Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 6, 2026

Lai languages

The Lai languages or Pawih/Pawi languages are various Central Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages spoken by the Lai people or Pawi. They include “ Laiṭong” spoken in Falam district, Laiholh (Hakha-Chin) spoken around the Haka (Hakha/Halkha) capital of Chin State in Burma (Myanmar) and in the Lawngtlai district of Mizoram, India. In Bangladesh, a related language is spoken by the Bawm people. Other Lai languages are Mi-E, and the Zokhua dialect of Hakha Lai spoken in Zokhua village.

Last revised
Jul 6, 2026
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Lai
Native toIndia, Myanmar, Bangladesh
RegionMizoram, Chin State, Chittagong hills tract
EthnicityLai people
SpeakersNative: 170,000 (2017)1
L2: 40,000 (2013)1
Language codes
ISO 639-3cnh
Glottologlaic1236

The Lai languages or Pawih/Pawi languages are various Central Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages spoken by the Lai people or Pawi. They include “ Laiṭong” (Falam Chin) spoken in Falam district, Laiholh (Hakha-Chin) spoken around the Haka (Hakha/Halkha) capital of Chin State in Burma (Myanmar) and in the Lawngtlai district of Mizoram, India. In Bangladesh, a related language is spoken by the Bawm people. Other Lai languages are Mi-E (including Khualsim), and the Zokhua dialect of Hakha Lai spoken in Zokhua village.1

Grammar

Deletion of the final consonant can be observed here in stem II. However, this is irregular as most verbs usually revive or gain a consonant in stem II. This stem is used to indicate the distant future tense, subjunctive mood, cohortative mood, hortative mood, jussive mood and more.2

References

References

  1. Lai at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. "Argument Indexation (Verb Agreement) in Kuki-Chin". academia.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
  • Stephen Ni Kio, Lai Nunphung.
  • Hakha Lai - By David A. Peterson, Chapter Twenty Five.
  • Kenneth VanBik, Three Types Of Causative Instruction In Hakha Lai, University of California, Berkeley.
  • VanBik, David (1986) English–Chin (Haka) Dictionary, Haka.
  • Haye-Neave, D.R. (1948) Lai Chin grammar and dictionary, Rangoon: Superintendent of Government Printing and Stationery, Burma.
  • George Bedell, AGREEMENT IN MIZO - Papers from the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, Tempe, Arizona: Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University, pp. 51–70, 2001.
  • George Bedell, AGREEMENT IN LAI - Papers from the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, Tempe, Arizona: Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University, pp. 21–32, 1995.