LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 16:7 July 2016
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Numerals in Zeme

Sapam Sangita Chanu
Ph.D Scholar
Assam University, Silchar

Abstract

The goal of the present paper is to describe some of the morpho-syntactic aspects of numerals in Zeme (mainly focus on the language spoken in Tousem sub- division of Tamenglong district of Manipur). Zeme is one of the endangered languages of North East India which is mainly spoken in Tousem sub-division of Tamenglong district, Tadubi sub-division of Senapati district of Manipur, Peren district of Nagaland and Dima Hasao District of Assam. Linguistically, Zeme belongs to the Kuki-Naga section of the Kamarupan group of the Baric sub-division of Tibeto-Burman family of languages (Matisoff, 2001). As in many other Tibeto-Burman languages, numeral system in Zeme is mainly of the decimal type; however, the vigesimal system is also found in the language from numerals twenty/20 to twenty-nine/29. Structurally, numerals in the language can be categorized into seven major types viz. (i) cardinals (ii) ordinals (iii) fractional (iv) multiplicative (v) distributives (vi) restrictive and (vii) approximates. Syntactically, the numerals usually follow the head nouns as in other SOV languages.

Keywords: Zeme, Tibeto-Burman, Tamenglong, Manipur, Numerals, Decimal, Vigesimal, Compound.

1. Introduction

Zeme is a Tibeto-Burman language of Northeast India spoken by the people in the same name. Zeme is one of the sub-tribes of Zeliangrong. The term ‘Zeliangrong’ is a composite name of the cognate tribes of Zeme, Liangmei and Rongmei. It is generally believed that these three tribes are the descendents of the same ancestor with similar culture, tradition and customs. It is one of the thirty-three recognized scheduled-tribes of Manipur including recently recognized three scheduled tribes namely Paomei, Tarao and Kharam (Manipur Gazette, 2003). Linguistically, Zeme belongs to the Kuki-Naga section of the Kamarupan group of the Baric sub-division of Tibeto-Burman family of languages (Matisoff, 2001). The speakers of Zeme are mainly found in Tousem sub-division of Tamenglong and Tadubi sub-division of Senapati districts of Manipur. Besides, few speakers of Zeme are also found in Dima Hasao District of Assam and Peren district of Nagaland. According to 2001 Census of India, the total population of Zeme in India was 34,110.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Sapam Sangita Chanu
Ph.D Scholar
Department of Linguistics
Assam University
Silchar-788011
Assam
India
ssangiita@gmail.com
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