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Paite is a Sino-Tibetan Language spoken by a subgroup of the Chin Kuki people. There are different Paite dialects. The language exhibits mutual intelligibility with the other languages of the region including Hmar, Vaiphei, Simte, Kom, Gangte and other languages.[3] The name Paite could translate to 'the people who went', 'a group of people marching',[4] or it can even be construed to mean 'nomads'.

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Paite
Paite
Pronunciation	Pai-te
Native to	India, Burma
Region	Mizoram, Manipur, Assam, Chin State
Ethnicity	Paite
Native speakers	100000+ (2011 census)[1][2]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Kuki-Chin-Naga Kuki-Chin-Mizo-Zomi Northern Paite
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pck
Glottolog	pait1244
ELP	Paite Chin

Paite alphabet (Paite laimal)

The alphabet was propounded by Shri T. Vialphung in 1903 which was extracted from the Roman alphabet 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' and has been in use since 1903.

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]

a [a]	Vowels	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:https://www.jiocloud.com/share/?s=z17jlfUI9ir0if-922LjQFfkmacdIOm1xSjnQ-G2NZY8BX.....backups sak mil paite

• 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 differ with variations in region and dialect.

Numbers

Paite (Zomi)	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 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.[5]

There are two major dialects of Paite spoken in Manipur: Lamjang and Dapjal; and 4 minor dialects which are Songtal, Bukpi, Lousau & Kangkap. [6]

Grammar

Paite grammar is fairly complex because of a number of word modification and a fairly 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 wood	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. For example, if 'Laibu a gelh', which translates to 'He writes a book', was written as 'Gelh a laibu' with the verb preceding and the subject and object succeeding respectively, the phrase would then translate to 'Writes he a book'.

Geographical distribution

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

• Manipur: Lamka phaizang, Churachandpur district, Pherzawl district, Jiribam district, Imphal
• Mizoram: 30 villages of Champhai District, Aizawl district and newly formed Khawzawl district, Saitual district.
• Tripura
• Assam: Karbi Anglong
• 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

Education and Academic

Paite language can now be taken up as one of the MIL subjects offered in the Three-Year Degree course in Manipur University. The Academic Council of the University in its meeting held on April 22, 2004 gave its approval for the inclusion of Paite as one of the MIL subjects after considering recommendation by 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.[7]

References

Further reading

• Muivah, Esther T. 1993. English-Paite dictionary. Lamka, Manipur: Paite Tribe Council.
• Tualkhothang, Naulak. 2003. English-Paite dictionary. Lamka, Manipur: The Tualkhothang Naulak Memorial Trust.
• Tawmbing, Chinzam. 2014. English-Paite dictionary. Lamka, Manipur: Hornbill Publication.
• Paite Tribe Council. 2013. Paite customary law & practices / Paite pupa ngeina dan leh a kizatnate. Lamka, Manipur: Paite Tribe Council.
• Thuamkhopau, T. 2009. Paite paunaak leh pau upate. Manipur: Tribal Research Institute.
• https://www.paite.org

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