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Pangkhua (Pangkhu), or Paang, is a Kuki-Chin language primarily spoken in Bangladesh. Most speakers of Pangkhu are bilingual in Bengali, and most education in Pangkhu is conducted in that language.

Since there is essentially no literature in Pangkhua, other than oral folk tales and songs, the Pangkhua community members use Lushai literature. There are minimal language differences between Pangkhua, Tlanglau, Falam Chin, Bawm and Mizo.

Dialects

The dialects of the two main communities that use Pangkhu, Bilaichari and Konglak, share 88% of their basic vocabulary. Residents of Pangkhua Para refer to their village as Dinthar (IPA: /d̪int̪ʰar/; from Mizo d̪in 'stay' and Mizo and Pangkua t̪ʰar 'new')

Phonology

Pangkhu has twenty-one consonant phonemes:

However, only unaspirated voiceless stops, /h/, /r/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, and /l/ may occur at syllable coda. When stops occur in coda position, they are not audibly released. The glottal fricative /h/ may be deleted syllable-initially.

There are also seven vowel phonemes:

The vowel serves as an allophone of /e/ and serves as an allophone of /u/. Vowel length contrasts occur only in closed syllables and diphthongs. There are 9 diphthongs, these being /ɑi/, /ɑu/, /ei/, /eu/, /əu/, /ou/, /iɑ/, /uɑ/, and /ui/. Diphthongs and long vowels are monophthongized following another syllable.

The basic syllable structure of Pangkhu is (C)(L)V(X), with L being a lateral consonant and X being a coda consonant.

There are two tones: a high tone and low tone.

Morphology

Derivational affixes

Diminutive and augmentative

Augmentative -pui and diminutive -te can be affixed to kinship terms in order to denote relative age or size.

Gender

The gender suffixes -pɑ and -mɑ may derive a new referent from a root, as in lɑl 'monarch', lɑlpɑ 'king, and lɑlnu 'queen'.

Negation

Negation -ləu can be suffixed to a root to denote its opposite, as in dam 'healthy' and damləu 'sick'.

Noun forms

In Pangkhua, only human nouns can be marked for plurality and only animate marked for gender. Relator nouns share a function similar to adpositions in other languages.

References

1. ^ Pangkhua at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Kim, Amy; Roy (2011). "The Kuki-Chin Communities of Bangladesh: A sociolinguistic survey" (PDF). SIL International.
3. Akter, Zahid (2024). A Grammar of Pangkhua. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. doi:10.1515/9783111387673.

Bibliography

Akter, Zahid (2024). A Grammar of Pangkhua. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. doi:10.1515/9783111387673.

Further reading

• Hock, Hans Henrich (2016). "The languages, their histories, and their genetic classification". In Hans Henrich Hock; Elena Bashir (eds.). The Languages and Linguistics of South Asia: A Comprehensive Guide. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 9-240 . doi:10.1515/9783110423303-003.
• Akter, Zahid (2016). "The Endangerment and Documentation of the Pangkhua Language in Bangladesh". In: EWUCRT Working Paper no 10. East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• DeLancey, Scott (2021). "Classifying Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan) languages". In Paul Sidwell; Mathias Jenny (eds.). The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia: A comprehensive guide. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 207-224 . doi:10.1515/9783110558142-012.

External links

• Endangered Languages Profile for Panghku

v t e Sino-Tibetan branches
Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim)	West Himalayish Tamangic Newaric Newar Baram–Thangmi Kiranti Dhimalish Dhimal Toto Lhokpu Lepcha Greater Magaric Magaric Magar Kham Chepangic Chepang Bhujel Raji–Raute Dura–Tandrange
Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal)	Bodish Tibetic East Bodish Tshangla Basum Nam? Gongduk ʼOle Tani Chamdo
Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border	Karbi Kuki-Chin Mruic Mru Hkongso Pyu Taman "Naga" Ao Angami–Pochuri Meitei Tangkhulic Zeme Sal Boro–Garo Konyak Jingpho–Luish
East and Southeast Asia	Sinitic Bai Tujia Nungish Karenic Gong Kathu Cai–Long Caijia Longjia Luren Burmo-Qiangic Qiangic Gyalrongic Ersuic Naic Lolo-Burmese Mondzish Burmish Loloish
Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal)	Hrusish Hruso Mijiic Kho-Bwa Puroik Miju–Meyor Songlin Greater Siangic Siangic Koro Milang Idu–Taraon
Proposed groupings	Central Tibeto-Burman Kuki-Chin–Naga Macro-Bai Mahakiranti Rung Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Kanauri
Proto-languages	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Proto-Tibeto-Burman Proto-Loloish Proto-Karenic Proto-Min Proto-Hakka
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches.

• Kuki-Chin languages
• Tibeto-Burman languages
• Kuki-Chin–Naga languages
• Languages of Bangladesh