The Zo language is grouped with Tibeto-Burman languages. and Zo people who study English and Burmese in school find Burmese to be the easier language to learn, even though they may already know Roman script. A student in Manipur found the Meitei language easy to learn because it is similar gramatically and in vocabulary to the Zo language. In West Zoram (Mizoram) students find Hindi as difficult as English, because English and Hindi are Aryan languages and they have little affinity to the Zo language. The Zo people are not multi-lingual as characterized in literature, especially in Burma. Zo people have indeed diverse dialects, many of which are not easily intelligible to those using other dialects. The worst example perhaps is between dialects of the southernmost Zo and the northernmost Zo.
Professor Gordon Luce” analyzed 700 words of Zo language common to at least three Zo dialects. From these 700 words 230 words are common in all dialects of the Zo people. From the northernmost Zo, the Thado-Khuangsai in the Naga Hills (Somra Tract). to the southernmost Zo. the Asho in the Sandoway-Thayetmyo area, the use of words common to the 700 word base are as follows :
Thado-Khuangsai 554 words
Tedim 191
Hualngo (Lusei) 631
Khualsim (Falam) 627
Haka 573
Asho 383
Khumi 381
From this table it is possible to divide Zo people into two linguistic groups, the northern group with more than 500 common words and the southern group with less than 500 common words. The dialects of the northern group, though differing in some words. are intelligible between groups if the people are patient.
The southern Zo dialects are similar to the northern dialects, but differences lie in the words that are borrowed from the Burman and the Arakanese, with whom the Asho, Khumi and the Masho had been in contact for centuries. Comparing the Lusei and the Haka, or Falam dialects, one finds many words borrowed from Burman in the Haka and Falam dialects, whereas the Lusei borrowed many words from Indian or English languages. For example: as there was no word for “school” in the Zo language, it has been borrowed from English and Burmese. Thus school is called sikul by the Lusei, whereas it is saang for the Paite of Tedim. The Paite of Manipur say sikul. the Falam say tlawng, and the Haka say siang, Saang, tlawng and siang originated from the Burmese kyaung.
In East Zoram there has been no common language, and Zo political leaders have not touched the subject as it has been a very delicate matter. On one hand no representative has wanted to ;cc other than his own dialect being claimed as the common language. On the other hand. Zo leaders have feared possible repercussions front the Burmese government if they put too much emphasis on a common Zo language. It would be contradic-tory to the Burmese government’s policy of completely abolishing the teaching of Zo language in schools in the “Chin State”. Just after independence the Zo language was taught in primary school up to the fourth standard. The Revolutionary Government of General Ne Win reduced it to the elementary grades, after which Zo language was allowed to be taught up to the second standard only. At present no Zo language is taught in the schools. Thus the question of a Zo common language in East Zoram was ended by the Burmese government.
Of all Zo dialects, the Lusei or Duhlian dialect is the most widely spoken. It is the common language in West Zoram, and it is spoken by almost all Zo people in Manipur and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Hualngo and Lusei dialects are the same. It was said the Saito chief Lallula encouraged use of the Duhlian dialect by all his subjects, and since then it has been used successfully as a common language by the Lusei. Today more than half of the Zo people use the Lusei dialect. Haka or Lai, Falam or Laizo, and Tedim or Pailite dialects arc very similar to the Lusei dialect—so much so that in conversing each group uses its own dialect. The best example is seen in Tahan where all Zo tribes live together as neighbours. Therefore, if there should be a common language for the Zo people, the Lusei dialect is the ultimate choice.
The following Table shows how Zo dialects differ from one another, and for comparison, from Meitei and Burmese.
Source : Zomi History
