Sopvoma or Mao is a Sino-Tibetan language of Angami–Pochuri linguistic sub branch. It is spoken primarily in Senapati district, northwestern Manipur and in Nagaland, India. It is similar to Angami. According to Ethnologue (2009), the Paomata dialect may be the same as Poumei (Poumai) Naga, which has received a separate ISO code.

Mao
| Sopvoma, Emela, Mao' La |
Mao written in Meitei script
Pronunciation	mau
Native to	India
Region	Nagaland, Manipur
Ethnicity	Mao Naga, Poumai Naga
Native speakers	240,205 (2011 census)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetian Angami–Pochuri Mao
Dialects	Paomata
Official status
Recognised minority language in	India
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: nbi – Mao pmx – Poumai
Glottolog	naga1397
ELP	Mao Naga

See Mao Naga Language for further details.

Mao is somewhat similar to the Sino-Tibetian languages in terms of grammar and style of use.

Unlike English it is a phonetic and tonal language. Spoken mainly by the Mao Nagas

A story referring to the Angami peoples and the Mao peoples (Not to be confused with China's ex-chairman) shows how the two amicably split into the north and south (i.e. Nagaland, Manipur), also showing why the two languages are similar.

The script has been lost for years, following a story where a mouse/mice ate the script written on animal-skin causing the script to be lost and ultimately leading to illiteracy in the area, therefore the Latin script has been used (Which hasn't been an accurate way to display the tonal language).

Phonology

Consonants

• /t͡ʃʰ/ and /w/ only rarely occur, and with /t͡ʃʰ/ only occurring in word-initial position.
• The pre-aspirated voiceless /ʰr̥/, may have a word-initial allophone of [ʂ], [ʂ] rarely occurs phonemically.
• [ɡ] only occurs marginally from loanwords.
• /t̪, p͡f/ in word-initial position may be heard as [t̪ʰ, p͡fʰ] in free variation, rarely as phonemic.
• /h/ may have an allophone of [x] word-initially, word medially in free variation. [x] rarely occurs as a phoneme.
• /m/ before a central vowel /ɨ/ can have an allophone of a labiodental [ɱ].
• /n/ before high vowel sounds can have an allophone of a palatalized [nʲ].

Vowels

• [ə] only occurs inter-morphemically.
• /ɨ/ can be heard as rounded [ʉ] in free variation.
• In word-initial position, /i, u/ can be lowered to [ɪ, ʊ].
• /e, o/ can be lowered to [ɛ, ɔ] in word-final position.[2]

Our Father (Sample)

Tones

There are 4 tones and a neutral tone:

• High tone
• Rising tone
• Neutral tone
• Rising Falling tone
• Falling / Low tone

References

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