Chakpa language

"Loi language" redirects here. Loi is also the name of a dialect of the Ngiri language of Congo.

Chakpa
Loi
Native to	India
Region	Manipur
Extinct	since the 1950s
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Sal Jingpho–Luish Luish Chakpa
Dialects	Andro Sengmai (Sekmai) Phayeng Chairel
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	andr1245

Chakpa (Meitei exonym: Loi) is an extinct Sino-Tibetan language that was spoken in the Imphal valley of Manipur, India. It belonged to the Luish branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. Chakpa speakers have been shifted to that of Meitei language. Varieties of the language included Sengmai and Andro.

Chakpa was spoken in villages such as Andro, Sekmai (Sengmai), Phayeng, and Chairel, all of which are now Meitei-speaking villages.

Other names

Further information: Loi

Loi (or Lui; hence "Luish") is a Meithei exonym that includes Chakpa. Although Chakpa are typically considered to be Loi, not all Loi are Chakpa. For example, Kakching and Kwakta are Loi villages that are not Chakpa.

Documentation

Chakpa is preserved in written manuscripts that are recited by religious scholars during traditional ceremonies, such as those of the Lai Haraoba festival.

Chakpa word lists can be found in McCulloch (1859) and Basanta (1998).

The Chairel variety is documented in a word list by McCulloch (1859).

Further reading

• Huziwara, Keisuke 藤原 敬介 (2012). "Rui sogo no saikou ni mukete" ルイ祖語の再構にむけて [Toward a Reconstruction of Proto-Luish]. Kyōtodaigaku gengogaku kenkyū 京都大学言語学研究 (in Japanese). 31: 25–131. doi:10.14989/182194. hdl:2433/182194.
• Matisoff, James A. (2013). "Re-Examining the Genetic Position of Jingpho: Putting Flesh on the Bones of the Jingpho/Luish Relationship" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 36 (2): 15–95.