# Zou language

Zou (also spelled Zo and also known as Zokam) is a language of the Northeastern branch of Kuki-Chin languages originating in western Burma and spoken also in Mizoram and Manipur in northeastern India.
The name Zou is sometimes used as a cover term for the languages of all Mizo people (Zo people) i.e. Kukish and Chin peoples, especially the Zomi people.
The term 'Zo' has been employed in many books to denote the word 'Zo', for simple reason of phonetic usage.
The Zo themselves employ the various terms Zo, Zou, and Jo to mean their tribe.

## Phonology

The set of 23 Zou consonantal phonemes can be established on the basis of the following minimal pairs or overlapping words. Besides these 23 Phonemes, 1 consonant is a borrowed phoneme (i.e. /r/), which is found only in loan words, in very rare cases (e.g. /r/ in /rəŋ/ "color"). Along with these consonants, Zou has 7 vowels: i, e, a, ɔ, o, u, ə.
Consonant Phonemes :
| | | Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | c | k | ʔ |
| Plosive | aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | | kʰ | ʔ |
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | ɟ | g | ʔ |
| Affricate | Affricate | | | tʃ | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | v | s | | | h |
| Fricative | voiced | | z | | | |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | ŋ | |
| Lateral | Lateral | | l | | | |
| Semivowel | Semivowel | w | | j | | |
Vowels :
| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i | | u |
| Close-mid | e | ə | o |
| Open-mid | | ə | ɔ |
| Open | | a | |

## Orthography
### Vowels

* a - [a]
* aw - [ɔ]
* e - [e/ə]
* i - [i~j]
* o - [o]
* u - [u~w]

### Consonants

* b - [b]
* ch - [c]
* d - [d]
* g - [g]
* h - [h], [ʔ] at the end of a syllable
* j - [ɟ]
* k - [k]
* kh - [kʰ]
* l - [l]
* m - [m]
* n - [n]
* ng - [ŋ]
* p - [p]
* ph - [pʰ]
* r - [r]
* s - [s]
* t - [t]
* th - [tʰ]
* v - [ʋ]
* z - [z]

## Types of Zo verbs

The Zo verbs can be classified into three types: Stem (1), Stem (2), Stem (3) as given below:
Types of Zo Verbs :
| Stem 1 | Stem 2 | Stem 3 | Stem 4 |
| piê-give | pie? | pe- | pieh |
| puo-carry | puo? | po- | pua- |

## Sample text

The following is a sample text in Zou.
| Zou | English |
| Maw na sung ma naw in, amaw sa pi ma in leimi in i piang a, a khawh ma ma - gam lua a i lua suhsuh ih mawnate ma ei bawl in eima pumpi ei man muda maithei, Ih mawnate -eeng taang gol lua a hi man in khat veivei eima mawnate eimon maisah zolo maithei va-ia kim lai, tuate lip khap sih saang a pamai eisa, ei khua tua ngeet-nguut ngeng ngong man a ih dial dual liang luang mawna nei van nuai ei mai sah thop valong, abieh huai tapo ma Jehova ki chi Pasian khat a na om ngang tangh hi. | As we are born in sin, we cannot even love ourselves and there is no knowledge about what is forgiveness, because of the enormous sins inherited in us. Even though we are in this situation, in spite of our enormous sins the one who has mercy, sympathises us and forgives us our sins is the God called Jehovah. |
There are four major dialects of Zou in Myanmar and India: Haidawi, Khuongnung, Thangkhal, and Khodai.

## Numbers

Zomi numbers are counted as follows:
| Numeral | Zou | English | Hindi |
| 0 | be̋m | zero | शून्य śūnya |
| 1 | khàt | one | एक ek |
| 2 | nì: | two | दो do |
| 3 | thum | three | तीन tīn |
| 4 | li: | four | चार cār |
| 5 | nga: | five | पाँच pā̃c |
| 6 | gùh | six | छह chah |
| 7 | sagí | seven | सात sāt |
| 8 | giét | eight | आठ āṭh |
| 9 | kuó | nine | नौ nau |
| 10 | sàwm, sôm | ten | दस das |
| 11 | sàwm leh khàt | eleven | ग्यारह gyārah |
| 12 | sàwm leh nì | twelve | बारह bārah |
| 13 | sàwm leh thum | thirteen | तेरह terah |
| 14 | sàwm leh li: | fourteen | चौदह caudah |
| 15 | sàwm leh nga: | fifteen | पंद्रह pandrah |
| 16 | sàwm leh gùh | sixteen | सोलह solah |
| 17 | sàwm leh sagí | seventeen | सत्रह satrah |
| 18 | sàwm leh giét | eighteen | अठारह aṭhārah |
| 19 | sàwm leh kuó | nineteen | उन्नीस unnīs |
| 20 | sàwmnì | twenty | बीस bīs |
| 30 | sàwmthum | thirty | तीस tīs |
| 40 | sàwmli: | forty | चालीस cālīs |
| 50 | sàwmnga: | fifty | पचास pacās |
| 60 | sàwmgùh | sixty | साठ sāṭh |
| 70 | sàwmsagí | seventy | सत्तर sattar |
| 80 | sàwmgiét | eighty | अस्सी assī |
| 90 | sàwmkuò | ninety | नव्वे navve |
| 100 | zȁ | hundred | सौ sau |
| 1,000 | sa̋ng, tȕl | one thousand | हज़ार hazār |
| 10,000 | si̋ng, tȕlsàwm, sa̋ngsàwm | ten thousand | दस हज़ार das hazār |
| 100,000 | nuòi, tȕlzà, sa̋ngzà | one hundred thousand, one lakh | लाख lākh |
| 1,000,000 | nuòisàwm, sa̋ngtȕl, tȕltȕl | one million | दस लाख das lākh |
| 10,000,000 | thȅn, vâibêlsié, kráwl | ten million, one crore | करोड़ karoṛ |
| 100,000,000 | thȅnzà, kráwl sàwm | one billion, ten crore | अरब arab |

## Writing systems

Zou is often written in a Latin script developed by Christian missionary J.H. Cope. In 1952, M. Siahzathang of Churachandpur created an alternative script known as Zolai or Zoulai, an alphabetic system with some alphasyllabic characteristics. The user community for the script is growing- Zou cultural, political, and literary organizations began to adopt the script beginning in the 1970s, and more recently, the Manipur State Government has shown support for both Siahzathang and the script.

## Linguistic relations

Zou among the Northeastern Kuki-Chin languages is closely related to the Central languages such as the Duhlian (Lusei/Lushai) or Mizo language (endonym in Duhlian or Lushai is Mizo ṭawng), the lingua franca language of Mizoram.
Zou as spoken in India is similar to the Paite language of the Paite, though Zou lacks the word-final glottal stops present in Paite.

## Geographical extent

At its largest extent, the geographic area covered by the language group is a territory of approximately 60,000 square miles (160,000 km2) in size, in Burma, India and Bangladesh. However political boundaries and political debates have distorted the extent of the area in some sources.

### In Burma

It is used in Chin State, Tiddim, and the Chin Hills. Use of Burmese has increased in the Zo speaking Chin State since the 1950s. Ethnologue reports that Zou is spoken in the following townships of Myanmar.
* Chin State: Tonzang, Hakha, and Tedim townships
* Sagaing Division: Kalay, Khampat, and Tamu townships

### In India

* Manipur
** Chandel district: Singngat subdivision and the Sungnu Sachih / Kana area
** Churachandpur district
* Mizoram
* Assam

### In Bangladesh

In Bangladesh it is used by the Bawm people.