Mao, also known as Sopvoma, is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Angami–Pochuri linguistic sub-branch. It is spoken primarily in Senapati district, northwestern Manipur and in Nagaland, India. It is similar to Tenyidie.
Phonology
Consonants LabialDentalAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalPlosivevoicelessaspirated()voiced()Affricatevoicelessaspirated()voicedFricativevoicelessvoicedNasalTrillvoicedvoicelessLateralApproximant()
/t͡ʃʰ/ and /w/ only rarely occur, and with /t͡ʃʰ/ only occurring in word-initial position. The pre-aspirated voiceless /ʰr̥/, may have a word-initial allophone of , [ʂ] rarely occurs phonemically. [ɡ] only occurs marginally from loanwords. /t̪, p͡f/ in word-initial position may be heard as [t̪ʰ, p͡fʰ] in free variation, rarely as phonemic. /h/ may have an allophone of word-initially, word medially in free variation. [x] rarely occurs as a phoneme. /m/ before a central vowel /ɨ/ can have an allophone of a labiodental . /n/ before high vowel sounds can have an allophone of a palatalized .
Vowels FrontCentralBackCloseMid()Open
[ə] only occurs inter-morphemically. /ɨ/ can be heard as rounded [ʉ] in free variation. In word-initial position, /i, u/ can be lowered to [ɪ, ʊ]. /e, o/ can be lowered to [ɛ, ɔ] in word-final position.
References
Further reading
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