Inpui or Puiron is a

Naga language The Naga languages are a geographic and ethnic grouping of Tibeto-Burman, spoken mostly by Naga peoples. Konyak languages, Northern Naga languages do not fall within the group, in spite of being spoken by Naga groups; instead, these form part ...

spoken in different villages of

Senapati district Senapati district (Meitei language, Meitei pronunciation:/se.na.pə.ti/), is one of the 16 districts of Manipur, districts of the Indian state of Manipur. The present Senapati district was formed in December 2016, after spawning off the Sadar Hil ...

Tamenglong district Tamenglong district ( Meitei pronunciation: /tæmɛŋˈlɒŋ/) is one of the 16 districts of Manipur state in northeastern India. In 2011, Tamenglong was the least populous district in Manipur. In 2016, the Nungba subdivision was separated as a ...

, Noney District, and Imphal district in

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

, and in some areas in Nagaland, India. Speakers of Inpui and Rongmei are subsumed under single ethnic group Kabui. But the two major

ethnic groups An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, rel ...

have different languages and identity. Even though they are considered to be cognate ethnic group. The speakers of this language use

Meitei language Meitei (; ) also known as Manipuri ), is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and an additional official language in four districts of Assam. It is one of the scheduled ...

as their

second language A second language (L2) is a language spoken in addition to one's first language (L1). A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a foreign language. A speaker's dominant language, which ...

(L2) according to the

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' 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 comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

Language varieties

Kabui was originally called Inpui, but Rongmei in Imphal valley also used the name Kabui. Rongmei in the hills did not use the name. Inpui chong and Rongmei are sometimes considered to be the same language, despite being mutually unintelligible and only 68% lexically similar. The Inpui-speaking people are mainly concentrated in the Tamenglong district of Manipur, especially in the Haochong areas, which is a cluster of about 10 villages. Inpui speakers also reside in Tamenglong headquarters, Noney areas, Makuilongdi and Senapati headquarters in Senapati district and three Inpui villages namely Changangei, Yurembam and Tamphagei in Imphal valley. The Inpui-speaking people are also found in the Peren and Dimapur district of Nagaland. The most similar dialect with Inpui among the ethnic groups living in Manipur is the Kom dialect.Kala khuanbaan Volume 1 (Inpui student Union Delhi)

References

Languages of Manipur Languages of Nagaland Languages of Assam Zeme languages {{st-lang-stub