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Mao
Sopvoma, Emela, Mao' La
Mao written in Meitei script
Pronunciation	mau
Native to	India
Region	Nagaland, Manipur
Ethnicity	Mao Naga, Poumai Naga
Native speakers	240,205 (2011 census) [1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetian Angami–Pochuri Mao
Dialects	Paomata
Official status
Recognised minority language in	India
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: nbi – Mao pmx – Poumai
Glottolog	naga1397
ELP	Mao Naga

Mao, also known as Sopvoma, is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Angami–Pochuri linguistic sub-branch. ^[2] It is spoken primarily in Senapati district, northwestern Manipur and in Nagaland, India. It is similar to Angami. ^[3] The speakers of this language use Meitei language as their second language (L2) according to the Ethnologue. ^[4]

Phonology

Consonants

• /t͡ʃʰ/ and /w/ only rarely occur, and with /t͡ʃʰ/ only occurring in word-initial position.
• The pre-aspirated voiceless /ʰr̥/, may have a word-initial allophone of [ ʂ], [ʂ] rarely occurs phonemically.
• [ɡ] only occurs marginally from loanwords.
• /t̪, p͡f/ in word-initial position may be heard as [t̪ʰ, p͡fʰ] in free variation, rarely as phonemic.
• /h/ may have an allophone of [ x] word-initially, word medially in free variation. [x] rarely occurs as a phoneme.
• /m/ before a central vowel /ɨ/ can have an allophone of a labiodental [ ɱ].
• /n/ before high vowel sounds can have an allophone of a palatalized [ nʲ].

Vowels

• [ə] only occurs inter-morphemically.
• /ɨ/ can be heard as rounded [ʉ] in free variation.
• In word-initial position, /i, u/ can be lowered to [ɪ, ʊ].
• /e, o/ can be lowered to [ɛ, ɔ] in word-final position. ^[5]

References

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