Tedim
Zomi
Zopau
Native toMyanmar, India
EthnicityZomi
Native speakers
(340,000 cited 1990)[1]
Pau Cin Hau script
Language codes
ISO 639-3ctd
Glottologtedi1235
ELPTiddim Chin

The Tedim or Zomi language is spoken mostly in Myanmar and India. In Chin State (Khamtunggam), it is spoken in Tedim and Tonzang townships, while in Sagaing Division, it is spoken in Kalay and Mawlaik townships (Ethnologue). Dialects are Sokte and Kamhau (also called Kamhao, Kamhow).

Clans

Sukte is a small Zomi clan. They generally live in the Tedim and Tonzang townships. "But there is no specific native language of Sukte. It is just a clan of Zomi." Zam Ngaih Cing (2011:170) lists some Zomi varieties as Losau, Sihzang, Teizang, Saizang, Dim, Khuano, Hualngo, Dim, Zou, Thado, Paite and Vangteh.[2]

History

Zomi language was the primary language spoken by Pau Cin Hau, a religious leader who lived from 1859 to 1948. He also devised a logographic and later simplified alphabetic script for writing materials in Zomi language.

Phonology

The phonology of Zomi language can be described as (C)V(V)(C)T order, where C represents a consonant, V represents a vowel, T represents a tone, and parentheses enclose optional constituents of a syllable.[3] It is a subject-object verb language, and negation follows the verb.

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Alveolo-
palatal 		Velar Glottal
Plosive/
Affricate 		voiceless p t tɕ k ʔ
aspirated pʰ tʰ tɕʰ (kʰ)
voiced b d ɡ
Fricative voiceless f s x h
voiced v z
Nasal m n ŋ
Approximant l lˀ

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː
Open a aː
Diphthongs
Front Central Back
Close iu̯ i̯a ui̯ uːi̯ u̯a
Mid ei̯ ɛːi̯ eu̯ ɛːu̯ ou̯ oi̯ ɔːi̯
Open ai̯ aːi̯ au̯ aːu̯

Tone

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2022)

References

Tedim language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator
  1. ^ Tedim at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "But there is no language of Sukte, meaning it is only a clan of Zomi." Source: Cing, Zam Ngaih. "Linguistic Ecology of Tedim Chin." In Singh, Shailendra Kumar (ed). Linguistic Ecology of Manipur. Guwahati: EBH Publishers.
  3. ^ https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2011/11104r-paucinhau-alphabet.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  4. ^ Otsuka, Kosei (2014). Tiddim Chin. Toshihide Nakayama and Noboru Yoshioka and Kosei Otsuka (eds.), Grammatical Sketches from the Field: Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. pp. 109–141.
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