Sümi language explained

Sümi
Nativename:	Sümi (Naga)
Pronunciation:	pronounced as /[sɨ˧ mi˩]/
States:	India
Region:	Nagaland
Ethnicity:	Sümi Naga
Speakers:	350,000
Date:	2011 census
Ref:	^[1]
Familycolor:	Sino-Tibetan
Fam2:	Angami–Pochuri
Iso3:	nsm
Glotto:	sumi1235
Glottorefname:	Sumi Naga

Sümi, also Sema, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Nagaland, India. It is spoken by the Sümi Naga people. It differs from every other Naga languages due to the presence of guttural sounds.

Geographical distribution

Sümi is spoken in central and southern Nagaland, mainly in Zünheboto District. There are also good number of speakers in parts of Niuland, Dimapur, Chümoukedima and Kiphire District(s), as well as in 7 villages of Tinsukia District, Assam (Ethnologue).

Dialects

Ethnologue lists the following dialects of Sümi.

• Dayang (Western Sümi)
• Lazami
• Jimomi
• Zumomi

Phonology

The transcriptions in this section use the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Vowels

The vowels of Sümi are as follows:

	Front	Central	Back
Close	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Mid	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Open		pronounced as /link/

Notes:

• The close front and the close central vowels have been variously described as near-close pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|i̞}}, {{IPAplink|ɨ̞}}]/ and close pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|i}}, {{IPAplink|ɨ}}]/. The close back vowel has only been described as close pronounced as /link/.
  • In the word-medial position, pronounced as //ɨ// can be realized as mid pronounced as /link/.
• The mid vowels pronounced as //e, o// can be realized as either close-mid pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|e}}, {{IPAplink|o}}]/ or open-mid pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ɛ}}, {{IPAplink|ɔ}}]/.
  • describes the close-mid allophone of pronounced as //o// as slightly advanced pronounced as /[o̟]/.
• pronounced as //a// has been variously described as near-open pronounced as /link/ and open pronounced as /link/.
  • After uvular stops, pronounced as //a// can be realized as open back unrounded pronounced as /link/.

Consonants

The consonants of Sümi are as follows:

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
		pronounced as /mʱ/	pronounced as /nʱ/
Plosive		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
		pronounced as /pʰ/	pronounced as /tʰ/		pronounced as /kʰ/	pronounced as /qʰ/
		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Affricate			pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/
			pronounced as /tʃʰ/ ~ pronounced as /tsʰ/
Fricative		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
		pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Approximant			pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Lateral			pronounced as /link/
			pronounced as /lʱ/

External links

• Sümi DoReCo corpus compiled by Amos Teo. Audio recordings of narrative texts with transcriptions time-aligned at the phone level, translations, and time-aligned morphological annotations.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. www.censusindia.gov.in. 2018-07-07.