In linguistic typology , a subject–object–verb ( SOV ) language is one in which the subject , object , and verb of a sentence always or usually appear in that order. If English were SOV, "Sam oranges ate" would be an ordinary sentence, as opposed to the actual Standard English "Sam ate oranges" which is subject–verb–object (SVO).
24-982: Lai , Laiholh , or Pawi is a Kuki-Chin language spoken in central Chin State in Myanmar, and Lawngtlai district of Mizoram, India. Hakha Chin-speaking minorities are also found in the Sagaing and Magway Regions of Myanmar , and in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of southeastern Bangladesh by the Bawm minority. There are over 450,000 speakers of this language. Hakha Chin is the lingua franca in Thantlang and Hakha townships of Chin State. The Hakha Chin (Lai) speakers are largely in Chin State , Burma and Mizoram in Northeast India , with
48-497: A time–manner–place ordering of adpositional phrases . In linguistic typology, one can usefully distinguish two types of SOV languages in terms of their type of marking: In practice, of course, the distinction between these two types is far from sharp. Many SOV languages are substantially double-marking and tend to exhibit properties intermediate between the two idealised types above. Many languages that have shifted to SVO word order from earlier SOV retain (at least to an extent)
72-574: A belt bought has.") A rare example of SOV word order in English is "I (subject) thee (object) wed (verb)" in the wedding vow "With this ring, I thee wed." SOV languages have a strong tendency to use postpositions rather than prepositions , to place auxiliary verbs after the action verb, to place genitive noun phrases before the possessed noun, to place a name before a title or honorific ("James Uncle" and "Johnson Doctor" rather than "Uncle James" and "Doctor Johnson") and to have subordinators appear at
96-438: A prefixed ⟨h⟩ . The Hakha language features seven vowels which may be long or short. Allophones occur for closed syllables. In final position, /e/ can be heard as [ɛ]. The Hakha language also features diphthongs. Hakha-Chin is a subject-object-verb (SOV) language , and negation follows the verb. Literacy rates are lower for older generations and higher in younger generations. The Hakha-Chin language uses
120-912: A sizeable number of speakers in south-eastern Bangladesh . Nowadays, approximately one hundred thousand Hakha Chin speakers are living in the Western countries, such as Canada , Denmark , Germany , Norway , and the United States , as well as Australia and New Zealand . In India, they are a Scheduled Tribe , which means the government recognizes them as a distinct people. As they mostly live in hilly or even mountainous remote areas, most Hakha-Chin speakers in Chin State , Burma , Mizoram and in Northeast India and south-eastern Bangladesh rely on swidden agriculture . Hakha-Chin speakers are predominantly Christian . As of 1991, there were 100,000 Hakha-Chin speakers in Burma. Dialects vary from village to village. Chin
144-508: A voiced velar plosive ɡ . The phoneme itself was lost in all of its daughter languages, due to a spirantisation to ɣ, which a labialisation followed afterwards. Only certain loanwords, not native words, have the voiced velar plosive. In the Hakha alphabet, ⟨h⟩ transcribes the glottal fricative in initial position, but a glottal stop in coda position. Voiceless approximants are distinguished in writing from their voiced counterparts with
168-649: Is a growing body of literature and media produced in Hakha Chin, including books, newspapers, radio broadcasts, and more recently, digital content. Endangered Status: Like many indigenous languages around the world, Hakha Chin faces challenges from cultural assimilation and globalization. Efforts are underway to promote its use and ensure its survival among younger generations. Education: There are initiatives to develop educational materials and programs in Hakha Chin to strengthen literacy and language skills among speakers, particularly children and youth. Overall, Hakha Chin
192-648: Is a native language in Hakha , Thantlang , and parts of Matupi . Derived from the same Lai dialect and sharing 85% of their phonology, Falam Chin speakers can easily communicate with Hakha speakers. As the capital of Chin State, Hakha provides government employment and business opportunities to people living elsewhere in Chin State. These people live here temporarily or permanently, and their families eventually learn how to speak Lai holh (Hakha). The Chin people use Latin script (Hakha alphabet) as their writing system. Words in
216-462: Is as follows. Peterson's Northeastern branch corresponds to VanBik's Northern branch, while Peterson's Northwestern corresponds to the Old Kuki branch of earlier classifications. Subject-object-verb The term is often loosely used for ergative languages like Adyghe and Basque that really have agents instead of subjects. Among natural languages with a word order preference, SOV
240-454: Is closely related to Mru rather than to Kuki-Chin languages. The Mruic languages constitute a separate Tibeto-Burman branch, and are not part of Kuki-Chin. Kenneth VanBik's (2009:23) classified the Kuki-Chin languages based on shared sound changes (phonological innovations) from Proto-Kuki-Chin as follows. David A. Peterson's (2017:206) internal classification of the Kuki-Chin languages
264-462: Is in SVO word order. Non-finite verbs are placed at the end, however, since V2 only applies to the finite verb: " Ich will etwas über Karl sagen " ("I want to say something about Karl"). In a subordinate clause , the finite verb is not affected by V2, and also appears at the end of the sentence, resulting in full SOV order: " Ich sage, dass Karl einen Gürtel gekauft hat. " (Word-for-word: "I say that Karl
