Nagaland

  Patsho speaking region

  Other Nagas tribal languages

Patsho Khiamniungan or colloquially Patsho Nyu is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in North Eastern parts of India in the state of Nagaland, Noklak district. It also refers to the people living in the district mostly inhibiting the western part, that of Patsho range, southern part i.e. Thuonoknyu administrative circle and sparingly all over Noklak. Above all, it is a village with one of the highest number of Population in the region. Sometimes, it refers to Patsho speaking group of people who are native to and belong to Patsho Village. The language is widely known who are native to Noklak district and parts of Myanmar.

Grammar

Patsho Khiamniungan word order is subject-object-verb: "I-subject him-object see-verb." Subjects (especially I and you) are often omitted if these are clear from the context.

Patsho has postpositions instead of prepositions: like hui khem or jam khem, "bridge below" or "house below" respectively instead of "below the house."

Patsho people or Khiamniungans refer to each other rather in terms like elder brother, elder sister, younger sibling, uncle, aunt, grandmother, grandfather, manager, teacher etc. than by using the straight word like you even if this person is actually not. The other common words used daily are the words "pie" for the male and "wu-ai" for female is such a humble and polite reference to someone either close or strangers, especially among younger people. Those two completed word form would be "pienie" and "wuynie". Additionally, it's not uncommon to refer to yourself by using such an expression ( example: "[I] Father will cook you a nice dinner." Which feels like saying "This or myself father will...").

To keep in mind that the word for older brother is simply "tei" or "teihai", while the word for older sister is "nou" or "nouhai". The word for the younger ones is simply neu or neuhai for both male or female.

Pronunciation guide

Vowels

There are six vowels in Patsho

Consonant

Patsho Khiamniungan vowels

Small letters	a	e	i	o	u	ü

a

like 'a' in 'father',

(IPA: a, a̯)

e

like 'e' in 'bed'

(IPA: e, ɛ, ɛ̯)

i

like 'ee' in 'beet'

(IPA: i, i̯)

o

like 'o' in 'orange' or 'author'

(IPA: o, o̯)

u

like 'oo' in 'hoop', 'look' in open positions or like 'o' in 'hope' in close positions, such as in final 'uh' and 'uk' combinations.

(IPA: u, ʊ, u̯)

ü

like in 'banana'.

(IPA: ə, ɜ̯)

Consonant

Patsho Khiamniungan consonant

Small letters	ch	h	j	k	kh	l	m	n	ng	ny	p	ph	s	sh	t	th	ts	tsh	v	w	y

There are 21 consonants, which are all pronounce with the letter vowel ü like the sound found in in the word 'banana'(IPA: bəˈnɑː.nə) . So, to exemplify, the letter ch or h should be pronounced chü, or hü respectively.

Written language

Patsho Khiamniungan is written in Latin script with twenty seven letters. Some letters are combined to form a letter, for example t, s, and h are different and separate., but there is tsh as one letter, found in (among others) the word Patsho. Another example could be kh and ng both found in the word Khiamniungan.

Patsho Khiamniungan Alphabet

Capital letters	a	ch	e	h	i	j	k	kh	l	m	n	ng	ny	o	p	ph	s	sh	t	th	ts	tsh	u	ü	v	w	y
IPA	a a̯	tʃʰ	e ɛ ɛ̯	h	i i̯	tʃ	k	kʰ	l	m	n	ŋ	ɲ	o o̯	p	pʰ	ʃ	ʃʰ	t	tʰ	ts	tsʰ	u ʊ u̯	ə ɜ̯	v	w	j

Phrase list

Common signs OPEN (shuap or ashup) CLOSED (kiap or akiap) ENTRANCE (khoukha) EXIT (ashui) PUSH (thoui or athoui) PULL (ta or ata) TOILET (khuam jam) MEN (mielou hoi) WOMEN (mienyu hoi) FORBIDDEN (kiapvaih or kiapteu)

hǖhêi(huhei)(IPA: /hə³³.hɛ̯i⁵²/).

Hello.

Used at the initial phone calls or during meeting or visit someone.

Shâu-òh nyîvâ kǜ jǖnòi*(IPA: /ʃɑu⁵²-ɒʔ³¹.ɲɪ⁵²vɑ⁵². kə³¹.tʃə³³nɒɪ³¹/)

who knows.

A rhetorical statement uttered to show that the person uttering it neither knows the answer nor knows who might. Nong tikü naih tsak nü-e, tikü naih memtsho. Shâu-òh nyîvâ kǜ jǖnòi It could be one or the other, or both. Who knows

Local terms.

