Zou language
Zou is a language of the Northeastern branch of Kuki-Chin languages originating in western Burma and spoken also in Mizoram and Manipur in northeastern India.
The name Zou is sometimes used as a cover term for the languages of all Mizo people i.e., Kukish and Chin peoples, especially the Zomi people.
Phonology
The set of 23 Zou consonantal phonemes can be established on the basis of the following minimal pairs or overlapping words. Besides these 23 Phonemes, 1 consonant is a borrowed phoneme, which is found only in loan words, in very rare cases. Along with these consonants, Zou has 7 vowels: i, e, a, ɔ, o, u, ə.| Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | |||
| Close-mid | |||
| Open-mid | |||
| Open |
Orthography
Vowels
- a -
- aw -
- e -
- i -
- o -
- u -
Consonants
- b -
- ch -
- d -
- g -
- h -, at the end of a syllable
- j -
- k -
- kh -
- l -
- m -
- n -
- ng -
- p -
- ph -
- r -
- s -
- t -
- th -
- v -
- z -
Types of Zo verbs
The Zo verbs can be classified into three types: Stem, Stem, Stem as given below:| Stem 1 | Stem 2 | Stem 3 | Stem 4 |
| piê-give | pie? | pe- | pieh |
| puo-carry | puo? | po- | pua- |
Numbers
Zomi numbers are counted as follows:| Numeral | Zou | English | Hindi |
| 0 | be̋m | zero | शून्य |
| 1 | khàt | one | एक |
| 2 | nì: | two | दो |
| 3 | thum | three | तीन |
| 4 | li: | four | चार |
| 5 | nga: | five | पाँच |
| 6 | gùh | six | छह |
| 7 | sagí | seven | सात |
| 8 | giét | eight | आठ |
| 9 | kuó | nine | नौ |
| 10 | sàwm, sôm | ten | दस |
| 11 | sàwm leh khàt | eleven | ग्यारह |
| 12 | sàwm leh nì | twelve | बारह |
| 13 | sàwm leh thum | thirteen | तेरह |
| 14 | sàwm leh li: | fourteen | चौदह |
| 15 | sàwm leh nga: | fifteen | पंद्रह |
| 16 | sàwm leh gùh | sixteen | सोलह |
| 17 | sàwm leh sagí | seventeen | सत्रह |
| 18 | sàwm leh giét | eighteen | अठारह |
| 19 | sàwm leh kuó | nineteen | उन्नीस |
| 20 | sàwmnì | twenty | बीस |
| 30 | sàwmthum | thirty | तीस |
| 40 | sàwmli: | forty | चालीस |
| 50 | sàwmnga: | fifty | पचास |
| 60 | sàwmgùh | sixty | साठ |
| 70 | sàwmsagí | seventy | सत्तर |
| 80 | sàwmgiét | eighty | अस्सी |
| 90 | sàwmkuò | ninety | नव्वे |
| 100 | zȁ | hundred | सौ |
| 1,000 | sa̋ng, tȕl | one thousand | हज़ार |
| 10,000 | si̋ng, tȕlsàwm, sa̋ngsàwm | ten thousand | दस हज़ार |
| 100,000 | nuòi, tȕlzà, sa̋ngzà | one hundred thousand, one lakh | लाख |
| 1,000,000 | nuòisàwm, sa̋ngtȕl, tȕltȕl | one million | दस लाख |
| 10,000,000 | thȅn, vâibêlsié, kráwl | ten million, one crore | करोड़ |
| 100,000,000 | thȅnzà, kráwl sàwm | one billion, ten crore | अरब |
Writing systems
Zou is often written in a Latin script developed by Christian missionary J.H. Cope. In 1952, M. Siahzathang of Churachandpur created an alternative script known as Zolai or Zoulai, an alphabetic system with some alphasyllabic characteristics. The user community for the script is growing- Zou cultural, political, and literary organizations began to adopt the script beginning in the 1970s, and more recently, the Manipur State Government has shown support for both Siahzathang and the script.Linguistic relations
Zou among the Northeastern Kuki-Chin languages is closely related to the Central languages such as the Duhlian or Mizo language, the lingua franca language of Mizoram.Zou as spoken in India is similar to the Paite language of the Paite, though Zou lacks the word-final glottal stops present in Paite.
Geographical extent
At its largest extent, the geographic area covered by the language group is a territory of approximately 60,000 square miles in size, in Burma, India and Bangladesh. However political boundaries and political debates have distorted the extent of the area in some sources.In Burma
It is used in Chin State, Tiddim, and the Chin Hills. Use of Burmese has increased in the Zo speaking Chin State since the 1950s. Ethnologue reports that Zou is spoken in the following townships of Myanmar.- Chin State: Tonzang, Hakha, and Tedim townships
- Sagaing Division: Kalay, Khampat, and Tamu townships
In India
- Manipur
- *Chandel district: Singngat subdivision and the Sungnu Sachih / Kana area
- *Churachandpur district
- Mizoram
- Assam