- Jingpho language
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Not to be confused with Jili language.
Jingpho Pronunciation tɕiŋ˧˩pʰɔʔ˧˩ Spoken in Burma (Myanmar), China, India Region Kachin State, Yingjiang County Ethnicity Jingpo Native speakers 950,000 (2001) Language family Sino-Tibetan- (Tibeto-Burman)
- Brahmaputran
- Kachin–Luic
- Jingpho
- Kachin–Luic
- Brahmaputran
Dialects SingphoDzili (Jili)Language codes ISO 639-2 kac ISO 639-3 either:
kac – Jingpho
sgp – SingphoThis page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. - "Kachin language" redirects here. For other meanings of word "Kachin" see Kachin
The Jingpho language (Jinghpaw, Chingp'o) or Kachin language (Burmese: ကချင်ဘာသာ, [kətɕɪ̀ɴ bàðà]) is a Tibeto-Burman language mainly spoken in Kachin State, Burma (Myanmar) and Yunnan Province, China. The term Kachin language can refer either to the Jingpho language or to a group of languages spoken by various ethnic groups in the same region as Jingpo: Lisu, Lachit, Rawang, Zaiwa, Lhaovo, Achang (Ngo Chang), and Jingpho. These languages are from distinct branches of the highest level of the Tibeto-Burman family.
The ethnic Jingpho (or Kachin) are the primary speakers of Jingpho language, numbering approximately 900,000 speakers.[1] The Turung of Assam in India speak a Jingpho dialect, called Singpho, mixed with Assamese words.
The Jingpho language is written with the Latin alphabet. Jingpho has verbal morphology that marks the subject and the direct object. Here is one example (the tonemes are not marked). The verb is 'to be' (rai).
person and number present past 1sg rai n ngai rai sa ngai 2sg rai n dai rai sin dai 3sg rai ai rai sai 1pl rai ga ai rai sa ga dai 2pl rai ma dai rai ma sin dai 3pl rai ma ai rai ma sai Jingpho syllable finals can consist of vowels, nasals, or oral stops.
Footnotes
- ^ "Ethnologue report for ISO 639 code: kac". www.ethnologue.com. http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_iso639.asp?code=kac. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
Jingpho (Jinghpaw) language has five vowels which causes difficult to pronounce correctly for each words by non Kachin. Example:
Wa (high short tone) compensate Á Wa (middle tone) Teeth Ä Wa (high tone) father à Wa (Low tone) come back Ā Wa (Low short tone) Pig Ą
Usually the writing Jingpho has no vowel indicators, hence difficult to pronounce correctly by the non Kachin.
Bibliography
- 景颇语-汉语词典 Jingpoyu - Hanyu cidian / Jingpho–Chinese dictionary, 戴庆夏 Dai Qingxia et al.
- 景颇语语法 Jingpoyu yufa / Jingpho Grammar, 戴庆夏 Dai Qingxia et al.
- Structures élémentaires de la parenté, de Claude Lévi-Strauss, devotes a chapter to the study of parenthood in the Jingpho ethnicity.
Sources
Categories:- Brahmaputran languages
- Languages of China
- Languages of Burma
- Sino-Tibetan language stubs
- (Tibeto-Burman)
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