Sangtam language

Sangtam
Thukumi
Lophomi
Native to	Nagaland, India
Region	East-central Nagaland, Tuensang and Khiphire districts
Ethnicity	Sangtam
Native speakers	84,000 (2001 census)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Ao group Sangtam
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nsa
Glottolog	sang1321[2]

Sangtam, also called Thukumi, Isachanure, or Lophomi, is an Ao language spoken in northeast India. It is spoken in Kiphire District and in the Longkhim-Chare circle in Tuensang district, Nagaland, India.

Dialects

Ethnologue lists the following dialects of Sangtam.

• Kizare
• Pirr (Northern Sangtam)
• Phelongre
• Thukumi (Central Sangtam)
• Photsimi
• Purr (Southern Sangtam)

The standardized dialect of Sangtam is based based on the Tsadanger village speech variety.

Phonology

Sangtam is unusual in having two stops with bilabial trilled release, /t̪͡ʙ, t̪͡ʙ̥ʰ/.^[3]

Sangtam consonants

p pʰ	t̪ t̪ʰ	ʈʵ ʈʵʰ	c cʰ	k kʰ	ʔ
t̪͡ʙ t̪͡ʙ̥ʰ	t̪s t̪sʰ		tʃ tʃʰ
m	n		ɲ	ŋ
(f v)	s (z?)		ʃ	x	h
	l	ɹ	j

Vowels are /a e i ʌ o u/, tones High, Mid, Low.

References

1. Sangtam at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Sangtam Naga". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
3. Coupe (2015) "Prestopped bilabial trills in Sangtam", Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow, 10–14 August 2015