Falam Chin, or Lai (Falam Chin), is a Kuki-Chin language in Falam township, Chin State,

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 C. Wells, Joh ...

, and also in Mizoram, India. Falam Chin is closely related to most Central Chin languages, especially

Hakha Chin Hakha Chin, Laiholh, or Pawi is a Kuki-Chin languages, Kuki-Chin language spoken in central Chin State in Myanmar, and Lawngtlai district of Mizoram, India. Hakha Chin-speaking minorities are also found in the Sagaing and Magway Regions of Mya ...

. The Falam people are primarily Christian and have translated the Bible into Falam Chin.

Dialects

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 comprehensiv ...

'' lists the following dialects of Falam. *Tlaisun (Shunkla, Sunkhla, Taishon, Tashom, Tashon) *Laizo (Laiso, Laizao, Laizo-Shimhrin) *Zahao (Lyen-Lyem, JaHau Yahow, Zahau, Zahau-Shimhrin, Za-How) *Sim Falam was a village name founded by the Tlaisun (also known as Tashon in English) tribe and Tashon was the original language spoken in Falam. Falam became increased in population from the surrounding tribes from Sunthla (also recorded as Sunkhla), Sim and Zahau (also recorded as Zahao) that created a new language based on these three tribes which are very different from Tlaisun language and this language was later popularly known as Laizo language. Laizo language was recorded as the first language used in the official radio broadcasting dialect of Chin in

Myanmar (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 ...

. In order to be inclusive in Laizo language this language was later changed to Falam language although its official name recorded in the government is Laizo. Rupini and Koloi are also reported to be quite different. Dialects once misleadingly called Southern Luhupa are actually Northern Kuki-Chin, and evidently Falam. ''Ethnologue'' reports the following speaker populations of Falam dialects as of 1983: 9,000 Taisun, 16,000 Zanniat, 7,000 Khualsim, 4,000 Lente, 14,400 Zahau, 18,600 Laizo.

Written/Spoken Falam Chin

This is a sample of written Falam Chin: Falam Chin is written in romanized form, or in the Latin, with the exception of the letters Q, Y, J and X. However, the consonant ''ṭ'' (t with dot), ''ng'' (Guttural sound), and ''aw'' vowel ( IPA [] or []) are frequently used in both Chin literature and speaking.

Falam Chin Characters

Consonants b c d f g h j k l m n p r s t ṭ v z Vowels a .... as in amphibious aw.... as in omega (Long vowel) e .... as in example i .... as in interesting o .... as in son (Short vowel) u .... as in due The Falam language has five spoken vowels, but in writing, six are used. Of the five spoken, three of them, /u/, /a/, and /ɔ/ are spoke from the back of the mouth, /i/ is spoken from the top of the mouth, and /e/ is spoken from the middle. /ɔ/ can be pronounced as aw or o. ,

Dialects

Written/Spoken Falam Chin

Falam Chin Characters

References

Further reading