Talk:Mizo language

ISO 639-2 code sit is wrong

IMHO the ISO 639-2 code mentioned in infobox if wrong and proper code is lus (equal to 639-3). The code sit rferrs to Sino-Tibetan languages not Mizo language (according to List_of_ISO_639-2_codes). Is there anybody with another opinion? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Đonny (talk • contribs) 21:55, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

WP:INDIA Banner/Mizoram Addition

Note: {{WP India}} Project Banner with Mizoram workgroup parameters was added to this article talk page because the article falls under Category:Mizoram or its subcategories. Should you feel this addition is inappropriate , please undo my changes and update/remove the relavent categories to the article -- Amartyabag ^TALK2ME 01:18, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Mizo language template

If you are a native speaker of Mizo then you can help translate this template into your own language:

lusHe hmangtu hian Mizo ṭawng a pianpui a ni.

Edit

--Amazonien (talk) 22:11, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

population

We had a pop. of 1M from the 2011 census. But the 1997 figure was 530k in India. Doubling in 14 years is rather unlikely. Was the 1997 fig wrong? Is the 2011 fig the ethnic population, with not all speaking Mizo? And why "1,000,000+"? Are the census figs vague? — kwami (talk) 08:25, 17 October 2011 (UTC)

Mizo language family tree

Mizo language is not just the language of the Lushai (or Lusei) people. Rather it is the language of all the Mizo people who speaks different dialects till the end of 20th century. The gradual development of all these different dialects in the 21st century make the Mizo language. The dialects which make the Mizo language as we know today, included Lusei, Ralte, Lai, Paite, Hmar, Kuki, Mara, etc.

So, while writing the family tree of Mizo language, the Mizo language must come just beneath the Tibeto-Burman family, as one of the sub families or branches of it. Then, other dialects or languages of the Mizo language must come under the Mizo language (or Kuki-Chin-Mizo language). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lpachuau (talk • contribs) 13:03, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Kuki-Chin-Mizo is not a language, it's a language family. This is like saying that Bengali is a dialect of Hindi. — kwami (talk) 04:06, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

I think linguists have not studied the Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages separately since there seems to be no separate linguistic group for them. The closest to this is the Kukish group. But this latter includes some Naga languages, which are not considered to be Mizo languages. (Mizo^{Phéngphehlep ṭial máwi tê!} 15:05, 23 May 2012 (UTC))

Mizo is not a language but people. Lushai can be a language or people/tribe. Just like the word "English", If you speak or use English it does not mean that you are English,rather you are American, Australian, Canadian, etc ... but your language is english. Also in Mizo we are mizo but our language is Lushai, lai, hmar, laizo, paite, etc. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.134.222.241 (talk) 10:59, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Ancient poems in Mizo language

I have clearly written earlier (two or three times) that most Bawh hlä and most other ancient poems are in Pawi language. But it has consistently been changed to some vaguer forms, evidently without considering the facts. This fact is clearly written in the Vanglaini article that I gave as reference. So I hope this will not be changed again. I suggest that anyone who wants to change first read the article before changing it. Thank you. (Mizo^{Phéngphehlep ṭial máwi tê!} 15:30, 23 May 2012 (UTC))

Every Language is developed gradually even English. Lushai (Mizo) language is not developed only in Mizoram, but also Tripura, Manipur, and Chin state in Myanmar. In Mizoram most new words were mostly come fron English and Hindi. Minipur Lushai(Mizo) language is a bit mixed up of Thado, Zomi, Hmar, Meitei, English and Hindi language. Even in Tripura Lushai language is a bit different from Mizoram Lushai(Mizo) language as well as Lushai(mizo) language in Myanmar(burma). Some of Lushai(Mizo) words in Chin state words are taken from Falam (lai) language and Burmese language.

Why most Mizo ancient poems are mostly come from Lai(pawi) because they lived among them. One of the most important part in Mizo history is Rih dil(lake). It is located in Falam (lai) State.

