Vaiphei language
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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.
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. /ɔ/ is represented by ⟨o⟩ in open syllables and ⟨aw⟩ in closed syllables in the orthography. The glottal stop /ʔ/ is represented by the letter ⟨h⟩.
Phonology
Consonants
Vaiphei has the following consonants, with the first symbol being its orthographical form and the second one its representation in the IPA:
| Labial | 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.
The glottal stop occurs only in syllable-final position, always occurs with low tone, and can be deleted.
The fricatives and the affricate do not occur word-finally.
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. Consonant clusters can be found in some loanwords, e.g., /ilektrik/ 'electric'. /p,t,k,m,n,ŋ,l/ can all form geminates, e.g., /seppatni/ 'Monday'.
Vowels
Monophthongs
Vaiphei has five phonemic monophthongs.
/e/ tends to be realized as [ɛ] word-finally.
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.
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.
| Tone | Chao tone letter | IPA | gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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/.
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').
Syllable structure
The syllable structure in Vaiphei is (C)V(C). The maximal syllable is CVC.
| Syllable | IPA | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| V | /u/ | 'elder (brother/sister' |
| VC | /in/ | 'house' |
| CV | /pa/ | 'father' |
| CVC | /gam/ | 'land' |
Sources
- (PDF). censusindia.gov.in. Archived from (PDF) on 20 February 2022.
- Suantak, Khawlsonkim (2013). . Department of Linguistics (PhD thesis). North-Eastern Hill University.