The Kuki-Chin–Naga languages are a geographic clustering of languages of the Sino-Tibetan family in James Matisoff's classification used by Ethnologue, which groups it under the non-monophyletic "Tibeto-Burman".SIL Ethnologue Their genealogical relationship both to each other and to the rest of Sino-Tibetan is unresolved, but Matisoff lumps them together as a convenience pending further research.
The languages are spoken by the ethnically related Naga people of Nagaland, the Chin people of Myanmar, and the Kuki people. The larger among these languages have communities of several tens of thousands of native speakers, and a few have more than 100,000, such as Mizo (674,756 in India as of 2001),Distribution of the 100 non-scheduled languages Thadou (350,000) or Lotha language (179,000).
"Kuki" and "Chin" are essentially synonyms, whereas the Naga speak languages belonging to several Sino-Tibetan branches.
Languages The established branches are: Kuki-Chin Northwestern Kuki- ("Old Kuki") Northern Kuki-Chin (also called Northeastern) Central Kuki-Chin Maraic Khomic Southern Kuki-Chin Naga Ao, in north-central Nagaland Angami–Pochuri, in southern Nagaland Tangkhul-Maring, in eastern Manipur Zemeic, in northwestern Manipur Meitei, the official language of Manipur Karbi, in Karbi Anglong, Central Assam
The Konyak languages of Nagaland, also spoken by ethnic Naga, are not grouped within Kuki-Chin–Naga, but rather within Brahmaputran (Sal).
Ethnologue adds Koki, Long Phuri, Makuri, and Para, all unclassified, and all distant from other Naga languages they have been compared to. Koki is perhaps closest to (or one of) the Tangkhulic languages, and the other three may belong together.
Classification Scott DeLancey (2015)DeLancey, Scott. 2015. "Morphological Evidence for a Central Branch of Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan)." Cahiers de linguistique - Asie oriental 44(2):122-149. December 2015. considers Kuki-Chin–Naga to be part of a wider Central Tibeto-Burman group.
The following is a preliminary internal classification of the Kuki-Chin–Naga languages by Hsiu (2021).
Northern Kuki-Chin-Naga linguistic area (linkage) Greater Central Naga Makury Long Phuri Para (Jejara) Central Naga Lotha Sangtam Yimchungrü Ao Angami-Pochuri Angamic-Sumic Angamic Angami, Chokri Khezha Mao Poumai Sumic Sumi Rengma Pochuric Meluri Ntenyi Southern Kuki-Chin-Naga branch Greater Zeme ("Western Naga") Zeme, Mzieme Lianglad Nruanghlat Maram Khoirao Puiron Greater Tangkhulic Akyaung Ari Tangkhulic Maring, Khoibu (Uipo) Kokak Suansu (?) Southern Naga Kuki-Chin Northern Central Maraic Southern Khomic
References
Reconstructions Bruhn, Daniel W. 2014. A phonological reconstruction of Proto-Central Naga. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. Mortensen, David R. 2012. Database of Tangkhulic Languages. (unpublished ms. contributed to STEDT). VanBik, Kenneth. 2009. Proto-Kuki-Chin: A reconstructed ancestor of the Kuki-Chin languages. STEDT Monograph Series 8. Berkeley, CA: STEDT. Khoi Lam Thang. 2001. A phonological reconstruction of Proto Chin. M.A. Dissertation, Payap University. Button, Christopher. 2011. Proto Northern Chin. STEDT Monograph Series 10. Berkeley, CA: STEDT.
External links Kuki-Chin-Naga (Sino-Tibetan Branches Project)
br:Yezhoù koukiek-tchinek