 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Paite language" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Paite | |
|---|---|
| Paite | |
| Native to | India,Myanmar |
| Region | Manipur,Mizoram,Assam,Chin State |
| Ethnicity | Paite/ Paite te |
Native speakers | 100,000 (80,000 in India)[1][2] |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | pck |
| Glottolog | pait1244 |
| ELP | Paite Chin |
Paite is aSino-Tibetan language belonging to thenorthern sub-branch ofKuki-Chin branch. It is spoken by thePaite people in India andTedim Chins in Myanmar. There are different Paitedialects; some notable Paite dialects are Bukpi, Lousau, Valpau, Dapzal, Tuichiap, Sukte, Dim, Lamzang and Sihzang. The language exhibits mutual intelligibility with the other languages of the region includingThadou,Hmar,Vaiphei,Simte,Kom,Gangte and other languages.[3]
The termPaithe originated in theLushai Hills region. TheLushais used termsPai orPoi to refer to central and southern Chin tribes, who tie their hair up.Paithe is said to be the plural ofPai.[4] The Paite themselves did not accept the term originally, but in 1948, the Paite National Council was formed to obtain the recognition of Paites as aScheduled Tribe in India. Thus the term came to be accepted.[5]
Paite has also the meaning of "people on the move".[4]
This language has simple but long words. Paite is a tonal language and has three tones: High, low, and level. The tones are not transcribed in the latin alphabet. This means words can look the same but mean different things depending on context and pronunciation. Here are a few words:
Thak - New, spicySikha - Servant, ghostNgai - Love
Bel - Pot (utensil), early, to stay with
There’s still unofficial ways to write tones, such as accent marks, but these aren’t used frequently.
Paite has 6 monophthongs (a /a/, e /e/, i /i/, u /u/, o /o/, aw /ɔ/) and has 11 diphthongs (ai /ai/, au /au/, ei /ei/, eu /eu/, ia /ia/, iu /iu/, oi /oi/, ou /ou/, ua /ua/, ui /ui/, and yai /jai/).Consonants consist of s, k, l, m, n, ŋ (ng), b, dʒ (j), d, f, g, h, p, r, t, v, and z.
The following is a sample text in Paite of Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights:
| Paite pau | English |
|---|---|
| Mi tengteng zalen a piang ihi ua, zah-omna leh dikna tanvou ah kibangvek ihi. Sia leh pha theihna pilna nei a siam I hih ziak un I mihinpihte tungah unauna lungsim feltak I put ngai ahi. | All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience. Therefore, they should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[6] |
There are two major dialects of Paite spoken inManipur: Lamjang and Dapjal; and 4 minor dialects which are Songtal, Bukpi, Lousau & Kangkap.[7]
Paite is spoken mainly in the following locations (Ethnologue).[8]
Paite language can now be taken up as one of the MIL subjects offered in the Three-Year Degree course inManipur University. The Academic Council of the university in its meeting held on April 22, 2004 gave its approval for the inclusion of Paite as one of the MIL subjects after considering recommendation by the Board of Studies of the School of Humanities, and also in recognition of the richness of the language and its literature including creative writing.[9][better source needed][verification needed]
Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WesternHimalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand,Nepal,Sikkim) |
|  | |||
| EasternHimalayas (Tibet,Bhutan,Arunachal) | |||||
| Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border |
| ||||
| East andSoutheast Asia |
| ||||
| Dubious (possible isolates,Arunachal) |
| ||||
| Proposed groupings | |||||
| Proto-languages | |||||
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches. | |||||
