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Dai | |
---|---|
Region | Myanmar |
Ethnicity | Daai Chin |
Native speakers | 37,000 (2010)[1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | dao |
Glottolog | daai1236 |
Dai (also known as Dai Chin), which borders the Mün and Ütbü language groups, is a Kuki-Chin of Myanmar. It is spoken in 142 villages in Kanpetlet, Matupi, Mindat, and Paletwa townships in Chin State, Burma (Ethnologue). A written script for Daai was created in 1976 by U Khine Sho and Ms. Halga So Hart Manno.[2]
Mutual intelligibility among Nghngilo (Yang), Daa Yindu, and Mkui groups is high, but is lower among other groups.[3] Daai has greater than 90% lexical similarity with Daa Yindu, Yang, Mkui, Duk, and Msang, 81%–88% with Ngxang (Paletwa township) and Kheng, 80% with Shiip (Matupi township), 91%–94% with Gah/Ng-Gha (part of Mün), and 81%–87% with Mün.[3]
Ethnologue lists the following dialects of daai Chin.
Daai has twenty-four consonant phonemes.
Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasals | m̥ m | n̥ n | ŋ̊ ŋ | ||
Plosives | p pʰ b | t tʰ d | k kʰ | ʔ | |
Fricatives | s sʰ | x ɣ | h | ||
Lateral Fricatives | ɬ | ||||
Approximants | w | l | j |
Daai has seven vowel phonemes, each with a phonemic length contrast.
Front | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Unrounded | Rounded | |||
High | i iː | ɯ ɯː | u uː | |
Mid | ɛ ɛː | ə əː | ɔ ɔː | |
Low | a aː |
Daai is an isolating or analytic language. There is no inflectional morphology at the word level; case, number, and tense are marked by clitics.
Daai | English |
---|---|
mthan | night |
mpyong | mouth |
kpyak | to destroy |
pha | to arrive |
Nghngaai-ktheih hmin lokti. | The mango fruits became ripe. |
Mat jah mata i:ma am ngleh-ei ni. | They did not visit each other's houses. |