Paite is a Sino-Tibetan Language spoken by a section of Zo people. There are different Paite dialects. The language exhibits mutual intelligibility with the other languages of the region including Hmar, Vaiphei, Simte, Kom, Gangte and other languages. The name Paite could translate to ‘the people who went’, ‘a group of people marching’, or it can even be construed to mean ‘nomads’.
Paite alphabet (Paite laimal)
The alphabet was propounded by Shri T Vialphung in 1903 which was extracted from the Roman alphabet and has 18 consonants and 6 vowels. Out of 18 consonant phonemes in Paite, 11 of them are glottal stops, 4 fricatives, 2 nasal and 1 lateral.
This version of the Paite alphabet is called ‘Paite Laimal’ and has been in use since 1903.
| Letter | a | aw | b | ch | d | e | f | g | ng | h | i | j | k |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letter | l | m | n | o | p | r | s | t | u | v | z |
| Consonants | b | ch | d | f | g | ng | h | j | k | l | m | n | p | r | s | t | v | z |
|---|
| Vowels | a | aw | e | i | o | u |
|---|
Diphthongs
| High-front-oriented | ei | ai | ui | oi |
|---|
| High-back-oriented | au | iu | eu | ou |
|---|
| Low-central-oriented | ia | ua |
|---|
‘iai'(yai) and ‘uau'(wao) are the Triphthongs of Paite language.
Five prominent tones in Paite are:
- rising (Tungkal) (á),
- rising-falling (Tungkal-niamkiak) (â),
- falling (Niamkiak) (à),
- falling-rising (Niamkiak-tungkal) (ã),
- and flat/levelled (Pheipai) (ā).
The number of tones differ with variations in region and dialect.
Numbers
| Paite (Zomi) | English | Lushei (Mizo) | Meitei (Manipuri) | Thadou (Kuki) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bial | Zero | Bial | Phun/Shino | |
| Khat | One | Pakhat | Ama | Khat |
| Nih | Two | Pahnih | Ani | Ni |
| Thum | Three | Pathum | Ahum | Thum |
| Li | Four | Pali | Mari | Li |
| Nga | Five | Panga | Manga | Nga |
| Guk | Six | Paruk | Taruk | Gup |
| Sagih | Seven | Pasarih | Taret | Sagi |
| Giat | Eight | Pariat | Nipal | Get |
| Kua | Nine | Pakua | Mapal | Ko |
| Sawm | Ten | Sawm | Tara | Som |
| Sawmlehkhat | Eleven | Sawmpakhat | TaraMathoi | |
| Sawmlehkua | Nineteen | Sawmpakua | TaraMapal | |
| Sawmhni | Twenty | Sawmhnih | Kun | |
| Sawmthum | Thirty | Sawmthum | Kunthraa | |
| Sawmnga | Fifty | Sawmnga | Yaangkhei | |
| Sawmkua | Ninety | Sawmkua | MariPhuTara | |
| Za | Hundred | Za | ChaAma | Za |
| Zanga | Five hundred | ChaManga | ||
| Saang(khat) | One thousand | Sang | Lishing ama | Sang |
| Siing(khat) | Ten thousand | Sing | ||
| Nuai(khat) | Hundred thousand/One lakh | Nuai | ||
| Maktaduai | Million | |||
| Vaibelsia | Ten million | |||
| Vaibelsetak | Hundred million | Vaibelchhetak | ||
| Tuklehdingawn | Billion | Tluk leh dingawn | ||
| Tuklehdingawn sawm | Ten billion | |||
| Tuklehdingawn za | Hundred billion |
Sample text
The following is a sample text in Paite of the Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
| Paite pau | English |
|---|---|
| Mi tengteng zalen a piang ihi ua, zah-omna leh dikna tanvou ah kibangvek ihi. Sia leh pha theihna pilna nei a siam I hih ziak un I mihinpihte tungah unauna lungsim feltak I put ngai ahi. | All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience. Therefore, they should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. |
There are two major dialects of Paite spoken in Manipur: Lamjang and Dapjal; and 4 minor dialects which are Songtal, Bukpi, Lousau & Kangkap.
Grammar
Paite grammar is fairly complex because of a number of word modification and a fairly complex noun structure.
Word order
Paite’s declarative word structure is Object–subject–verb.
| Vasa bird |
ka I |
mù see |
Vasa Ka mu I see a bird |
| Sing wood |
a he |
puá carries |
Sing a puá He carries wood |
If the word order and grammar isn’t followed, sentences and phrases lose their meaning. For example, if ‘Laibu a gelh’, which translates to ‘He writes a book’, was written as ‘Gelh a laibu’ with the verb preceding and the subject and object succeeding respectively, the phrase would then translate to ‘Writes he a book’.
Geographical distribution
Paite is spoken mainly in the following locations (Ethnologue).
- Manipur: Lamka phaizang, Churachandpur district, Pherzawl district, Jiribam
- Mizoram: 30 villages of Champhai District and newly formed Khawzawl District.
- Tripura
- Assam
- Meghalaya
- Nagaland
- Chin State , Myanmar (In Myanmar, the language is also known as Tedim Zomi, which in turn is also related to the Tedim Township)
- Rangamati, Chittagong Hills Tract
- Nor
Education and Academic
Paite language can now be taken up as one of the MIL subjects offered in the Three-Year Degree course in Manipur University. The Academic Council of the University in its meeting held on April 22, 2004 gave its approval for the inclusion of Paite as one of the MIL subjects after considering recommendation by the Board of Studies of the School of Humanities, and also in recognition of the richness of the language and its literature including creative writing.