Rongmei is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Rongmei Naga community in Northeast India.[1] It has been called Songbu and is close to Zeme and Liangmai. The language has been nomenclatured as "Ruangmei" and studied as a First Language paper from class I to X of Board of Secondary Education, Manipur.[2] Ruangmei is studied as a Minor Indian Language (MIL) in Class XI & XII of Council of Higher Secondary Education Manipur (COHSEM).[3]
| Rongmei | |
|---|---|
| Songbu | |
| Ruanglat, "Ruangmei" | |
 Rongmei written in Meitei script | |
| Region | Assam, Manipur and Nagaland |
| Ethnicity | Rongmei Naga |
Native speakers | (undated figure of 350,580[citation needed]) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nbu |
| Glottolog | rong1266 |
| ELP | Rongmei Naga |
Geography
editRongmei is mostly spoken in the three states of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland.[4]
It is the most spoken language in Tamenglong district and Noney district; and the second most spoken language in Imphal West district and Bishnupur district of Manipur.[5]
Phonology
editConsonants
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | |
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | |||
| voiced | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Fricative | s | h | ||||
| Trill | r | |||||
| Approximant | lateral | l | ||||
| central | w | j | ||||
Vowels
edit| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | a |
A lower-mid elongated sound [ɐː] also occurs only in word-medial positions.[6]
References
edit- ^ "Naga, Rongmei". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ^ "Board of secondary education manipur- BSEM".
- ^ "Welcome to Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur".
- ^ "Distribution of 99 non schedule languages" (PDF). Census India. MHA, Govt of India. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ "Census of language in India 2011". MHA, Govt of India.
- ^ Tiwari, Surendra K. (1971). A descriptive grammar of Kabui. Poona: Deccan College.
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