Hrangkhol language

Hrangkhol
Hrangkhawl
Native toIndia and Burma
RegionTripura, southeast Manipur, parts of Assam
Native speakers
(19,000 cited 2000)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3hra
Glottologhran1239

Hrangkhol, Hrangkhawl belongs to the Mizo languages spoken by the Hrangkhawl people mainly in Assam and Tripura states in India, with a minority living in Manipur and Mizoram. It is closely related with Khawsak dialect/Literary Kukis because, as each of the 20+ Kukis subtribes had their own dialect, over time they developed a lingua-franca, a common language for them all which today is known as "Khawsak țawng/Kukis țawng".

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
Open i u
Mid e ə o
Close a

All monophthongs occur in initial, medial, and final positions. Hrangkhol also has five diphthongs, /ai/, /ei/, /əi/, /oi/, and /ui/. /ui/ and /ai/ occur in all positions, while /ei/, /əi/, and /oi/ only occur in medial and final positions.[2]

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive/

Affricate

aspirated
voiceless p t t͡ʃ k
voiced b d g
Fricative voiceless s h
voiced v z
Trill r
Approximant l w

All consonants occur in initial and medial positions, however only /p/, /t/, /k/, /r/, /l/, /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/ can occur as a coda. Hrangkhol also has stop-liquid clusters in syllable initial positions such as in klek "noise", and rtai "run". Consonant sequences between syllabic boundaries are also common, typically occuring in medial positions.[2]

Tone

Hrangkhol distinguishes between high and low tones, which are marked with an acute and a grave respectively.[2]

References

  1. ^ Hrangkhol at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
  2. ^ a b c Debbarma, Surath (2018). "The Structure Of Hrangkhawl A Kuki Chin Language". University.