Zou language

Zou
Zou
Zo, Zouham, Zoham, Zokam
	'Zo Lai' in Zolai alphabet
Native to	Manipur, India
Region	Tonzang: Chin State, Chin Hills;; In India: Mizoram and Manipur, Chandel, Singngat subdivision and Sungnu area; Churachandpur districts; Assam.
Ethnicity	Zou
Native speakers	88,000 (2012)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Kuki-Chin languages Northeastern Kuki-Chin languages Zou; ; ;
Writing system	Latin, Zoulai alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	zom
Glottolog	zouu1235
ELP	Zome

Zou (also spelled Zo and known as Zoham or Zokam) is a language of the Northeastern branch of Kuki-Chin languages originating in western Burma and spoken also in Mizoram and Manipur in northeastern India.

The term Zou (or Zo) is sometimes used as a blanket term for the languages spoken by the Kuki-Chin-Mizo peoples.

Phonology

The set of 23 Zou consonantal phonemes can be established on the basis of the following minimal pairs or overlapping words. Besides these 23 phonemes, one consonant is a borrowed phoneme (/r/), which is found only in loan words and in very rare cases (e.g., /r/ in /rəŋ/ "color"). Along with these consonants, Zou has 7 vowels: /i, e, a, ɔ, o, u, ə/.

Consonant Phonemes
		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	c	k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	g
Affricate				tʃ
Fricative	voiceless	v	s			h
Fricative	voiced		z
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Lateral			l
Trill			(r)
Semivowel		w		j

Vowels
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e	ə	o
Open-mid		ə	ɔ
Open		a

Writing system

Zou is often written in a Latin script developed by Christian missionary J.H. Cope, listed below. In 1952, M. Siahzathang of Churachandpur created an alternative script known as Zolai or Zoulai, an alphabetic system with some alphasyllabic characteristics. Zou cultural, political, and literary organizations began to adopt the script starting in the 1970s, and the Manipur State Government subsequently showed support for both Siahzathang and the script.

Vowels

Letter	IPA
a	[a]
aw	[ɔ]
e	[e/ə]
i	[i~j]
o	[o]
u	[u~w]

Consonants

Letter	IPA
b	[b]
ch	[c]
d	[d]
g	[g]
h	[h], [ʔ] at the end of a syllable
j	[ɟ]
k	[k]
kh	[kʰ]
l	[l]
m	[m]
n	[n]
ng	[ŋ]
p	[p]
ph	[pʰ]
r	[r]
s	[s]
t	[t]
th	[tʰ]
v	[ʋ]
z	[z]

Grammar

Verbs

Zou verbs can be classified into three types as given below: Stems 1, 2 and 3:

Types of Zou Verbs
Stem 1	Stem 2	Stem 3	Stem 4
piê-give	pie?	pe-	pieh
puo-carry	puo?	po-	pua-

Numbers

Zou numbers are counted as follows:

Numeral	Zou	English	Hindi
0	be̋m	zero	शून्य śūnya
1	khàt	one	एक ek
2	nì	two	दो do
3	thum	three	तीन tīn
4	li	four	चार cār
5	nga	five	पाँच pā̃c
6	gùh	six	छह chah
7	sagí	seven	सात sāt
8	giét	eight	आठ āṭh
9	kuó	nine	नौ nau
10	sàwm, sôm	ten	दस das
11	sàwm leh khàt	eleven	ग्यारह gyārah
12	sàwm leh nì	twelve	बारह bārah
13	sàwm leh thum	thirteen	तेरह terah
14	sàwm leh li	fourteen	चौदह caudah
15	sàwm leh nga	fifteen	पंद्रह pandrah
16	sàwm leh gùh	sixteen	सोलह solah
17	sàwm leh sagí	seventeen	सत्रह satrah
18	sàwm leh giét	eighteen	अठारह aṭhārah
19	sàwm leh kuó	nineteen	उन्नीस unnīs
20	sàwmnì	twenty	बीस bīs
30	sàwmthum	thirty	तीस tīs
40	sàwmli	forty	चालीस cālīs
50	sàwmnga	fifty	पचास pacās
60	sàwmgùh	sixty	साठ sāṭh
70	sàwmsagí	seventy	सत्तर sattar
80	sàwmgiét	eighty	अस्सी assī
90	sàwmkuò	ninety	नव्वे navve
100	zȁ	hundred	सौ sau
1,000	sa̋ng, tȕl	one thousand	हज़ार hazār
10,000	si̋ng, tȕlsàwm, sa̋ngsàwm	ten thousand	दस हज़ार das hazār
100,000	nuòi, tȕlzà, sa̋ngzà	one hundred thousand, one lakh	लाख lākh
1,000,000	nuòisàwm, sa̋ngtȕl, tȕltȕl	one million	दस लाख das lākh
10,000,000	thȅn, vâibêlsié, kráwl	ten million	करोड़ karoṛ
100,000,000	thȅnzà, kráwl sàwm	one hundred million	दस करोड़ das karoṛ

