Shö language

Shö
Native to	Burma, Bangladesh
Ethnicity	Daai Chin
Native speakers	unknown (50,000 cited 1983–2011) plus an unknown number of Shendu
Language family	Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) Kukish Southern Shö
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: cnb – Chinbon Chin csh – Asho Chin cbl – Bualkhaw Chin shl – Shendu
Glottolog	bual1235  (Bualkhaw Chin) chin1478  (Chinbon Chin) asho1236  (Asho Chin) shen1247  (Shendu)

Shö is a Kukish dialect cluster of Burma and Bangladesh. There are perhaps four distinct dialects, Asho (Khyang), Bualkhaw, Chinbon, and Shendu.

Mayin and Longpaw are not mutually intelligible, but have been subsumed under the ISO code for Chinbon because Mayin-Longpaw speakers generally understand Chinbon. Minkya is similarly included because most Minkya speakers understand Mayin.

Geographical distribution

Chinbon is spoken in the following townships of Myanmar (Ethnologue).

• Chin State: Kanpetlet and Paletwa townships
• Magway Region: Saw and Sidoktaya townships
• Rakhine State: Minbya township

Asho is spoken in Ayeyarwady Region, Bago Region, and Magway Region, and Rakhine State, Myanmar.

Bualkhaw is spoken north of Falam town in Falam township, Chin State, Myanmar.

Shendu is spoken in Mizoram, India.

Phonology

Asho dialect (K’Chò) has 28 consonants and seven vowels.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Inter-dental	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
V1 stops	p pʰ			t tʰ		k kʰ	ʔ
Ingressives	ɓ			ɗ
V1 Fricatives					ʃ	x	h
Vd Fricatives		v			ʒ	ɣ
V1 Affricates			tθ			kx
Vd Affricates				d ʒ		k ɣ
Nasals	m m̥			n (n̥)		ŋ ŋ̊
Lateral				l ɬ
Clusters	pl pʰl

Vowels

	Front	Center	Back
Close	i, iː	ɨ, ɨː	u, uː
Mid	e, eː	ə, əː	ɔ, ɔː
Open		a, aː

Diphthongs: əi, ai, ui, ɔi

Morphology

Similar 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.