Makury, or Makury Naga (sometimes spelled Makuri), is a
Naga language of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Myanmar
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 ...
. Shi (2009:3) and Saul (2005:25) suggest that Makury may be an
Ao language.
Classification
Makury is not close to other Naga languages that fall under
Konyak- angshangand
Angami-
Zeme. Makury falls under the proposed
Ao-
Tangkhul linguistic group of southern Naga languages and is close to Naga languages that fall under said language group. Müvlë (
Longphuri) are a sub-tribe of Makury. In Eastern
Nagaland
Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...
and
Myanmar
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 ...
, the
Makury,
Somra Tangkhul and
Para are closer than the other tribes in the north in terms of language (''Makury Tribal Council'').
Geographical distribution
Makury is spoken in
Leshi Township
Leshi Township or Layshi Township ( my, လေရှီးမြို့နယ်) is a mountainous ,
Homalin Township
Homalin Township ( my, ဟုမ္မလင်း မြို့နယ် ) is a township in Hkamti District in the Sagaing Region of Burma. The principal town is Homalin. , and
Lahe Township in
Hkamti District
Hkamti District or Khamti District (sometimes Naga Hills District) is a district in northern Sagaing Division of Burma (Myanmar). Its administrative center is the town of Singkaling Hkamti. Townships
The district consists of the two townships ...
,
Sagaing Region
Sagaing Region ( my, စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and lon ...
,
Myanmar
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 ...
. There are about 40,000 speakers in Myanmar, and about 25,000 in India.
Dialects
''
Ethnologue'' lists the following dialects of Makury.
*Mëkheotlë
*Sengphüvlë
*Aralë
*Jilë
Jongphüvlë (listed as ''Kyaungphuri'' in Ethnologue) is a Makury clan name (''Makury Tribal Council'').
Shi (2009:5) lists the following dialects of Makury.
*Phuvle, Makheotle
*Sengphuvle, Muvle, Jeile
References
*Saul, Jamie D. 2005. ''The Naga of Burma: Their festivals, customs and way of life''. Bangkok, Thailand: Orchid Press.
*Shi, Vong Tsuh. 2009.
Discourse studies of Makuri Naga narratives'. MA thesis, Chiang Mai: Payap University.
*Shintani, Tadahiko. 2018. ''The Makuri language''. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 117. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
*Language and Social Development Organization (LSDO). 2006. ''A sociolinguistic survey of Makuri, Para, and Long Phuri Naga in Layshi Township, Myanmar''. Unpublished manuscript.
{{Languages of Northeast India
Languages of Nagaland
Kuki-Chin–Naga languages
Languages of Myanmar