Falam language


Falam Chin is a Kuki-Chin language in Falam Township, Chin State, Myanmar,
Falam Chin is closely related to most Central Chin languages, especially Hakha Chin. The Falam people are primarily Christian and have translated the Bible into Falam Chin.

Dialects

Ethnologue lists the following dialects of Falam:
  • Tlaisun
  • Laizo
  • Zahao
  • Sim
Falam takes its name from a village, founded by the Tlaisun tribe, and Tashon was the original language spoken in Falam. Falam grew in population from the surrounding tribes from Sunthla, Sim and Zahau that created a new language based on these three tribes, very different from the Tlaisun language. This language was later popularly known as Laizo. Laizo was recorded as the first language used in the official radio broadcasting dialect of Chin in Myanmar. In order to be inclusive in Laizo, the name was later changed to Falam, although its official name is still Laizo.
Rupini and Koloi are also quite different. The Chorei and Zanniat dialects may be considered separate languages. Tapong has lower intelligibility with other Falam Chin dialects, having 75% lexical similarity with Zanniat. Dialects once misleadingly called Southern Luhupa are actually Northern Kuki-Chin, and evidently Falam.
Ethnologue reported the following speaker populations of Falam dialects in 1983: 9,000 Taisun, 16,000 Zanniat, 7,000 Khualsim, 4,000 Lente, 14,400 Zahau, 18,600 Laizo.

Phonology

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.

Writing system

A written script for Falam was created in 1924 by Rev. Dr. Herbert Cope. Falam Chin is written using the Latin script, with the exception of the letters Q, Y, J and X. The consonants ṭ, ng, and aw vowel are frequently used in both Chin literature and speaking.
This is a sample of written Falam Chin: