Thadou (Thado, Thaadou, Thado-Pao, Thadou-Kuki) is a

Sino-Tibetan Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...

language of the Northern Kuki-Chin-Mizo linguistic sub branch. It is spoken in the northeastern part of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

(specifically in

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of ...

and

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

). It is spoken by the

Thadou people Thadou people are an indigenous ethnic group of Chin-Kuki inhabiting North-east India. Thadou is a dialect of the Tibeto-Burman family. They are the second largest in terms of population in Manipur, next to Meetei according to Manipur census 2011 ...

. The Thadou language is known by many names, including Thado, Thado-Pao, Thādo, Thadou-kuki, Thado-Ubiphei, Chin and Thādo-pao. There are several dialects of this language : Hangshing, Khongsai, Kipgen, Saimar, Langiung, Sairang, Thangngeo, Haokip, Sitlhou, Singson (Shingsol).The Saimar dialect was reported in the Indian press in 2012 to be spoken by only four people in one village in the state of

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...

. The variety spoken in

has partial mutual intelligibility with the other Mizo-Kuki-Chin languages varieties of the area including Paite,

Hmar Hmar may refer to: *Hmars or Hmar people *Hmar language Hmar language, also known by its endonym Khawsak Ṭawng, belongs to the Kukish branch of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. The speakers of the language are also known as Hmar. Acc ...

, Vaiphei, Simte,

Kom Kom or KOM may refer to: Ethnic groups * Kom people (Afghanistan), a Nuristani tribe in Afghanistan and Pakistan * Kom people (Cameroon), an ethnic group of northwest Cameroon * Kom people (India) a subgroup of the Kuki in north-eastern India * ...

and

Gangte Gangte is an ethnic group mainly living in the Indian state of Manipur. They belong to the Zo people and are parts of the Kuki or under Mizo tribe and are recognised a tribe of Manipur, India. They are also indigenous inhabitants of Mizoram, ...

languages. This language is not utilized as much today.

Thadou culture

The Thadou language comes from the

Tibeto-Burman The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people spea ...

Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages The Kuki-Chin languages (also called Kuki-Chin-Mizo, Kukish or South-Central Tibeto-Burman languages) are a branch of 50 or so Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in northeastern India, western Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh. Most speakers of the ...

family of the

phylum. The Thadou people were settled in dense jungle sites. The Thadou villages mostly cultivated agriculture and domesticated animals. A unique aspect of the Thadou culture is that men and women shared these cultivation and domestication responsibilities. Knowing a language connects one to the culture and traditions of the speakers of the language. This was especially the case with the Thadou language. Four important words in this language: , , , and . These terms represent four different forms of marriage. ''Chongmou'' represents the form of marriage where there is a negotiation price of the bride between the parents of the groom as well as the parents of the bride, along with feasting and wrestling. The is a form of marriage where just the negotiation between the parents of the bride and groom take place. The and are both similar forms of marriage, equivalent to eloping. Divorce is allowed and happens often within this culture. Children have a lot of independence in this culture and are encouraged to learn through experience including parental guidance as a stepping stone. Thadou people consider Pathen the god who has created everything and is thus, the ruler of the universe. They pray to him in times of need and trouble. This culture is very into religious ceremonies. Many of their ceremonies are specific to individual groups or genders. In earlier times, the Thadou also believe in spirits moving on to Mithikho or Mithikhua, which is the village of the dead. As time passed by most of the Thadou people embraced Christianity.

Geographical distribution

Thadou is spoken in the following locations (''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensi ...

''). *

Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

***

Chandel district Chandel district ( Meitei pronunciation:/ˌtʃænˈdɛl/) is one of the 16 districts of Manipur state in northeastern India. As of 2011 it was the second least populous district in the state, after Tamenglong. In December 2016, a part of the ...

***

Churachandpur district Churachandpur District ( Meitei pronunciation: ''/tʃʊraːˌtʃaːnɗpʊr/''), is one of the 16 districts in the southwestern corner of the Indian state of Manipur that covers an area of . It is named after the Meitei King Churachand Singh, ...

*** Senapati district ***

Kangpokpi district Kangpokpi district ( Meitei pronunciation: /kāng-pōk-pī/), also known as Sadar Hills district, is one of the 16 districts in the Indian state of Manipur. It was created in December 2016 from areas in the Sadar Hills region which were prev ...

***

Tengnoupal district Tengnoupal district ( Meitei pronunciation:/teŋ-nə́u-pəl/) is a district in Manipur, India. It was created in December 2016 by splitting the Chandel district. The district headquarters has been relocated to Tengnoupal – (). In the 1960s a ...

*** Pherzawl district **

***

Karbi Anglong Karbi may refer to: Places * Karbi, Armenia * Karbi Anglong Plateau, an extension of the Indian Plate in Assam, India * Karbi Anglong district, a district of Assam, north-eastern India Other uses * Karbi people, an ethnic group of North-eas ...

(Mikil Hills) ***NC hills ( Dima Hasoa)

Dialects

''Ethnologue'' lists the following dialects of Thadou, the names of which mostly correspond to clan names. There is high mutual intelligibility among dialects. *Lupho *Lupheng *Misao *Hangsing *Chongloi *Khongsai *Kipgen *Langiung *Sairang *Thangngeo *Haokip *Sitlhou *Touthang *Haolai *Singson (Shingsol) *Hanghal *Lhouvum *Mate *Lhungdim *Baite

Phonology

Consonants

* /p t k/ are heard unreleased as ̚ t̚ k̚in word-final position. * is heard as more apical when occurring before front and central vowels. * can have a cognate of an aspirated velar plosive in the dialect spoken in Burma. * can have an allophone of in word-medial position.

Vowels

Comparison between Thadou Dialects

The Saimar dialect is only spoken by 4 people in one village, which is located in

. The other dialects, Jangshen, Haokip, Khongsai, Kipgen, Sairang, Thangeo, Langiung, Sitlhou, and Singson have a high mutual intelligibility, which means that speakers, although from different backgrounds and areas, can speak to each other without much effort and with ease.