Chin Writers' Handbook

Chin Writers’ Handbook First English Edition Bibles International® 609 36th Street SE Grand Rapids, Michigan USA 49548-2317 English CCC ISBN: 1-59645-107-6 © 2008 Bibles International® The Bible Society of Baptist Mid-Missions Preface In 2003 I met with a number of Falam speakers who were interested in promoting literacy and writing among the Falam Chin people. We began to work together to write a primer, but it quickly became evident that there were many issues that needed to be resolved before we could write such a book. We set the primer aside and began working on a Writers’ Handbook that would guide not only our own work but the work that had begun on a new Falam Bible translation. We were blessed because there were already organizations and groups among the Falam people with the goal of promoting writing and literacy. In 2005 for the first time I met with representatives from groups who were interested in promoting writing. Ever since we have met regularly in large groups and small to work on guidelines for writing. I earned my Ph.D. in socio- linguistics and reading education from the University of Texas, Arlington, in 1998. Since 1995 I have worked in the area of literacy Connie Champeon, Ph.D. and linguistics in Africa, South America, and Asia, but my primary focus has been the Chin languages of Myanmar and Northeast India. When we began working together, I did not think this would be such an arduous task. I thought we would follow the guidelines for practical grammars laid out by others more experienced than myself, but to this i day, I have found nothing like what we have set out do in preparing the Falam Writers’ Handbook. To my knowledge it is the only handbook of its kind for a language that does not have established schools for its study and development. This is a practical book. It is not theoretical or prescriptive. It is not for the purpose of teaching foreigners to speak Falam or for publication in linguistics journals. Its purpose is to enable Falam speakers to write their language well. By helping Falam speakers write consistently and clearly, we hope Falam writers will enjoy reading their language more and understand better what they are reading. This is the product of hundreds of hours of labor, not just my own but of dozens of people. If I were to try to name them all I would fail miserably and slight many people. I could not name all who contributed, edited, proof read and discussed the contents for hours at a time. When we had completed the draft, we began applying it to the New Testament that was being prepared for printing. We found that many things that worked well with limited, simple sentences, did not work with the complex sentence structures of the New Testament. Once again we had to revise and edit. The translator and editors of the New Testament also had to do much revision and editing because of our work. In the end what we produced is much better than it would have been because it was tested on such a large text. The New Testament is also better because it was made consistent with the guidelines in the Falam Writers’ Handbook. I want to thank each of those who have participated in producing this Handbook and those who continue to work to improve, revise, and translate it. I should make mention of two particular people whose research has been invaluable to this process: Debbie ii King, who is doing a Grammar of Falam as her doctoral thesis at the University of Texas, Arlington, and Dr. Danny Smith, professor at Clemson University, South Carolina. Debbie King has contributed significant scholarly research as well as helped with editing. Dr. Danny Smith, contributed specialized research and did additional editing. Deborah King I hope each person that reads this book finds it helpful and that it encourages them to want to write and produce literature in Falam. Connie Champeon, Ph.D. iii iv Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................1 I. Phonology of Falam ......................................3 A. The Distinctive Sounds of the Falam Language and How to Write Them.........................................................3 1. Falam Consonants ...................................................3 a. Consonant Variations...........................................5 b. Consonants of Note .............................................5 c. Consonant Distribution .......................................7 d. The Five Uses of Written “h” ..............................9 2. Falam Vowels ........................................................11 a. Glides ................................................................11 b. Diacritical Marks: Tone & Vowel Lengthening 13 B. Phonological Changes ..............................................17 1. Grammatically-Motivated Changes: Predicate Stems .........................................................17 a. Class 1: stop h; vowel/liquid + h .................18 b. Class 2: vowel + stop (t, k) ...............................19 c. Class 3: ng n .................................................19 d. Class 4: Vowel Changing Predicates .................20 Class 4 Predicates with Two Stems ��20 Class 4 Predicates with Three Stems ��21 e. Summary Table of Classed Predicates ..............23 2. Phonologically-Motivated Changes ......................25 a. Vowel Alterations in Order to Maintain Syllable Structure ..................................................25 b. Contractions ......................................................26 v II. Falam Morphology .....................................29 A. Derivational Affixes .................................................30 1. Nominalizers .........................................................31 mi‑ ‘one who (is or has the qualities of)’ ..............31 ‑tu ‘one who’ .........................................................34 ‑nak ‘action of,’ ‘quality of’ .................................35 ‑dan ‘way of, manner of’ ......................................36 ‑zia ‘way of” or ‘manner of’ ‘-ness’ ‘-ance’ .........37 ‑pi ‘one who does along with’ ..............................38 2. Adjectivalizer ........................................................38 -nung .....................................................................38 -um ........................................................................39 -za ..........................................................................39 -umza, -nungza ......................................................40 3. Adverbalizers ........................................................41 ‑in .........................................................................41 -tein, -ten ...............................................................42 B. Inflectional Predicate Affixes ...................................42 1. Reflexive/Reciprocal Morphemes .........................43 -aw, -awk -awaw ..................................................44 2. Aspect Morphemes ................................................45 ‑sal, ‑kir, ‑năwn .....................................................45 3. Causative Morphemes ...........................................46 -ter/tir causative, ‘make’ .......................................46 ti- causative ..........................................................47 4. Benefactive or Malefactive Morphemes ...............48 -sak ........................................................................48 5. Accompaniment Morphemes ................................49 ‑kăwp, -khawm, -pi, -tăwn, -tlang ........................49 6. Intensifier Morphemes: superlatives, diminutives and comparatives ......................................................51 vi a. Intensifiers are attached to adjectives, adverbs or adjectival predicates. ........................................52 b. Intensifiers never attach tonouns, pronouns or the verbal predicates of clauses or sentences. .......52 c. Reduplications always attach to each other, not the adjective, adverb or adjectival predicate. ..53 -bik....................................................................54 -deuh ��55 -sawn ��56 -sin ��57 -sŭn ��58 -pi ��59 -te......................................................................59 Adjectives/Adverbs of Degree: zet, tuk, rori, lawlaw, ngaingai, riai & nasa ��60 C. Inflectional Noun Affixes .........................................62 1. Gender and Relationship .......................................63 ‑pa ‘male’ ..............................................................63 ‑nu ‘female’...........................................................64 fate .........................................................................64 2. Negation ................................................................65 -lo ..........................................................................65 3. Plurality .................................................................66 -pawl .....................................................................66 -tla .........................................................................68 -lenuh, -le, -lepawl, -letla .....................................70 rual, run ................................................................71

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