View source for Hakha Chin

{{Short description|Kuki-Chin language of Chin State, Myanmar and Mizoram, India}}
{{Distinguish|Burmese language|2=Hakka Chinese}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox language
|name = Hakha Chin
|nativename = {{lang|cnh|Laiholh}}
|states = [[Myanmar]], [[India]], [[Bangladesh]]<ref name=e25/>
|region = 
|ethnicity = [[Chin people|Chin]]
|speakers = {{sigfig|446,264|2}}
|date=no date
|ref = e25
|familycolor = Sino-Tibetan
|fam2 = [[Tibeto-Burman languages|Tibeto-Burman]]
|fam3 = [[Central Tibeto-Burman languages|Central Tibeto-Burman]] (?)
|fam4 = [[Kuki-Chin-Naga languages|Kuki-Chin-Naga]]
|fam5 = [[Kuki-Chin languages|Kuki-Chin]]
|fam6 = [[Central Kuki-Chin languages|Central]]
|fam7 = [[Lai languages|Lai]]
|script = [[Latin script|Latin]]<br />[[Mon–Burmese script|Mon–Burmese]]
|iso3 = cnh
|glotto = haka1240
|glottorefname = Haka Chin
}}

'''Hakha Chin''', or '''Laiholh''', is a [[Kuki-Chin languages|Kuki-Chin]] language spoken by 446,264 people, mostly in [[Myanmar]].<ref name=e25/> In Mizoram, the language is recognized as '''Pawi'''. The total figure includes 2,000 Zokhua and 60,100 Hakha speakers.<ref name=e25/> The speakers are largely concentrated in [[Chin State]] in western [[Myanmar]] and [[Mizoram]] in eastern [[India]], with a small number of speakers in south-eastern [[Bangladesh]].

==Distribution==
The Hakha Chin (Lai) speakers are largely in [[Chin State]], [[Burma]] and [[Mizoram]] in [[Northeast India]], with a small number of speakers in south-eastern [[Bangladesh]]. Nowadays, more than eighty thousands Hakha Chin speakers are living in the Western countries, such as [[Canada]], [[Denmark]], [[Germany]], [[Norway]], and the [[United States]], as well as [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]].{{cn|date=July 2022}}

==Mutual intelligibility==
Hakha Chin serves as a [[lingua franca]] in most parts of [[Chin State]] and is a native language in [[Hakha]], [[Than Tlang|Thantlang]], and parts of [[Matupi, Myanmar|Matupi]]. Derived from the same Lai dialect and sharing 85% of their phonology, [[Falam language|Falam]] Chin speakers can easily communicate with Hakha speakers. As the capital of Chin State, Hakha provides government employment and business opportunities to people living elsewhere in Chin State. These people live here temporarily or permanently, and their families eventually learn how to speak Lai holh (Hakha).

The Chin people use [[Latin script]] (Hakha alphabet) as their writing system.

==Phonology==
===Syllable structure===
Words in the Hakha Chin language are predominantly monosyllabic with some sesqui syllables featuring a "reduced syllable".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hyman |first=Larry M. |last2=VanBik |first2=Kenneth |date=2004 |title=Directional rule application and output problems in Hakha Lai tone |url=http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/files/publication/j2004_4_05_8112.pdf |journal=Language and Linguistics |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=821–861}}</ref> Full syllables are either open or closed with a rising, falling, or low tone.{{fact|date=August 2021}}

=== Consonants ===
{{more citations needed section|date=November 2018}}
The Hakha Chin language differentiates between voiced, voiceless, and voiceless aspirated obstruents. Additionally, two sets of sonorants are realised.<ref name="Khoi Lam Thang 2001">{{Cite thesis |last=Khoi Lam Thang |title=A phonological reconstruction of Proto-Chin |date=2001 |degree=MA |publisher=Payap University |url=http://ic.payap.ac.th/wp-content/uploads/linguistics_PDF/Khois-Proto-Reconstruction-of-Chin-revised.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026164522/http://ic.payap.ac.th/wp-content/uploads/linguistics_PDF/Khois-Proto-Reconstruction-of-Chin-revised.pdf |archive-date=26 October 2016 |access-date=21 December 2016}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! {{small|central}}
! {{small|lateral}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}
|
|-
! {{small|[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|m̥}}
| {{IPA link|n̥}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|ŋ̊}}
|
|-
! rowspan="3" | [[Plosive]]
! {{small|[[Tenuis consonant|tenuis]]}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʈ}}
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
| {{IPA link|ʔ}}
|-
! {{small|[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]}}
| {{IPA link|pʰ}}
| {{IPA link|tʰ}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʈʰ}}
|
| {{IPA link|kʰ}}
|
|-
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
|
|
|
| ({{IPA link|ɡ}})
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Affricate]]
! {{small|[[Tenuis consonant|tenuis]]}}
|
| {{IPA link|t͡s}}
| {{IPA link|tɬ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! {{small|[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]}}
|
| {{IPA link|t͡sʰ}}
| {{IPA link|tɬʰ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
! {{small|[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
|
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|v}}
| {{IPA link|z}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Liquid consonant|Liquid]]
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
| {{IPA link|l}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! {{small|[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|
| {{IPA link|r̥}}
| {{IPA link|l̥}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Semivowel]]
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|}

Consonants allowed in syllable codas are {{IPA|/p, t, k, m, n, ŋ, l, r, j, w/}}.

