LANGUAGE IN INDIA

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Volume 18:7 July 2018
ISSN 1930-2940

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A Brief Note on Phrase Structure in Sukte

Arambam Sadananda Singh

Abstract

Sukte is an undocumented language spoken by one of the tribes of Manipur. The term ‘Sukte’ is derived from the word sokte a compound word sok ‘to go southwards’ and te ‘plural suffix indicating person’ which literally means people of the southwards or lowland. Salte is the alternate name of the language. It is mainly spoken in Churachandpur District of Manipur. Linguistically, Salte belongs to Kuki-Chin group of the Tibeto-Burman family of languages (Benedict, 1972). It is closely related to many other Kuki-Chin group of languages namely Paite, Chorai, Chiru, Chothe, Gangte, Ranglong, Rangkhol, etc.

Keywords: Sukte, Tedim-Chin, Kuki-Chin, Tibeto-Burman, Manipur, Noun phrase.

1. Introduction

Sukte is one of the unwritten, undocumented and undescribed languages of Manipur spoken by tribe in the same name. The Sukte is the name of the language and community. The term Sukte is derived from Sokte in the form of compounding such as sok ‘to go down or southward’ and te ‘the plural suffix roughly indicating persons’ literally ‘people of the southward or low land’. This language is placed under the Kuki-Chin group of Tibeto-Burman sub-family of languages (Grierson, 1903). It is closely related to many other languages or dialects of Kuki-Chin group of languages namely Baite, Chorai, Chiru, Chothe, Gangte, Guite, Kaipeng, Ranglong, Rangkhol, etc. except Manipuri and are mutually intelligible with Chothe, Gangte, Guite, Simte, etc. Sukte is primarily spoken in Moreh sub-division of Chandel district and New Lamka-G, Simbuk, Tanglon(T), Tonglon(P), Rakwal, Sum Cheavum, Tanggnuam, Pangzwl, Lanka, Singhat, Suangdai, behiang, Behiang(T), Suangphuk and Tingkangphai villages of Churachandpur district of Manipur. Officially, the same tribe is enlisted as Salhte in the Constitution of India. But they are commonly referred to as Tiddim Chin by neighbouring communities in Manipur; however, they prefer to call themselves as Sukte. The total population of Sukte (Salhte) in Manipur was 1905 according to 2001 Census report of Manipur.

Typologically, Sukte is a tonal language. Gender distinction in Sukte is determined on the natural recognition of sex i.e., gender is not grammatically marked in this language. Sukte exhibits the typical feature of the Kuki-Chin languages as subject-verb agreement is present for different persons. Sukte is a verb final language, with dominant SOV word order.

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

Arambam Sadananda Singh
Research Scholar
Linguistic Department
Assam University, Silchar
arambamsadanandasingh@gmail.com

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