Daai language

Daai (also known as Daai Chin), which borders the Mün and Ütbü language groups, is a Kuki-Chin of Myanmar. It is spoken in 142 villages in Kanpetlet, Matupi, Mindat, and Paletwa townships in Chin State, Burma (Ethnologue). A written script for Daai was created in 1976 by U Khine Sho and Ms. Halga So Hart Manno.

Mutual intelligibility among Nghngilo (Yang), Daai Yindu, and Mkui groups is high, but is lower among other groups. Daai has greater than 90% lexical similarity with Daai Yindu, Yang, Mkui, Duk, and Msang, 81%–88% with Ngxang (Paletwa township) and Kheng, 80% with Shiip (Matupi township), 91%–94% with Gah/Ng-Gha (part of Mün), and 81%–87% with Mün.

Dialects

Ethnologue lists the following dialects of daai Chin.

• Ngxang
• Nghngilo (Yang)
• Ma-Tu
• Shiip
• Duk-Msang
• Kheng
• Mkuui
• Yet

Phonology

Consonants

Daai has twenty-four consonant phonemes.

Vowels

Daai has seven vowel phonemes, each with a phonemic length contrast.

Grammar

Daai Chin is an isolating or analytic language. There is no inflectional morphology at the word level; case, number, and tense are marked by clitics.

Examples

References

• Naing Kheng. 2017. A phonological description of the Mkuui variety of Daai Chin . Master's Thesis.
• Helga So-Hartmann. 2009. A Descriptive Grammar of Daai Chin. The Regents University of California.