Linguistic relations

Within the Northeastern Kuki-Chin languages, Zou is closely related to Central languages such as Duhlian (Lusei/Lushai) or the Mizo language (endonym: Mizo ṭawng), which serves as the lingua franca of Mizoram.^{[citation needed]}

The variety of Zou spoken in India is similar to the Paite language of the Paite people, although Zou lacks the word-final glottal stops present in Paite.

Geographical extent

The geographic area covered by the language group spans approximately 60,000 square miles (160,000 km²) across Burma, India, and Bangladesh. However, political boundaries and debates have sometimes obscured the exact extent of this area in various sources.

In Burma

The language is spoken in Chin State, Tiddim, and the Chin Hills. The use of Burmese has increased in Zou-speaking areas of Chin State since the 1950s. Ethnologue reports that Zou is spoken in the following townships of Myanmar:

Chin State: Tonzang, Hakha, and Tedim townships
Sagaing Division: Kalay, Khampat, and Tamu townships

In India

Manipur
- Chandel district: Singngat subdivision and the Sungnu Sachih / Kana area
- Churachandpur district
Mizoram
Assam

In Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, it is spoken by the Bawm people.

References

↑ Zou at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
1 2 Haokip, Pauthang (2011). Socio-linguistic Situation in North-east India. Concept Publishing Company. p. 55. ISBN 978-8180697609.
↑ "Zoulai". Omniglot.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
↑ Singh, Yashawanta; Himmat, Lukram (February 2013). "Zou Phonology" (PDF). Language in India. 13 (2): 683–701. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 November 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
↑ Pandey, Anshuman (29 September 2010). "Introducing the Zou Script" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 July 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
↑ Ian James; Mattias Persson (March 2012). "Script for Zou". skyknowledge.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
1 2 "Zou language, script, and pronunciation". Omniglot. Archived from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
↑ Philip Thanglienmang Tungdim (2012). "A Descriptive Grammar of the Zo Language". Academia. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
↑ Thangliènmâng Tungdim, Philip (2011). Zo-English-Hindi Kizìlna Lȁibú [Self-tutor book of Zo-English-Hindi]. New Delhi: Zou Cultural-cum-Literature Society India. ISBN 978-81-920282-0-0. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
↑ Bareh, Hamlet (2001). "Zou". Encyclopaedia of North-East India: Manipu. Mittal. pp. 260ff. ISBN 978-81-7099-790-0. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
↑ "Their language is called Zou which is similar to the language spoken by the Paite. Unlike the Zou, the Paite possess the terminal glottal stop 'h'. For example, a word for 'good' is hoih in Paite while it changes into hoi in the Zou language. Sannemla (Zou folksongs) are also popular among the Paite, although they are rendered in their individual dialect bearing the characteristic phonetic differences." Singh, Kumar Suresh; Horam, M. & Rizvi, S. H. M. (1998). People of India: Manipur. Anthropological Survey of India by Seagull Books. p. 253. ISBN 978-81-7154-769-2.
↑ Encyclopaedia of South-Asian tribes - Volume 8 - Page 3436 Satinder Kumar - 2000 "According to the 1981 census, 12,515 persons speak the Zou language"
↑ Gopalakrishnan, Ramamoorthy (1996). Socio-political framework in North-East India. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. p. 150. OCLC 34850808. But against the background of all such conflict the Zomi National Congress went a step further in its argument for a Zomi identity by claiming Thado language as Zomi language. In the Kuki-Chin group of tribes, numerical strength has played ...
↑ Nang Khen Khup (2007). Evaluating the Impact of Family Devotions Upon Selected Families from the Zomi Christian Community of Tulsa (Thesis). Oral Roberts University. p. 7. OCLC 645086982. The Zomi language is descended from the Tibeto-Burman language domain. Though each tribal group speaks its own dialect, Burmese is widely used in Zoland (Chinland) due to Burmanization of military regime for over five decades
↑ Shyamkishor, Ayangbam. "In Search of Common Identity: A Study of Chin-Kuki-Mizo Community in India" (PDF). International Journal of South Asian Studies: A Biannual Journal of South Asian Studies. 3 (1): 131–140. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
↑ Loncheu, Nathan (2013). Dena, Lal (ed.). Bawmzos: A Study Of The Chin-Kuki-Zo Tribes Of Chittagong. New Delhi: Akansha Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-8370-346-8.
↑ Reichle, Verena (1981). Bawm language and lore: Tibeto-Burman area. Europäische Hochschulschriften series 21, Linguistik: volume 14. Bern, Switzerland: P. Lang. ISBN 978-3-261-04935-3.