Consonants {{IPA|/m, n, ŋ, l, r/}} occurring in syllable-final position may also occur as [[glottalized]] {{IPA|[mˀ, nˀ, ŋˀ, lˀ, rˀ]}}.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Lalremzani|first=C.|title=Lai phonetics phonology and morphology: a descriptive study|publisher=North-Eastern Hill University|year=2013}}</ref>

The unattested parent language, Proto-Chin, featured a voiced velar plosive {{IPA|ɡ}}. The phoneme itself was lost in all of its daughter languages, due to a spirantisation to ɣ, which a labialisation followed afterwards.<ref name="Khoi Lam Thang 2001" /> Only certain loanwords, not native words, have the voiced velar plosive.

In the Hakha alphabet, {{angbr|h}} transcribes the glottal fricative in initial position, but a glottal stop in coda position.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hobugt.dk/ordbog/artikler/pronunciation.htm|title=Pronunciation|website=hobugt.dk}}</ref> Voiceless approximants are distinguished in writing from their voiced counterparts with a prefixed {{angbr|h}}.

===Vowels===
The Hakha language features seven vowels which may be long or short. Allophones occur for closed syllables.<ref name="Khoi Lam Thang 2001" />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!  !! [[Front vowel|Front]]!! [[Central vowel|Central]]!! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}} ||  || {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}} ||  || {{IPA link|ɔ}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|  || {{IPA link|a}} || 
|}
In final position, /e/ can be heard as [ɛ].<ref name=":0" />

The Hakha language also features diphthongs.<ref name="Khoi Lam Thang 2001" />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! !! Front !! Central !! Back
|-
! Close
| ia &emsp; iu ||   || ui &emsp; ua
|-
! Mid
| ei &emsp; eu ||  || ɔi
|-
! Open
| || ai &emsp; au ||
|}

==Grammar==
Hakha-Chin is a subject-object-verb (SOV) language, and negation follows the verb.

==Literacy and literature==
Literacy rates are lower for older generations and higher in younger generations.<ref name=e25/> The Hakha-Chin language uses the [[Latin script]], unlike most languages of India and Bangladesh which use [[Devanagari]] or other Southeast Asian alphabets. Between 1978 and 1999, the Bible was translated into the language.<ref name=e25/>

A written script for Hakha (Lai) was created in 1891 by DJC Mcnabb.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Lian |first=Salai Van Cung |last2=Salem-Gervais |first2=Nicolas |date=November 2020 |title=How Many Chin Languages Should Be Taught in Government Schools? Ongoing developments and structural challenges of language-in-education policy in Chin State |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345667190_How_Many_Chin_Languages_Should_Be_Taught_in_Government_Schools_Ongoing_developments_and_structural_challenges_of_language-in-education_policy_in_Chin_State |journal=Parami Journal of Education |volume=1 |issue=1}}</ref> Additional scripts were created in 1894 by AGZ Newland, in 1900 by Rev. Arthur E. Carson and Rev. Dr. Harry H. Tilbe, and in 1908 by Rev. Dr. Herbert Cope.<ref name="e25" />

==Distribution==
The Hakha-Chin language is also known as Haka, Baung-shè, and Lai in Burma, India, and Bangladesh.<ref name=e25/> The [[Chin people|Hakha-Chin]] people are largely members of the [[Lai (people)|Lai]] tribe. In India, they are a [[Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes|Scheduled Tribe]], which means the government recognizes them as a distinct people. As they mostly live in hilly or even mountainous remote areas, most Hakha-Chin speakers rely on [[shifting cultivation|swidden agriculture]].<ref name=e25/> Hakha-Chin speakers are predominantly [[Christianity in Myanmar|Christian]].<ref name=e25/>

===Burma===
As of 1991, there were 100,000 Hakha-Chin speakers in Burma.<ref name=e25/> Dialects vary from village to village.

===Bangladesh===
As of 2000, there were 1,264 Hakha-Chin speakers in Bangladesh.<ref name=e25/> In Bangladesh, the Senthang dialect Shonshe is spoken and it may be a language in its own right.<ref name=e25/>

===India===
As of 1996, there were 345,000 Hakha-Chin speakers in India, mostly in the [[Lawngtlai District|Lawngtlai]], [[Lunglei District|Lunglei]], and [[Aizawl district|Aizawl]] districts of Mizoram as well as the southernmost tip of [[Assam]].<ref name=e25/> In India, the language is also known as Lai Pawi and Lai Hawlh and is taught in some primary schools. Most of its younger speakers in India are [[Literacy in India|literate]].<ref name=e25/>

==Bibliography==
*Peterson, David A. (2003). "Hakha Lai" In Graham Thurgood and Randy J. LaPolla, eds. ''The Sino-Tibetan Languages'', 409–426. London: Routledge

==See also==
*[[Lai languages]]
*[[Lai people]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Incubator|code= cnh}}
*[http://chin-dictionary.com/ Online English to Chin (Hakha) Dictionary with Audio Pronunciations]
*[http://www.tongdot.com/ English to Haka Chin Online Dictionary]
* [https://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/LAILR/ Lai Language Resource] collection of Hakha Lai language documentation in the Computational Resource for South Asian Languages (CoRSAL) archive

{{Sino-Tibetan languages}}
{{Kuki-Chin–Naga languages}}
{{Languages of Burma}}
{{Languages of Northeast India}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hakha-Chin Language}}
[[Category:Languages of Mizoram]]
[[Category:Languages of Myanmar]]
[[Category:Languages of Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Kuki-Chin languages]]
[[Category:Subject–object–verb languages]]