| Lai | |
|---|---|
| Native to | India, Myanmar, Bangladesh |
| Region | Mizoram, Chin State, Chittagong hills tract |
| Ethnicity | Lai people |
| Speakers | Native: 170,000 (2017)[1] L2: 40,000 (2013)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cnh |
| Glottolog | laic1236 |
The Lai languages or Pawih/Pawi languages are various Central Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages spoken by the Lai people or Pawi. They include “ Laiṭong” (Falam-Chin) spoken in Falam district, Laiholh (Hakha-Chin) spoken around the Haka (Hakha/Halkha) capital of Chin State in Burma (Myanmar) and in the Lawngtlai district of Mizoram, India. In Bangladesh, a related language is spoken by the Bawm people. Other Lai languages are Mi-E (including Khualsim), and the Zokhua dialect of Hakha Lai spoken in Zokhua village.[1]
Grammar
Deletion of the final consonant can be observed here in stem II. However, this is irregular as most verbs usually revive or gain a consonant in stem II. This stem is used to indicate the distant future tense, subjunctive mood, cohortative mood, hortative mood, jussive mood and more.[2]
References
- 1 2 3 Lai at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ↑ "Argument Indexation (Verb Agreement) in Kuki-Chin". academia.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- Stephen Ni Kio, Lai Nunphung.
- Hakha Lai - By David A. Peterson, Chapter Twenty Five.
- Kenneth VanBik, Three Types Of Causative Instruction In Hakha Lai, University of California, Berkeley.
- VanBik, David (1986) English–Chin (Haka) Dictionary, Haka.
- Haye-Neave, D.R. (1948) Lai Chin grammar and dictionary, Rangoon: Superintendent of Government Printing and Stationery, Burma.
- George Bedell, AGREEMENT IN MIZO - Papers from the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, Tempe, Arizona: Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University, pp. 51–70, 2001.
- George Bedell, AGREEMENT IN LAI - Papers from the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, Tempe, Arizona: Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University, pp. 21–32, 1995.