Basic vocabulary

Patsho Khiamniungan	English	Sentence Patsho Khiamniungan	English
Theumei	Thank You	Theumei, nyo-oh ei tah pautsang kiuh jünü theutho.	Thank you for taking care of me.
Amei hüni?	How are you?
Amei.	I am fine.
Khiam	Water	Jujie liang kü Khiam nü thingkeuh tsak asheu kiuh.	Please bring a cup of water
Tshih	(cooked) rice	Tshih hielouh va mou	Have you eaten lunch/dinner(meal)
Ngouh (nyieh)	fish (meat)
Veu (nyieh)	chicken (meat)	Jüsa toh Veu nyieh kie hie nye.	We have eaten chicken curry.
Yoh (nyieh)	pork (meat)
Jang (nyieh)	beef (meat)
Uo (nyieh)	mutton (meat)
Kie (nyieh-kie sang o)	dish (meat/vegetable)
Sang-o (kie sang-o)	vegetable
Naga chum	lentils
Tsem	salt
Lutsoutsoh (Chauchau ko)	less
Püiuh	chilli
Shua	Distribute	Jujie lianko ashua kiuh shi	Please give again (serve again).
Teitsoh	enough, stop, completed	Teitsoh, nyü chishi ko	Let's stop working
Khiam nü asheu kiuh.	Please give water.
kiuh	give or serve	Tshih nü akhem kiuh.	Please give food (rice).
Sngewbha ai jyntah seh	Please give (side dish) vegetable / meat.
Atei euh je?	What do you want?
Atei?	What?
Avaih? Atei naih-oh?	When?
Atei le?	Where?
Atei ali?	How?
Asheuh amei.	Good Night.
aleuh	where(how)	Shiemong le aleuh oh phu je?	How(from where) do I go to Shiemong?
ateisoh?	how much?	Nongni ateitsoh mai no?	What's(how much) the price of this?
mei	good or happy	Mei kü lü-iu.	Happy journey.
mongling	happy	Mongling kü anoi.	Stay happy.

Numbers

Counting words When counting objects, words use in Patsho are simply spoken by adding the numerals. For example, "two beers" is thing ming-lümieh, where lümieh is "two" and ming means "bottle". But when asking for single item, adding the word "pioho" (which means alone, only), sounds accurate. For example, "Thing ming-tsak pioho" equivalent "one beer only". Counting things or people. anie (IPA: /a³³niɛ̯⁵⁵/) used to refer to addressees whom are two in number. It is a pronoun, second person plural in absolutive case. asheuh or sheuh which means them, third person plural in absolutive case. asü meaning, you or you all. It is second person plural in absolutive case, used to refer to addressees whom are more than two in number. (applicable only to person not things) tsi which means we, first person dual in ergative case; referring to speakers; the objective case of we. (applicable only to person not things) hoi (IPA: /hoi̯⁵⁵/) refers to group of people. Also modified the sentences into plural by just adding after noun. For example, "Khunou hoi", literally Khunou's group. hai (IPA: /hai̯⁵⁵/). It is an agentive nominaliser that is Verb. It derives agentive nouns from verbs and other nouns, that expresses singular as well as plural number.

Numerals	Hauvi	Tone(Shangliak)	IPA
0	wa	wà	wa³¹
1	tsak	tsāk	tsak³³
2	lümih	lǖmīeh	lə³³ mɪʔ³³
3	sümieh	sǖmīeh	sə³³ mɪəʔ³³
4	pülie	pǖlīe	pə³³ lɪə³³
5	müngou	mǖngōu	mə³³.ŋɒu³³
6	lüvok	lǖvòk	lə³³.vɒk³³
7	tshünyieh	tshūnyìeh	tsʰə³³.ɲɪɛʔ³³
8	püjeih	pǖjèih	pə³³ tʃɛʔ³³
9	lükau	lǖkàu	lə³³ kɒu³³
10	tshie	tshìe	tsʰɪɛ³³
20	khei	khèi	kʰɛɪ³¹
30	ausam	āusám	ɑu³³sɑm⁵⁵
40	aupülie	àupǜlīe	au̯³¹pə³¹liɛ̯³³
50	aumüngou	àumǜngōu	au̯³¹məŋ³¹ou̯³³
60	aulüvok	àulǜvòk	au̯³¹lə³¹vok³²
70	autshienyieh	àutshǜnyìeh	au̯³¹tsʰə³¹ɲiɛ̯ʔ³²
80	aupüjeh	àupǜjèih	au̯³¹pə³¹tʃɛi̯ʔ³²
90	aulükau	àulǜkàu	au̯³¹lə³¹lau̯³¹
100	tsum tsak	tsūm tsāk	tsum³³.tsak³³
200	tsum lümieh	tsūm lǖmīeh	tsum³³.lə³³ mɪʔ³³
300	tsum sümieh	tsūm sǖmīeh	tsum³³.sə³³ mɪəʔ³³
400	tsum pülie	tsūm pǖlīe	tsum³³.pə³³.lɪə³³
500	tsum müngou	tsūm mǖngōu	tsum³³.mə³³.ŋɒu³³
600	tsum lüvok	tsūm lǖvòk	tsum³³.lə³³.vɒk³³
700	tsum tshünyieh	tsūm tshūnyìeh	tsum³³.tsʰə³³.ɲɪɛʔ³³
800	tsum püjeih	tsūm pǖjèih	tsum³³. pə³³.tʃɛʔ³³
900	tsum lükau	tsūm lǖkàu	tsum³³.lə³³.kɒu³³
1000	ka tsak	ká tsāk	ka⁵⁵.tsak³³
10,000	ka tshie	ká tshīe	ka⁵⁵.tsʰɪɛ³³
100,000	tsang tsak	Tsāng tsāk	tsaŋ³³.tsak³³
10000000	pei tsak	péi tsāk	pei⁵⁵.tsak³³
1000000000	iuh tsak	ìuh tsāk	iu³¹ʔ.tsak³³
100000000000	em tsak	ēm tsāk	em³³.tsak³³