This is the fact that Lushai (Mizo) language is not the only language we use in Mizoram but also Lai, Hmar and Mara language. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.134.217.232 (talk) 09:05, 30 June 2012 (UTC)

There is no letter u with dot above in latin unicode character

The so called "short falling tone", letter with dot above, is not available in latin unicode character. Therefore, it is not a better idea to use it. Zosangzuala (talk) 01:12, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

If that's how it's written, that's how it's written. If it's not written that way, then we have no business presenting it as if it were. If Unicode is lacking a letter, than it needs to be expanded. — kwami (talk) 02:30, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

This is the fact that we Mizo people know circumflex is not fully expressing Mizo's language tones. Therefore, different writers, authors, and dictionary makers use their own accents. Example: ã, vowel with triangle above, like this and so on. We are really confused about it and even most of us could not use those accents. I don't mean that this one is right and that one is wrong. Since circumflex is being the only official we have in this present and Latin Unicode characters are sufficient to use, using the existing Unicode character would be a good idea. However, this is my own suggestion and opinion. Zosangzuala (talk) 13:35, 8 June 2012 (UTC) Thanks

The symbols á, é, ... (vowels with acute accent above), à, ù, ... (vowels with grave accent), ä, ë,... (vowels with Umlaut) and â, ê,... (vowels with circumflex) are commonly accepted and used by Vanglaini, Lengzem etc. and most private bloggers (provided they know how to). However, the other symbols ạ, ụ, ȧ, ȯ etc (vowels with dot above or below) ǎ, ǔ (vowels with caron/háček) are devised here (in this article) and here to differentiate the tones. There is no complete standard yet. And there may not be, since the same word changes its tone depending on its usage. Take for example, kal in I lo kal dawn em? (Are you coming?) and I lo kal chuan... (If you come/are coming...). If we were to indicate the tones, we would have to write the sentences as: Ị lǒ kal dáwn ěm? and Ị lǒ kạl chúan... respectively. (Mizo^{Phéngphehlep ṭial máwi tê!} 10:27, 9 June 2012 (UTC))

What about a letter with Tilde, used by Vanglaini Mizo daily news? Check it out here (June 5 2012) at the article of tleirãwl vrs rãwlthar. What about it if you really depend on vanlaini daily news. However this is not what I am trying to say. What I am trying to say is there is not a letter u and (small letter i) with dot above so far. Even though there are many Latin Unicode letters to use, using uncompleted Unicode is not a good idea. Furthermore we are going to confused a letter i with dot above and normal i. And if you can use, how are we going type them? If you can show me I would be very grateful. Zosangzuala (talk) 08:21, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

That is the problem I have encountered: i with another dot above the usual one, and u with dot above. For u there is a solution: ů (this is pretty close!). For i: ${\dot {i}}$ but this is not nice. The good choice is ả, ẻ, ỉ, ỏ, ủ. This fits the bill. And it appears as if it shows the direction of intonation.

As regards the use of ̃ in Vanglaini, the most used diacritics for the tone is ̈. I do not understand why Pu Chuauṭhuama has used it. I partly rely on Vanglaini because it is one of the most read newspapers, and because the same convention is used in Lengzem chanchinbu, which is again arguably the most read monthly magazine in Mizoram. The use here is just an anomaly, or maybe just Pu Chuauṭhuama's idiosyncrasy.

But please note that the use of diacritics here has almost nothing to do with their use elsewhere. It serves here as a sort of distinguisher between the tones.

Please do help us, if you can, complete the Mizo wiktionary. Regards. (Mizo^{Phéngphehlep ṭial máwi tê!} 09:01, 12 June 2012 (UTC)).

But we're not in the business of inventing Mizo orthography. If the existing orthography is not Unicode compatible, then we might not be able to reproduce it, but we can't just change it. — kwami (talk) 09:18, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

Dear kwami, the use of ́ (acute accent), ̀ (grave accent) , ̂(circumflex) , ̈ (Umlaut/diaeresis) are standard. But the other symbols ̇ , ̣ , (dot above & below vowels), ̌ (caron/háček) are not used at all. As Zosangzuala has said above, different authors and publishers used different conventions seemingly depending upon their convenience. Sadly, the language bodies have not fixed a standard orthography for Mizo language. But the Mizo wiktionary has used these symbols just because it is necessary to distinguish these different reduced tones.

