Rongmei language
Rongmei | |
---|---|
Songbu | |
Ruanglat, "Ruangmei" | |
![]() Rongmei written in Meitei script | |
Region | Assam, Manipur and Nagaland |
Ethnicity | Rongmei Naga |
Native speakers | (undated figure of 350,580[citation needed]) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | nbu |
Glottolog | rong1266 |
ELP | Rongmei Naga |
Rongmei is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Rongmei Naga community in Northeast India.[1] It has been called Songbu and is close to Zeme and Liangmai. The language has been nomenclatured as "Ruangmei" and studied as a First Language paper from class I to X of Board of Secondary Education, Manipur.[2] Ruangmei is studied as a Minor Indian Language (MIL) in Class XI & XII of Council of Higher Secondary Education Manipur (COHSEM).[3]
Geography
[edit]Rongmei is mostly spoken in the three states of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland.[4]
It is the most spoken language in Tamenglong district and Noney district; and the second most spoken language in Imphal West district and Bishnupur district of Manipur.[5]
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | |
aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | |||
voiced | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | ||
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
Fricative | s | h | ||||
Trill | r | |||||
Approximant | lateral | l | ||||
central | w | j |
Vowels
[edit]Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Mid | e | ə | o |
Open | a |
A lower-mid elongated sound [ɐː] also occurs only in word-medial positions.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ "Naga, Rongmei". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ^ "Board of secondary education manipur- BSEM".
- ^ "Welcome to Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur".
- ^ "Distribution of 99 non schedule languages" (PDF). Census India. MHA, Govt of India. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ "Census of language in India 2011". MHA, Govt of India.
- ^ Tiwari, Surendra K. (1971). A descriptive grammar of Kabui. Poona: Deccan College.