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#1732851691439288-403: Is not just a means of communication but a repository of cultural heritage and identity for the Hakha Chin people. Efforts to document, preserve, and promote the language are crucial for its continued vitality and relevance in the modern world. Kuki-Chin languages The Kuki-Chin languages (also called Kuki-Chin-Mizo , Kukish or South-Central Tibeto-Burman languages ) are a branch of
312-648: Is spoken by roughly half a million people.The precise count of Hakha Chin speakers in Bangladesh is difficult to ascertain, but it is widely recognized that a significant population residing in the Chittagong Hill Tracts speaks the language. As of 1996, there were 345,000 Hakha-Chin speakers in India, mostly in the Lawngtlai , Lunglei , and Aizawl districts of Mizoram as well as the southernmost tip of Assam . In India,
336-412: Is the most common type (followed by subject–verb–object ; the two types account for more than 87% of natural languages with a preferred order). Languages that have SOV structure include Standard Chinese is generally SVO but common constructions with verbal complements require SOV or OSV. Some Romance languages are SVO, but when the object is an enclitic pronoun, word order allows for SOV (see
360-510: The Khomic branch (which has been split off from the Southern branch) from Peterson (2017). Darlong and Ranglong are unclassified Kuki-Chin language. The recently discovered Sorbung language may be mixed language that could classify as either a Kuki-Chin or Tangkhul language (Mortenson & Keogh 2011). Anu-Hkongso speakers self-identify as ethnic Chin people , although their language
384-533: The Latin script , unlike most languages of India and Bangladesh which use Devanagari or other Southeast Asian alphabets. Between 1978 and 1999, the Bible was translated into the language. Primary Language: Hakha Chin is typically the primary language spoken by the Hakha Chin people in their daily lives. It serves as a means of communication within families, communities, and in local institutions. Language Vitality: Despite
408-763: The Sino-Tibetan language family spoken in northeastern India , western Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh . Most notable Kuki-Chin-speaking ethnic groups are referred to collectively as the Zo people which includes: the Mizo of Mizoram , the Kuki of Manipur , Assam , Nagaland , Tripura and Bangladesh and the Chin of Chin State , Myanmar . Kuki-Chin is alternatively called South-Central Trans-Himalayan (or South Central Tibeto-Burman) by Konnerth (2018), because of negative connotations of
432-601: The Hakha Chin language are predominantly monosyllabic with some sesqui syllables featuring a "reduced syllable". Full syllables are either open or closed with a rising, falling, or low tone. The Hakha Chin language differentiates between voiced, voiceless, and voiceless aspirated obstruents. Additionally, two sets of sonorants are realised. Consonants allowed in syllable codas are /p, t, k, m, n, ŋ, l, r, j, w/ . Consonants /m, n, ŋ, l, r/ occurring in syllable-final position may also occur as glottalized [mˀ, nˀ, ŋˀ, lˀ, rˀ] . The unattested parent language, Proto-Chin, featured
456-406: The end of subordinate clauses. They have a weaker but significant tendency to place demonstrative adjectives before the nouns they modify. Relative clauses preceding the nouns to which they refer usually signals SOV word order, but the reverse does not hold: SOV languages feature prenominal and postnominal relative clauses roughly equally. SOV languages also seem to exhibit a tendency towards using
480-448: The examples below). German and Dutch are considered SVO in conventional typology and SOV in generative grammar . They can be considered SOV but with V2 word order as an overriding rule for the finite verb in main clauses , which results in SVO in some cases and SOV in others. For example, in German, a basic sentence such as " Ich sage etwas über Karl " ("I say something about Karl")
504-422: The language is also known as Lai Pawi and Lai Hawlh and is taught in some primary schools. Most of its younger speakers in India are literate . Currently, around 100,000 Hakha Chin speakers are living in the Western countries, such as Canada , Denmark , Germany , Norway , and the United States , as well as Australia and New Zealand . Hakha Chin serves as a lingua franca in most parts of Chin State and
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#1732851691439528-431: The pressures from Burmese, the official language of Myanmar, Hakha Chin continues to be actively used in various domains, including religious ceremonies, cultural events, and community gatherings. Identity: The Hakha Chin language plays a crucial role in preserving and promoting the cultural identity of the Hakha Chin people. It is used in traditional songs, stories, and religious practices. Literature and Media: There
552-664: The properties: for example, the Finnish language (high usage of postpositions etc.) The Ethio-Semitic , Cushitic and Omotic languages generally exhibit SOV order. ተስፋዬ Täsəfayē Tesfaye Subject በሩን bärun the door Object ዘጋው zägaw closed Verb ተስፋዬ በሩን ዘጋው Täsəfayē bärun zägaw Tesfaye {the door} closed Subject Object Verb Tesfaye closed the door. Ayyantu Ayantu Subject buna coffee Object dhugti drinks Verb Ayyantu buna dhugti Ayantu coffee drinks Subject Object Verb Ayantu drinks coffee. Somali generally uses
576-573: The term "Kuki-Chin" for many speakers of languages in this group. Kuki-Chin is sometimes placed under Kuki-Chin–Naga , a geographical rather than linguistic grouping. The Karbi languages may be closely related to Kuki-Chin, but Thurgood (2003) and van Driem (2011) leave Karbi unclassified within Sino-Tibetan. The Kuki-Chin branches listed below are from VanBik (2009), with the Northwestern branch added from Scott DeLancey , et al. (2015), and
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