The standard ones represent the long tones, whereas the rest are for short, reduced tones.

The only important language-related body which has used a set of diacritics for these reduced tones is Zoppen club (given in the references within the article. Their booklet is Mizo ṭawng thumal thar). But the symbols used in their booklet is far from standard, and they are not available in Unicode.

I have uploaded the guide page for reference. Please see here

Thank you. (Mizo^{Phéngphehlep ṭial máwi tê!} 09:37, 12 June 2012 (UTC))

Grammars and Dictionaries

http://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Lushai%20language%22

The Lushei Kuki clans (1912)

https://archive.org/details/cu31924023940962

https://archive.org/details/lusheikukiclans00shak

A grammar and dictionary of the Lushai language (Dulien dialect) (1898)

https://archive.org/details/grammardictionar00lorr

A grammar and dictionary of the Lushai language (Dulien dialect) By James Herbert Lorrain, Fred W. Savidge

http://books.google.com/books?id=YitkAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

A grammar of the Lúshái language, to which are appended a few illustrations of the Zau or Lúshái popular songs and translations from Æsop's fables (1884)

https://archive.org/details/agrammarlshilan00shahgoog

A grammar of the Lúshái language, to which are appended a few illustrations of the Zau or Lúshái popular songs and translations from Æsop's fables By Brojo Nath Shaba, Aesopus

http://books.google.com/books?id=v6ITAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=tanka&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WuE7VKCtHvCAsQSbv4HABg&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBzgU#v=onepage&q&f=false

Lorrain, J. Herbert (James Herbert) Dictionary of the Lushai language. Calcutta : Asiatic Society, 1940. (Bibliotheca Indica, 261)

http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/lorrain/

Rajmaan (talk) 21:00, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

Lushai language could not change to Mizo Language

There are many languages in Mizo languages. Lushai is one of the language of Mizo but not the only language of Mizo. Every language is developed day by day not only Lushai language. But Lushai language is most used among Mizo/Zo people. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.134.222.241 (talk) 10:51, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Stuff

The phonology part is messed by (The affricate part) someone please fix it — Preceding unsigned comment added by 103.215.54.107 (talk) 00:48, 18 October 2020 (UTC)

Word order?

The article gives OSV as word order, but Chhangte (1989) says on page 149: "Mizo is a fairly rigid SOV language" (http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/chhangte1989grammar.pdf). What's the source for the OSV order? Exarchus (talk) 13:32, 11 February 2023 (UTC)

@Exarchus: Might be WP:OR. Looking at the sample clause and Chhangte's grammar, ka apparently is a proclitic pronoun. So the sample clause actually isn't a useful example for basic constituent order. –Austronesier (talk) 13:51, 11 February 2023 (UTC)

Maybe it's a situation like people thinking French is SOV because of 'Je t'aime'.

Chhangte on page 151 gives another example with 'ka' ('your father I know'). Exarchus (talk) 14:06, 11 February 2023 (UTC)

it's mainly OSV but sometimes when sentences with foreign words are added it becomes SOV Laiflsse (talk) 05:21, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

Could you please supply a reference to verify that it's OSV? 1.127.107.146 (talk) 14:44, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

@1.127.107.146 for example, "sawmate inah ka kal dawn" means that "i will go to sawma's house" or directly "sawma-(ownership postpostion) house-(locative postposition) i go tense-marker(future)" Laiflsse (talk) 03:36, 28 July 2024 (UTC)

Phonology

the phonology seems incorrect as the spoken does not have /tɾ/,/tɾʰ/,/ʰr/ etc and I think that it should be re-studied Laiflsse (talk) 05:24, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

Writing Systems & IPA

In the Writing system section, please add International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols for each sound.

Additionally, the infobox says Mizo is also written in the Bengali-Assamese script. Is this common today, is it only historic, or is that script only used by part of the community (e.g. in Bangladesh)? Please explain the situation and add examples of its use. 1.127.107.146 (talk) 14:49, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

@1.127.107.146 as a mizo, we use the latin script to write and in bangladesh, we do not use the bengali-assamese script not it was historical. Laiflsse (talk) 03:31, 28 July 2024 (UTC)