| Tangkhulic | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Ukhrul District,Manipur,India;Naga Self-Administered Zone,Myanmar |
| Ethnicity | Tangkhul |
| Linguistic classification | Sino-Tibetan |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | sino1246 |
TheTangkhulic andTangkhul languages are a group ofSino-Tibetan languages spoken mostly in northeasternManipur,India. Conventionally classified as "Naga," they are not clearly related to otherNaga languages, and (with Maringic) are conservatively classified as an independent Tangkhul–Maring branch of Tibeto-Burman, pending further research.
TheMaringic languages appear to be closely related to the Tangkhulic family, but not part of it.
Tangkhulic languages include:
The Tangkhulic languages are not particularly close to each other.Suansu,Challow, andKongai were only documented starting from 2019.[1]
Brown's "Southern Tangkhul" (Southern Luhupa?) is aKuki-Chin rather than Tangkhulic language. It has strong links with the recently discoveredSorbung language, which is also not Tangkhulic despite being spoken by ethnic Tangkhul.[2] some northern villages (Chingjaroi,Jessami, Soraphung Razai) inTangkhul area have language more closely related to theAngami-Pochuri language group.
Koki,Long Phuri,Makuri, andPara are "Naga" languages spoken in and aroundLeshi Township, Myanmar. These four languages could possibly classify as Tangkhulic languages orAo languages.[3]
Mortensen (2003:5) classifies the Tangkhulic languages as follows.
Proto-Tangkhulic, the reconstructed ancestralproto-language of the Tangkhulic languages, has been reconstructed by Mortensen (2012).[4]
Mortensen (2003:5-7)[5] lists the following phonological innovations (sound changes) fromProto-Tibeto-Burman (PTB) to Proto-Tangkhulic.
Proto-Tangkhulic also has the nominalizing prefix *kV-.[5]
Proto-Tangkhuliclexical innovations are:[5]
Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WesternHimalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand,Nepal,Sikkim) |
|  | |||
| EasternHimalayas (Tibet,Bhutan,Arunachal) | |||||
| Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border |
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| East andSoutheast Asia |
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| Dubious (possible isolates,Arunachal) |
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| Proposed groupings | |||||
| Proto-languages | |||||
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches. | |||||