Central Kuki-Chin languages

Central Kuki-Chin
Central Chin
Ethnicity	Mizo and Chin
Geographic distribution	Myanmar and Northeast India
Linguistic classification	Sino-Tibetan Kuki-Chin Central Kuki-Chin
Glottolog	cent2330  (Central Kuki-Chin)

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.

Official use

Mizo is the official language of Mizoram State, India, while Hakha Chin is the lingua franca of Chin State, Myanmar.

Classification

VanBik (2009:23) classifies the Central Kuki-Chin languages as follows.

Central Kuki-Chin

• Pangkhua?
• Laamtuk Thet (Tawr): Laamtuk, Ruavaan dialects
• Lai languages
  • Hakha cluster: Halkha, Farrawn, Thantlang, Mi-E, Zokhua
  • Falam cluster: Bawm, Bualkhaw, Laizo, Lente, Khualsim, Khuangli, Sim, Tlaisun, Zanniat
• Mizo languages
  • Mizo cluster: Fanai, Hualngo, Lusei, Khiangte, Renthlei
  • Hmar cluster Hmar

VanBik (2009) is unsure about the classification of Pangkhua, and tentatively places it within Central Kuki-Chin.

Sound changes

VanBik (2009) lists the following sound changes from Proto-Kuki-Chin to Proto-Central Chin.

• Proto-Kuki-Chin *k(ʰ)r-, *p(ʰ)r- > Proto-Central Chin *t(ʰ)r-
• Proto-Kuki-Chin *k(ʰ)l-, *p(ʰ)l- > Proto-Central Chin *t(ʰ)l-
• Proto-Kuki-Chin *y- > Proto-Central Chin *z-

See also

• Lai languages

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.
• VanBik, Kenneth. 2009. Proto-Kuki-Chin: A Reconstructed Ancestor of the Kuki-Chin Languages. STEDT Monograph 8. ISBN 0-944613-47-0.