Shö language
Shö is a Kuki-Chin language dialect cluster of Burma and Bangladesh. There are perhaps three distinct dialects, Asho (Khyang), Chinbon, and Shendu.
| Shö | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Burma, Bangladesh |
| Ethnicity | Asho Chin |
Native speakers | (50,000 cited 1983–2011)[1] plus an unknown number of Shendu |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:cnb – Chinbon Chincsh – Asho Chinshl – Shendu |
| Glottolog | chin1478 Chinbon Chinasho1236 Asho Chinshen1247 Shendu |
Mayin and Longpaw are not mutually intelligible, but have been subsumed under the ISO code for Chinbon because Mayin-Longpaw speakers generally understand Chinbon.[2] Minkya is similarly included because most Minkya speakers understand Mayin.[3]
Geographical distribution
Chinbon (Uppu) is spoken in the following townships of Myanmar (Ethnologue).
- Chin State: Kanpetlet and Paletwa townships
- Magway Region: Saw and Sidoktaya townships
- Rakhine State: Minbya township
Asho is spoken in Ayeyarwady Region, Bago Region, and Magway Region, and Rakhine State, Myanmar.
VanBik (2009:38)[4] lists the following Asho dialects.
- Settu (spoken from Sittwe to Thandwe — mostly Sittwe to Ann)
- Laitu (spoken in Sidoktaya Township)
- Awttu (spoken in Mindon Township)
- Kowntu (spoken in Ngaphe, Minhla, Minbu)
- Kaitu (spoken in Pegu, Mandalay, Magway, etc.)
- Lauku (spoken in Myepone, Kyauk Phyu, Ann)
Shendu is spoken in Mizoram, India.
Phonology
The Asho dialect (K’Chò) has 28 consonants and seven vowels.
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Inter-dental | Alveolar | Post-Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V1 stops | p pʰ | t tʰ | k kʰ | ʔ | |||
| Ingressives | ɓ | ɗ | |||||
| V1 Fricatives | ʃ | x | h | ||||
| Vd Fricatives | v | ʒ | ɣ | ||||
| V1 Affricates | tθ | kx | |||||
| Vd Affricates | d ʒ | k ɣ | |||||
| Nasals | m m̥ | n (n̥) | ŋ ŋ̊ | ||||
| Lateral | l ɬ | ||||||
| Clusters | pl pʰl |
| Front | Center | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i, iː | ɨ, ɨː | u, uː |
| Mid | e, eː | ə, əː | ɔ, ɔː |
| Open | a, aː |
Diphthongs: əi, ai, ui, ɔi
Morphology
Similar to other Kukish languages, many Asho verbs have two distinct stems. This stem alternation is a Proto-Kukish feature, which has been retained to different degrees in different Kukish languages.[5]
References
- Chinbon Chin at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Asho Chin at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Shendu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) - VanBik, Kenneth. 2009. Proto-Kuki-Chin: A Reconstructed Ancestor of the Kuki-Chin Languages. STEDT Monograph 8. ISBN 0-944613-47-0.
- http://ic.payap.ac.th/graduate/linguistics/theses/Kee_Shein_Mang_Thesis.pdf