Native to Burma, Bangladesh | Ethnicity Daai Chin | |
Native speakers (50,000 cited 1983–2011)
plus an unknown number of Shendu Language family Sino-Tibetan
(Tibeto-Burman)
Kukish
Southern
Shö ISO 639-3 Variously:
cnb – Chinbon Chin
csh – Asho Chin
cbl – Bualkhaw Chin
shl – Shendu Glottolog bual1235 (Bualkhaw Chin)
chin1478 (Chinbon Chin)
asho1236 (Asho Chin)
shen1247 (Shendu) | ||
Shö is a Kukish dialect cluster of Burma and Bangladesh. There are perhaps four distinct dialects, Asho (Khyang), Bualkhaw, Chinbon, and Shendu.
Contents
Mayin and Longpaw are not mutually intelligible, but have been subsumed under the ISO code for Chinbon because Mayin-Longpaw speakers generally understand Chinbon. Minkya is similarly included because most Minkya speakers understand Mayin.
Geographical distribution
Chinbon is spoken in the following townships of Myanmar (Ethnologue).
Asho is spoken in Ayeyarwady Region, Bago Region, and Magway Region, and Rakhine State, Myanmar.
Bualkhaw is spoken north of Falam town in Falam township, Chin State, Myanmar.
Shendu is spoken in Mizoram, India.
Phonology
Asho dialect (K’Chò) has 28 consonants and seven vowels.
Diphthongs: əi, ai, ui, ɔi
Morphology
Similar to other Kukish languages, many Asho verbs have two distinct stems. This stem alternation is a Proto-Kukish feature, which has been retained to different degrees in different Kukish languages.