Paite language

Paite
Paite
Zomi
Pronunciation	Pai-te
Native to	India
Region	Assam, Manipur, Mizoram
Ethnicity	Paite
Native speakers	78,725 (2011 census)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Kuki-Chin Northern Paite; ; ;
Writing system	Roman alphabet/Latin alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pck
Glottolog	pait1244
ELP	Paite Chin

Paite is an Sino-Tibetan Language spoken by the Zomi. There are different Paite dialects. The language exhibits mutual intelligibility with the other languages of the region including Thadou, Hmar, Vaiphei, Simte, Kom, Gangte and other languages.^[3] The name Paite literally means 'the people who went.'

Paite alphabet (Paite laimal)

The alphabet is propounded by Shri T Vialphung in 1903 which is extract from the Roman alphabets and has 18 consonants and 6 vowels. Out of 18 consonant phonemes in Paite, 11 of them are glottal stops, 4 fricatives, 2 nasal and 1 lateral.

This version of the Paite alphabet is called 'Paite Laimal'. This alphabet is used since 1903 to till today.

Letter	a	aw	b	ch	d	e	f	g	ng	h	i	j	k
Letter	l	m	n	o	p	r	s	t	u	v	z

Consonants	b [b]	ch [t͡ʃ]	d [d]	f [f]	g [g]	ng [ŋ]	h [h, -ʰ]	j [d͡ʒ]	k [k]	l [l]	m [m]	n [n]	p [p]	r [r]	s [s]	t [t]	v [v]	z [z]

Vowels	a [a]	aw [ɔ]	e [e]	i [i]	o [o]	u [u]

Diphthongs

High-front-oriented	ei	ai	ui	oi

High-back-oriented	au	iu	eu	ou

Low-central-oriented	ia	ua

'iai'(yai) and 'uau'(wao) are the Triphthongs of Paite language.

Five prominent tones in Paite are:

rising (Tungkal) (á),
rising-falling (Tungkal-niamkiak) (â),
falling (Niamkiak) (à),
falling-rising (Niamkiak-tungkal) (ã),
and flat/levelled (Pheipai) (ā).

The number of tones varies with variations in region and dialect.

Numbers

Paite	English	Lushei (Mizo)	Meitei (Manipuri)	Thadou (Kuki)
Bial	Zero	Bial	Phun/Shino
Khat	One	Pakhat	Ama	Khat
Nih	Two	Pahnih	Ani	Ni
Thum	Three	Pathum	Ahum	Thum
Li	Four	Pali	Mari	Li
Nga	Five	Panga	Manga	Nga
Guk	Six	Paruk	Taruk	Gup
Sagih	Seven	Pasarih	Taret	Sagi
Giat	Eight	Pariat	Nipal	Get
Kua	Nine	Pakua	Mapal	Ko
Sawm	Ten	Sawm	Tara	Som
Sawmlehkhat	Eleven	Sawmpakhat	TaraMathoi
Sawmlehkua	Nineteen	Sawmpakua	TaraMapal
Sawmhni	Twenty	Sawmhnih	Kun
Sawmthum	Thirty	Sawmthum	Kunthraa
Sawmnga	Fifty	Sawmnga	Yaangkhei
Sawmkua	Ninety	Sawmkua	MariPhuTara
Za	Hundred	Za	ChaAma	Za
Zanga	Five hundred		ChaManga
Saang(khat)	One thousand	Sang	Lishing ama	Sang
Siing(khat)	Ten thousand	Sing
Nuai(khat)	Hundred thousand/One lakh	Nuai
Maktaduai	Million
Vaibelsia	Ten million
Vaibelsetak	Hundred million	Vaibelchhetak
Tuklehdingawn	Billion	Tluk leh dingawn
Tuklehdingawn sawm	Ten billion
Tuklehdingawn za	Hundred billion

Sample text

The following is a sample text in Paite of the Article 1 of the Universal 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.

There are two major dialects of Paite in Manipur, Lamjang and Dapjal.^[4]

Grammar

Paite grammar is fairly complex because of a number of word modification and a bit complex noun structure.

Word order

Paite's declarative word structure is Object-subject-verb.

Vasa bird	ka I	mù see	Vasa Ka mu I see a bird
Sing firewood	a he	puá carries	Sing a puá He carries wood

If the word order and grammar isn't followed, sentences and phrases lose their meaning.

Example: "Lai a gelh", which means "He writes", cannot be written as "Gelh a Lai". It does not make any sense.

Geographical distribution

Paite is spoken mainly in the following locations (Ethnologue).

Manipur: Khuga valley (Lamka phaizang), Churachandpur district
Mizoram: 30 villages of Champhai District and newly formed Khawzawl District.
Tripura
Assam
Meghalaya
Nagaland
Chin State , Myanmar (In Myanmar, the language is also known as Tedim Zomi, which in turn is also related to the Tedim Township)
Rangamati, Chittagong Hills Tract
Nor

Education and Academic

Paite language can now be offered as one of the MIL subjects in the Three Year Degree course of Manipur University. Academic Council of the University in its meeting held on April 22, 2004 gave its approval for inclusion of Paite as one of the MIL subjects after considering the recommendation of 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.^[5]

References

^ "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
^ https://blog.cpsindia.org/2016/10/religion-data-of-census-2011-xxxi.html
^ Singh, Chungkham Yashawanta (1995). "The linguistic situation in Manipur" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 18 (1): 129–134. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
^ Singh, Naorem Saratchandra Singh (2006). A Grammar of Paite. Mittal Publications. p. xviii. ISBN 978-8183240680. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
^ "Churachandpur College". www.churachandpurcollege.in. Retrieved 5 February 2020.