| Jinghpaw | |
|---|---|
| Kachin | |
| Jinghpaw ga ဂျိန်ဖော့ | |
| Pronunciation | tɕiŋ˧˩pʰɔʔ˧˩ |
| Native to | Myanmar, China, India |
| Region | Kachin State, Yingjiang County |
| Ethnicity | Jinghpaw |
Native speakers | (c. 940,000 cited 1999–2001)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | kac |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:kac – Jinghpawsgp – Singphotcl – Taman |
| Glottolog | jing1260 |
Jinghpaw (Jinghpaw ga, Jìngphòʔ gà, ဈိာင်ဖေါစ်) or Kachin (Burmese: ကချင်ဘာသာ, [kətɕɪ̀ɰ̃ bàðà]) is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sal branch spoken primarily in Kachin State, Myanmar; Northeast India; and Yunnan, China. The Jinghpaw (or Kachin) peoples, a confederation of several ethnic groups who live in the Kachin Hills, are the primary speakers of Jinghpaw language,[2] numbering approximately 625,000 speakers.[3] The term "Kachin language" may refer to the Jinghpaw language or any of the other languages spoken by the Jinghpaw peoples, such as Lisu, Lashi, Rawang, Zaiwa, Lhawo Vo, and Achang. These languages are from distinct branches of the highest level of the Tibeto-Burman family.
Jinghpaw is written using a modified Latin alphabet; a Burmese alphabet is used by some speakers, but it has largely been phased out. Jinghpaw syllable finals can consist of vowels, nasals, or oral stops.
The Turung of Assam in India speak a Jingpo dialect with many Assamese loanwords, called Singpho, which shares 50% lexical similarity with Jinghpaw.[4]
- ^ Jinghpaw at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Singpho at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Taman at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ Chyauhpa Brang Li (2015). "Jinghpaw ngu ai kadai" [Who are the Jinghpaw]. The Kachin Times. Vol. 1, no. 4. p. 37.
- ^ "ISO 639 Code: kac". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 2007-12-10. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ "Myanmar". Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-10-10.