Shö, or Asho, is a Kuki-Chin language of Myanmar, with a few thousand speakers in Bangladesh. This language is known as Asho Khyang in Bangladesh.[2]
| Shö | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Myanmar, Bangladesh |
| Ethnicity | Asho Chin Khyang (in Bangladesh) |
Native speakers | 180,000 (2024)[1] |
| Mon-Burmese and Latin script in Myanmar Bengali-Assamese script in Bangladesh | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | csh – Asho Chin |
| Glottolog | asho1236 Asho Chin |
A written script was developed by Rev. Lyman Stilson in 1842.[3]
Geographical distribution
editAsho is spoken in Ayeyarwady Region, Bago Region, and Magway Region, and Rakhine State, Myanmar. VanBik (2009:38)[4] lists the following Asho dialects.
- Settu (spoken from Sittwe to Thandwe — mostly Sittwe to Ann)
- Laitu (spoken in Mrauk-U, Minbya, Myepon and Ann townships, Rakhine state)
- Awttu (spoken in Mindon Township)
- Kowntu (spoken in Ngaphe, Minhla, Minbu)
- Kaitu (spoken in Pegu, Mandalay, Magway)
- Lauku (spoken in Myepone, Kyauk Phyu, Ann)
Phonology
editAsho (K'Chò) has 26 to 30 consonants and ten to eleven vowels depending on the dialect.
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | plain | p | t̪ | k | ʔ | |
| aspirated | pʰ | t̪ʰ | kʰ | |||
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ||||
| Nasal | voiced | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| voiceless | m̥ | n̥ | ɲ̊ | ŋ̊ | ||
| Fricative | plain | s | ʃ | h | ||
| aspirated | sʰ | ɦ | ||||
| lateral | ɬ | |||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
- Voiced plosives /b d ɡ z/ are only heard in the Plains dialect.
- In the Plains dialect, dental plosives /t̪ t̪ʰ/ are pronounced as alveolar [t tʰ], along with /d/ being only alveolar.
- Velar plosives /k kʰ/ may be palatalized as affricates [tʃ tʃʰ] before front vowels.
- In some dialects a voiceless [j̊] is heard in place of /ʃ/.
- /j/ may also be heard as a fricative [ʒ] in free variation among dialects.
| Front | Central | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i / ˠi | ʉ | u | ||
| Near-close | ɪ | ʏ | ʊ | ||
| Close-mid | e | (ə̆) | ɤ | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |||
| Open | a | ||||
Diphthongs: ei, ai, au
- Sounds /ʏ ʉ/ only occur in the Hill dialect. In the Plains dialect, /ʊ u/ is heard in place of /ʏ ʉ/.
- A shortened [ə̆] is heard in unstressed syllables.
- /ɤ/ can sometimes be heard as more central [ɘ].
- A prevelarized /ˠi/ occurs in the Plains dialect.
Morphology
editSimilar to other Kukish languages, many Asho verbs have two distinct stems. This stem alternation is a Proto-Kukish feature, which has been retained to different degrees in different Kukish languages.[6]
References
edit- ↑ Asho Chin at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ↑ "Asho Khyang in Bangladesh people group profile". Joshua Project. Retrieved April 1, 2026.
- ↑ Lian, Salai Van Cung; Salem-Gervais, Nicolas (November 2020). "How Many Chin Languages Should Be Taught in Government Schools? Ongoing developments and structural challenges of language-in-education policy in Chin State". Parami Journal of Education. 1 (1).
- ↑ VanBik, Kenneth (2009). Proto-Kuki-Chin: A Reconstructed Ancestor of the Kuki-Chin Languages. UC Berkeley. ISBN 0-944613-47-0.
- ↑ Tignor, Daniel (2018). A Phonology of Hill (kone-Tu) Asho (MA thesis). University of North Dakota.
- ↑ Kee Shein Mang (2006). A Syntactic and Pragmatic Description of Verb Stem Alternation in K’chò, a Chin Language (PDF) (MA thesis). Payap University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-26.
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