| Jingpho | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | tɕiŋ˧˩pʰɔʔ˧˩ | |||
| Spoken in | Burma (Myanmar), China, India | |||
| Region | Kachin State, Yingjiang County | |||
| Ethnicity | Jingpo | |||
| Native speakers | 950,000 (2001) | |||
| Language family |
Sino-Tibetan
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| Dialects |
Dzili (Jili)
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| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-2 | kac | |||
| ISO 639-3 | either: kac – Jingpho sgp – Singpho |
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The Jingpho language (Jinghpaw, Chingp'o) or Kachin language (Burmese: ကချင်ဘာသာ, [kətɕɪ̀ɴ bàðà]) is a Tibeto-Burman language mainly spoken in Kachin State, Burma (Myanmar) and Yunnan Province, China. The term Kachin language can refer either to the Jingpho language or to a group of languages spoken by various ethnic groups in the same region as Jingpo: Lisu, Lachit, Rawang, Zaiwa, Lhaovo, Achang (Ngo Chang), and Jingpho. These languages are from distinct branches of the highest level of the Tibeto-Burman family.
The ethnic Jingpho (or Kachin) are the primary speakers of Jingpho language, numbering approximately 900,000 speakers.[1] The Turung of Assam in India speak a Jingpho dialect, called Singpho, mixed with Assamese words.
The Jingpho language is written with the Latin alphabet. Jingpho has verbal morphology that marks the subject and the direct object. Here is one example (the tonemes are not marked). The verb is 'to be' (rai).
| person and number | present | past |
| 1sg | rai n ngai | rai sa ngai |
| 2sg | rai n dai | rai sin dai |
| 3sg | rai ai | rai sai |
| 1pl | rai ga ai | rai sa ga dai |
| 2pl | rai ma dai | rai ma sin dai |
| 3pl | rai ma ai | rai ma sai |
Jingpho syllable finals can consist of vowels, nasals, or oral stops.
Jingpho (Jinghpaw) language has five vowels which causes difficult to pronounce correctly for each words by non Kachin. Example:
Wa (high short tone) compensate Á Wa (middle tone) Teeth Ä Wa (high tone) father à Wa (Low tone) come back Ā Wa (Low short tone) Pig Ą
Usually the writing Jingpho has no vowel indicators, hence difficult to pronounce correctly by the non Kachin.