Maraic languages

Maraic
Geographic distribution	Mizoram, India and Chin State, Myanmar
Ethnicity	Mara
Linguistic classification	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Central Tibeto-Burman (?) Kuki-Chin–Naga Kuki-Chin Maraic
Language codes
Glottolog	mara1381  (Maraic)

The Maraic languages are a branch of Kuki-Chin languages.

Languages

The Maraic languages are (VanBik 2009:23):

• Mara (Tlosai)
• Duatu (Lochei and Hawthai/Levaw(Nohro & Notlia)
• Sizo (Chapi, Ngaphe and Sabyh)
• Lutuv (Lytu/Kahno)
• Zophei (Vawngtu, Leitak)
• Senthang
• Zotung (Calthawng, Innmai, Lungngo)
• Hlaipao (Vahapi [Zyhno], Heima and Lialai)

Sound changes

VanBik (2009) lists the following sound changes from Proto-Kuki-Chin to Proto-Maraic.^[1]

• Proto-Kuki-Chin *-p, *-t, *-k > Proto-Maraic *-ʔ
• Proto-Kuki-Chin *-ʔ > Proto-Maraic zero
• Proto-Kuki-Chin *-r, *-l > Proto-Maraic zero
• Proto-Kuki-Chin *kr- > Proto-Maraic *ts-

Peterson (2017) groups Kuki-Chin in a peripheral/central manner. As a result, he groups Maraic and Central Kuki-Chin, as one Central Kuki-Chin grouping, and refers to the latter as "Core Central". He supports this grouping by the treatment of Proto-Kuki-Chin *Cl- in the families.^[2]

References

1. VanBik, Kenneth (2009). Proto-Kuki-Chin: a reconstructed ancestor of the Kuki-Chin languages. STEDT monograph series. Berkeley, Calif: Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus Project, Dept. of Linguistics research unit in Univ. of California, Berkeley. ISBN 978-0-944613-47-4.
2. Peterson, David A. (June 2017). Pekley, Jamin; Ding, Picus S. (eds.). "On Kuki-Chin subgrouping". Sociohistorical Linguistics in Southeast Asia: 189–209.

• Peterson, David. 2017. "On Kuki-Chin subgrouping." In Picus Sizhi Ding and Jamin Pelkey, eds. Sociohistorical linguistics in Southeast Asia: New horizons for Tibeto-Burman studies in honor of David Bradley, 189-209. Leiden: Brill.
• VanBik, Kenneth. 2009. Proto-Kuki-Chin: A Reconstructed Ancestor of the Kuki-Chin Languages. STEDT Monograph 8. .ISBN 0-944613-47-0