External links

[e25-1] Zou at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)

[Haokip-2] 1 2 Haokip, Pauthang (2011). Socio-linguistic Situation in North-east India. Concept Publishing Company. p. 55. ISBN 978-8180697609.

[3] "Zoulai". Omniglot.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.

[:0-4] Singh, Yashawanta; Himmat, Lukram (February 2013). "Zou Phonology" (PDF). Language in India. 13 (2): 683–701. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 November 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

[5] Pandey, Anshuman (29 September 2010). "Introducing the Zou Script" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 July 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.

[6] Ian James; Mattias Persson (March 2012). "Script for Zou". skyknowledge.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

[omniglot.com-7] 1 2 "Zou language, script, and pronunciation". Omniglot. Archived from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2019.

[8] Philip Thanglienmang Tungdim (2012). "A Descriptive Grammar of the Zo Language". Academia. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.

[9] Thangliènmâng Tungdim, Philip (2011). Zo-English-Hindi Kizìlna Lȁibú [Self-tutor book of Zo-English-Hindi]. New Delhi: Zou Cultural-cum-Literature Society India. ISBN 978-81-920282-0-0. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2019.

[bareh-10] Bareh, Hamlet (2001). "Zou". Encyclopaedia of North-East India: Manipu. Mittal. pp. 260ff. ISBN 978-81-7099-790-0. Retrieved 22 November 2010.

[11] "Their language is called Zou which is similar to the language spoken by the Paite. Unlike the Zou, the Paite possess the terminal glottal stop 'h'. For example, a word for 'good' is hoih in Paite while it changes into hoi in the Zou language. Sannemla (Zou folksongs) are also popular among the Paite, although they are rendered in their individual dialect bearing the characteristic phonetic differences." Singh, Kumar Suresh; Horam, M. & Rizvi, S. H. M. (1998). People of India: Manipur. Anthropological Survey of India by Seagull Books. p. 253. ISBN 978-81-7154-769-2.

[12] Encyclopaedia of South-Asian tribes - Volume 8 - Page 3436 Satinder Kumar - 2000 "According to the 1981 census, 12,515 persons speak the Zou language"

[13] Gopalakrishnan, Ramamoorthy (1996). Socio-political framework in North-East India. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. p. 150. OCLC 34850808. But against the background of all such conflict the Zomi National Congress went a step further in its argument for a Zomi identity by claiming Thado language as Zomi language. In the Kuki-Chin group of tribes, numerical strength has played ...

[14] Nang Khen Khup (2007). Evaluating the Impact of Family Devotions Upon Selected Families from the Zomi Christian Community of Tulsa (Thesis). Oral Roberts University. p. 7. OCLC 645086982. The Zomi language is descended from the Tibeto-Burman language domain. Though each tribal group speaks its own dialect, Burmese is widely used in Zoland (Chinland) due to Burmanization of military regime for over five decades

[15] Shyamkishor, Ayangbam. "In Search of Common Identity: A Study of Chin-Kuki-Mizo Community in India" (PDF). International Journal of South Asian Studies: A Biannual Journal of South Asian Studies. 3 (1): 131–140. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2014.

[16] Loncheu, Nathan (2013). Dena, Lal (ed.). Bawmzos: A Study Of The Chin-Kuki-Zo Tribes Of Chittagong. New Delhi: Akansha Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-8370-346-8.

[17] Reichle, Verena (1981). Bawm language and lore: Tibeto-Burman area. Europäische Hochschulschriften series 21, Linguistik: volume 14. Bern, Switzerland: P. Lang. ISBN 978-3-261-04935-3.