naga peoples.
Thadou is a Northern Kuki-Chin-Mizo language spoken in the northeastern part of India. It is spoken by the Thadou tribe. The Thadou language is known by many names, including Thado, Thado-Pao, Thādo, Thadou-kuki, Thado-Ubiphei, Chin and Thādo-pao. There are several dialects of this language : Hangshing, Khongsai, Kipgen, Saimar, Langiung, Sairang, Thangngeo, Haokip, Sitlhou, Singson (Shingsol).The Saimar dialect was reported in the Indian press in 2012 to be spoken by only four people in one village in the state of Tripura. The variety spoken in Manipur has partial mutual intelligibility with the other Mizo-Kuki-Chin languages varieties of the area including Paite, Hmar, Vaiphei, Simte, Kom and Gangte languages. This language is not utilized as much today.
Hakha Chin, or Lai, is a Kuki-Chin language spoken by 446,264 people, mostly in Myanmar. The total figure includes 2,000 Zokhua and 60,100 Lai speakers. The speakers are largely concentrated in Chin State in western Burma and Mizoram in eastern India, with a small number of speakers in southeastern Bangladesh.
The Kuki-Chin languages are a branch of 50 or so Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in northeastern India, western Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh. Most speakers of these languages are known as Mizo in Mizoram and Manipur. Also, as Kukī in Assamese and Bengali and as Chin in Burmese; some also identify as Zomi. Mizo is the most widely spoken of the Kuki-Chin languages.
Mru, also known as Mrung (Murung), is a Sino-Tibetan language and one of the recognized languages of Bangladesh. It is spoken by a community of Mros (Mrus) inhabiting the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh with a population of 22,000 according to the 1991 census, and in Burma. The Mros are the second-largest tribal group in Bandarban District of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. A small group of Mros also live in Rangamati Hill District.
Khumi, or Khumi Chin, is a Kuki-Chin-Mizo language of Burma, with some across the border in Bangladesh.
Purum is a Southern Naga language of India. Speakers consider themselves to be ethnic Naga people, rather than part of the Kuki and Chin ethnic groups. Peterson (2017) classifies Purum as part of the Northwestern branch of Kuki-Chin. According Ethnologue, Purum shares a high degree of mutual intelligibility with Kharam.
Anu-Hkongso is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken between the Kaladan and Michaung rivers in Paletwa Township, Chin State, Burma. It is closely related to Mru, forming the Mruic language branch, whose position within Sino-Tibetan is unclear. It consists of two dialects, Anu (Añú) and Hkongso.
Kharam is a Southern Naga language of India. Peterson (2017) classifies the closely related Purum language as part of the Northwestern branch of Kuki-Chin. According Ethnologue, Kharam shares a high degree of mutual intelligibility with Purum.
Mruic or Mru–Hkongso is a small group of Sino-Tibetan languages consisting of two poorly attested languages, Mru and Anu-Hkongso. Their relationship within Sino-Tibetan is unclear.
Rengmitca is a critically-endangered Kuki-Chin language of Bangladesh. It is distinct but closely related to the nearby languages Khumi and Mro. There are fewer than 30 speakers left as of 2014. Only 5 are completely fluent, all over the age of 60. But as of 2021 there are only 6 speaker of this language are left, most of whom are over the age of 60.
Central Tibeto-Burman or Central Trans-Himalayan is a proposed branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family proposed by Scott DeLancey (2015) on the basis of shared morphological evidence.
Southern Naga, also Old Kuki or Northwestern Kuki-Chin, is a branch of Kuki-Chin-Naga languages. Most speakers are Nagas but also include Kuki-Chin and Kom tribes such as Aimol, Kom, Koireng and others.
Northern Kuki-Chin is a branch of Kuki-Chin languages. It is called Northeastern Kuki-Chin by Peterson (2017) to distinguish it from the Northwestern Kuki-Chin languages. VanBik (2009:31) also calls the branch Northern Chin or Zo.
Central Kuki-Chin is a branch of the Kuki-Chin languages. Central Kuki-Chin languages are spoken primarily in Mizoram, India and in Hakha Township and Falam Township of Chin State, Myanmar.
The Maraic languages are a branch of Kuki-Chin languages.
Southern Kuki-Chin is a branch of Kuki-Chin languages. They are spoken mostly in southern Chin State, Myanmar and in southeastern Bangladesh.
References
- Peterson, David. 2017. "On Kuki-Chin subgrouping." In Picus Sizhi Ding and Jamin Pelkey, eds. Sociohistorical linguistics in Southeast Asia: New horizons for Tibeto-Burman studies in honor of David Bradley, 189–209. Leiden: Brill.
- Peterson, David A. 2012. The Khumi cluster and its place in Kuki-Chin. Paper presented at ICSTLL 45, Singapore.