Lushai language
| Mizo | |
|---|---|
| Lushai | |
| Native to | India, Bangladesh, Burma |
| Region | Mizoram, Tripura, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tahan, Nagaland |
| Ethnicity | Mizo people |
|
Native speakers
|
690,000 (2001) |
|
Sino-Tibetan
|
|
| Latin script | |
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
 India (Mizoram) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | lus |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | lush1249 |
 |
|
The Mizo language, or Mizo ṭawng, is a language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan family of languages, spoken natively by the Mizo people in the Mizoram state of India, Chin State in Burma, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The language is also known as Lushai, a colonial term, as the Lusei people were the first among the Mizos to be encountered by the British in the course of their colonial expansion. Though still common, Lushai (or Lusei, or Lushei) is considered incorrect by the Mizo themselves. Much poetic language is derived from Pawi, Paite, and Hmar, and most known ancient poems considered to be in Mizo are actually in Pawi. It is the official language of the Indian state of Mizoram and is widely understood among the Chakmas and Brus in Mizoram and neighbouring areas.
The Mizo language belongs to the Kukish branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The numerous clans of the Mizo had respective dialects, amongst which the Lushei (Lusei, by Mizo themselves) dialect was most common, and which subsequently became the Mizo language and the lingua franca of the Kuki peoples due to its extensive and exclusive use by the Christian missionaries.
The Mizo alphabet is based on the Roman script and has 25 letters, namely:
In its current form, it was devised by Christian missionaries based on Hunterian system of transliteration.
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Wikipedia