// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Tangkhul language say to the tourist? "You're tang-ling with the wrong dialect

Tangkhul
Tangkhul
Luhupa
Native to	India
Region	Manipur, Nagaland
Ethnicity	Tangkhul people
Native speakers	(140,000 cited 2001)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Central Tibeto-Burman (?) Kuki-Chin–Naga Tangkhul–Maring Tangkhulic Tangkhul; ; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Ukhrul; Kupome (Luhupa); Phadang;
Writing system	Latin script;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nmf
Glottolog	tang1336
ELP	Tangkhul Naga

Tangkhul is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Tangkhulic branch, spoken in different villages of Ukhrul district, Manipur, India.

Tangkhul became a written language for the first time in the year 1897, when William Pettigrew compiled "Tangkhul Primer and Catechism", during his Christian missionary activities.^[2]

The Department of Language Planning and Implementation of the Government of Manipur offers a sum of ₹5,000 (equivalent to ₹8,500 or US$88 in 2023), to every individual who learns Tangkhul language, under certain terms and conditions.^[3]

Tangkhul shares 93%–94% lexical similarity with the Somra variety of Tangkhul, 31% with Tangkhul Naga spoken in India, 51%–52% with Akyaung Ari Naga, and 29%–32% with Koki Naga.^[4]

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	tʃ	k	ʔ
Plosive/ Affricate	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s			h
	nasalized		s̃
	voiced		z
Rhotic			r
Approximant		ʋ	l	j	w

Stop sounds /p t tʃ k/ may have voiced allophones [b d dʒ ɡ] in free variation.
/m/ may be heard as [ɱ] when preceding /f/ or /ʋ/.
/r/ can be heard as [r] or [ɾ] in free variation.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open	a

/i e a u/ can have allophone sounds of [ɪ ɛ ɐ ɯ] in free variation.^[5]

References

↑ Tangkhul at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
↑ S, Vangamla Salle K. (26 November 2023). "Manipur: Literature festival strives to promote Tangkhul language". EastMojo. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
↑ "Applications invited for local language training programme". Imphal Free Press. Archived from the original on 1 December 2024. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
↑ "Myanmar". Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 2016. Archived from the original on 10 October 2016.
↑ Ahum, Victor (1997). Tangkhul-Naga grammar: a study of word formation. New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

References

Further reading