Miju language

Kaman
Kaman
Geman, Kman
Miju, Kùmán
Pronunciation	[kɯ˧˩mɑn˧˥]
Region	Arunachal Pradesh, India
Ethnicity	Miju Mishmi
Native speakers	18,000 (2006)
Language family	possibly Sino-Tibetan (Midzuish), or a language isolate Kaman;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mxj
Glottolog	miju1243
ELP	Miju-Mishmi
	Miju is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Kaman (Geman, Geman Deng, Kùmán, Kman), or Miju (Miju Mishmi, Midzu), is a small language of India and China. Long assumed to be a Sino-Tibetan language, it may be a language isolate.^[2]

Locations

In China, the Miju are known as the Deng 僜人. The Deng number over 1,000 in Zayü County, Tibet, China, with 1,000 of the Deng having the autonym tɑ31 ruɑŋ53 (大让), and 130 having the autonym kɯ31 mɑn35 (格曼) (Geman). They are also neighbors with the Idu or i53 du31 (义都) people.

In India, Miju is spoken in Hawai Circle and the Parsuram Kund area of Lohit District, Arunachal Pradesh (Boro 1978,^[3] Dasgupta 1977^[4]). Ethnologue reports that Miju is spoken in 25 villages located in high altitude areas to the east of upper Lohit and Dau valleys, which are located east of the Haguliang, Billong, and Tilai valleys.

Phonology

These are the sounds in the Miju/Kaman language.^[5]

Consonants

Consonant phonemes
		Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n			ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	plain	p	t				k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ				kʰ
	voiced	b	d				ɡ
Affricate	plain		ts	tʃ
	aspirated			tʃʰ
	voiced		dz	dʒ
Fricative	plain	f	s	ʃ				h
Fricative	voiced	v	z					ɦ
Approximant		ʋ				j	w
Lateral			l		ɭ
Flap			ɾ		ɽ

Vowels

Monophthong phonemes
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	(ɨ)	ɯ • u
Close-mid			o
Open-mid	ɛ	ə	ʌ • ɔ
Open		a

/ɯ/ may also be heard as [ɨ].

Tones

There are three main tones in the Miju language, rising (á), falling (à), and level (ā).^[6]

Registers

Kman has various registers that are used in different situations. These include:^[7]

shamanic
hunting
cursing and scolding
poetic

References

↑ Kaman at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
↑ Blench, Roger; Post, Mark (2011), (De)classifying Arunachal languages: Reconstructing the evidence (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2013
↑ Boro, A. 1978. Miju dictionary. Shillong: Research Department, Arunachal Pradesh Administration.
↑ Dasgupta, K. 1977. A phrase book in Miju. Shillong: Director of Information and Public Relations, Arunachal Pradesh.
↑ Blench, Roger (2015), Kman ethno-ophresiology; characterising taste, smell and texture in a language of Arunachal Pradesh
↑ Blench, Roger; Kri, Sokhep; Ngadong, Kruleso; Masong, Barum (2015), Kman Reading and writing Kman
↑ Blench, Roger. 2022. Why would a language with 5000 speakers have seven registers? Register-flipping in the isolates of Northeast India compromises the unitary concept of language. Cambridge: Kay Williamson Education Foundation.