Daai (also known as Daai Chin), which borders the
Mün and
Ütbü language groups, is a
Kuki-Chin-Mizo language of
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. It is spoken in 142 villages in
Kanpetlet
Kanpetlet (, ) is a town in the Chin State of West Myanmar and the home of the Kanpetlet Township administration body. It is known for Mt. Victoria, the highest peak in the Chin Hills and one of the highest in Western Myanmar, and Natmataung ...
,
Matupi,
Mindat Mindat may refer to:
Places in Burma/Myanmar
*Mindat, Chin State, in Burma
*Mindat Township, in Burma
*Mindat District in Chin State, Burma
Other uses
*Mindat Min
Kanaung Mintha ( my, ကနောင်မင်းသား; 31 January 1820 ...
, and
Paletwa townships in
Chin State
Chin State (, ) is a state in western Myanmar. The Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, Bangladesh to the south-west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to the west and Ma ...
, Burma (''
Ethnologue'').
Mutual intelligibility among Nghngilo (Yang), Daa Yindu, and Mkui groups is high, but is lower among other groups.
Daai has greater than 90% lexical similarity with Daa Yindu, Yang, Mkui, Duk, and Msang, 81%–88% with Ngxang (
Paletwa township
Paletwa Township ( my, ပလက်ဝမြို့နယ်) is a township of Matupi District in the Chin State of Myanmar. It consists of Paletwa and Sami towns and Paletwa is the administrative center for the township. Also known as Arakan Hi ...
) and Kheng, 80% with Shiip (
Matupi township
Matupi Township ( my, မတူပီမြို့နယ်; also Madupi Township) is a township of Matupi District in the Chin State of Burma (Myanmar). ), 91%–94% with Gah/Ng-Gha (part of Mün), and 81%–87% with Mün.
Dialects
''
Ethnologue'' lists the following dialects of Daai Chin.
*Ngxang
*Nghngilo (Yang)
*Ma-Tu
*Shiip
*Duk-Msang
*Kheng
*Mkuui
Phonology
Consonants
Daai has twenty-four consonant phonemes.
Vowels
Daai has seven vowel phonemes, each with a phonemic length contrast.
Grammar
Daai is an isolating or analytic language. There is no inflectional morphology at the word level; case, number, and tense are marked by clitics.
Examples
References
*Naing Kheng. 2017.
A phonological description of the Mkuui variety of Dai Chin'. Master's Thesis.
*Helga So-Hartmann. 2009.
A Descriptive Grammar of Daai Chin'. The Regents University of California.
Kuki-Chin languages
Languages of Myanmar
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