The Lai languages or Pawih/Pawi languages are various Central Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages spoken by the Lai people or Pawi. They include “ Laiṭong” (Falam-Chin) spoken in Falam district, Laiholh (Hakha-Chin) spoken around the Haka (Hakha/Halkha) capital of Chin State in Burma (Myanmar) and in the Lawngtlai district of Mizoram, India. In Bangladesh, a related language is spoken by the Bawm people. Other Lai languages are Mi-E (including Khualsim), and the Zokhua dialect of Hakha Lai spoken in Zokhua village.[1]

Lai
Native toIndia, Myanmar, Bangladesh
RegionMizoram, Chin State, Chittagong hills tract
EthnicityLai people
SpeakersNative: 170,000 (2017)[1]
L2: 40,000 (2013)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3cnh
Glottologlaic1236

Grammar

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Deletion of the final consonant can be observed here in stem II. However, this is irregular as most verbs usually revive or gain a consonant in stem II. This stem is used to indicate the distant future tense, subjunctive mood, cohortative mood, hortative mood, jussive mood and more.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Lai at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  
  2. ^ "Argument Indexation (Verb Agreement) in Kuki-Chin". academia.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
  • Stephen Ni Kio, Lai Nunphung.
  • Hakha Lai - By David A. Peterson, Chapter Twenty Five.
  • Kenneth VanBik, Three Types Of Causative Instruction In Hakha Lai, University of California, Berkeley.
  • VanBik, David (1986) English–Chin (Haka) Dictionary, Haka.
  • Haye-Neave, D.R. (1948) Lai Chin grammar and dictionary, Rangoon: Superintendent of Government Printing and Stationery, Burma.
  • George Bedell, AGREEMENT IN MIZO - Papers from the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, Tempe, Arizona: Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University, pp. 51–70, 2001.
  • George Bedell, AGREEMENT IN LAI - Papers from the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, Tempe, Arizona: Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University, pp. 21–32, 1995.