Shö language

Shö, or Asho, is a Kuki-Chin language of Myanmar, with a few thousand speakers in Bangladesh.
A written script was developed by Rev. Lyman Stilson in 1842.

Geographical distribution

Asho is spoken in Ayeyarwady Region, Bago Region, and Magway Region, and Rakhine State, Myanmar. VanBik lists the following Asho dialects.

Settu
Laitu
Awttu
Kowntu
Kaitu
Lauku

Phonology

Asho has 26 to 30 consonants and ten to eleven vowels depending on the dialect.

Voiced plosives /b d ɡ z/ are only heard in the Plains dialect.
In the Plains dialect, dental plosives /t̪ t̪ʰ/ are pronounced as alveolar , along with /d/ being only alveolar.
Velar plosives /k kʰ/ may be palatalized as affricates before front vowels.
In some dialects a voiceless is heard in place of /ʃ/.
/j/ may also be heard as a fricative in free variation among dialects.

Diphthongs:

Sounds /ʏ ʉ/ only occur in the Hill dialect. In the Plains dialect, /ʊ u/ is heard in place of /ʏ ʉ/.
A shortened is heard in unstressed syllables.
/ɤ/ can sometimes be heard as more central.
A prevelarized /ˠi/ occurs in the Plains dialect.

Morphology

Similar to other Kukish languages, many Asho verbs have two distinct stems. This stem alternation is a Proto-Kukish feature, which has been retained to different degrees in different Kukish languages.