Gangte 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
Kuki-Chin linguistic sub branch of
Northeastern India. Its speakers primarily live in
Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a States and territories of India, 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 ...
and the adjacent areas of
Meghalaya
Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and Jai ...
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 ...
. The language appears to be homogeneous with no known dialectal variation and exhibits at least partial mutual intelligibility with the other
Chin-Kuki-Mizo dialects of the area including
Thadou,
Hmar
Hmar may refer to:
*Hmars or Hmar people
*Hmar language
Hmar language, also known by its endonym Khawsak Ṭawng, belongs to the Kukish languages, Kukish branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan family of languages. The speakers of ...
,
Vaiphei,
Simte,
Kom and
Paite languages.
There are a few speakers across the border in
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 C. Wells, Joh ...
.
Geographical distribution
Gangte is spoken in 37 villages of southern
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, ...
,
Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a States and territories of India, 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 ...
(''
Ethnologue''). It is also spoken in
Meghalaya
Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and Jai ...
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 ...
.
References
Kuki-Chin languages
Languages of Assam
Languages of Manipur
Languages of Meghalaya
Endangered languages of India
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