Zeme
Zeme Naga
Sino-Tibetan
Zeme Naga (autonymously Zeme) is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Zeme group within Kuki-Chin-Naga, spoken by ~70,000 people across the borderlands of Nagaland, Manipur, and Assam in northeast India. The Zeme people are part of the broader Naga ethnopolitical complex (~3M Nagas across NE India and Myanmar) but linguistically distinct from the more famous Naga languages like Tangkhul, Sumi, and Mao. Zeme has classical Tibeto-Burman features: tonal (low/high), simple noun morphology, polypersonal verb agreement, and SOV constituent order. Naga literacy programs since the 1960s have produced Bible translations and educational materials in Zeme.
Where it is spoken
31 core words in Zeme Naga
Water
nki
/nki/
Fire
mei
/mei/
Sun
sʰeu
/sʰeu/
Moon
kʰu
/kʰu/
Star
tara
/taɾa/
Mother
nem
/nem/
Father
ape
/ape/
I
ge
/ge/
You
na
/na/
Name
min
/miŋ/
Eye
mik
/mik/
Hand
hak
/hak/
Heart
heisia
/heisia/
Love
kihai
/kihai/
Tree
rik
/rik/
House
ki
/ki/
Dog
hui
/hui/
Cat
kʰemi
/kʰemi/
Eat
so
/so/
Drink
hʷu
/hʷu/
One
kha
/kʰa/
Two
kena
/kena/
Hello
hangba
/haŋba/
Thank you
kazi
/kazi/
Good
ahei
/ahei/
Sources
Words compared
Compared with related Sino-Tibetan languages
| Meaning | Zeme Naga | Tangkhul Naga | Mizo | Kurtöp | Hakha Chin | Limbu | Sikkimese |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | nki /nki/ | ze /ze/ | tui /tui/ | khwe /kʰwe/ | ti /ti/ | ᤇᤘᤠ /tʃʰwaː/ | ཆུ /tɕʰu/ |
| Fire | mei /mei/ | mei /mei/ | mei /mei/ | mi /mi/ | mei /mei/ | ᤔᤡ /mi/ | མེ /me/ |
| Sun | sʰeu /sʰeu/ | nyithui /ɲitʰui/ | ni /ni/ | ningpe /niŋpe/ | ni /ni/ | ᤊᤠᤶᤑ /ɲaːmpʰʌ/ | ཉི་མ /ɲima/ |
| Moon | kʰu /kʰu/ | lai /lai/ | thla /tʰla/ | lai /lai/ | thla /tʰla/ | ᤗᤠᤒᤠ /laːba/ | ཟླ་བ /dawa/ |
| Star | tara /taɾa/ | sira /siraː/ | arsi /arsi/ | karma /karma/ | arfi /ʔarfi/ | ᤂᤧᤛᤧᤔᤡᤰ /kʰɛsɛmik/ | སྐར་མ་ /kaːma/ |
| Mother | nem /nem/ | ina /ina/ | nu /nu/ | amai /amai/ | nu /nu/ | ᤔᤠᤔᤠ /maːmaː/ | ཨ་མ /ama/ |
| Father | ape /ape/ | apa /apa/ | pa /pa/ | apai /apai/ | pa /pa/ | ᤀᤠᤒᤠ /aːbaː/ | ཨ་པ /apa/ |
| I | ge /ge/ | i /i/ | kei /kei/ | ngat /ŋat/ | kei /kei/ | ᤀᤠᤱᤃᤠ /aŋga/ | ང་ /ŋa/ |
| You | na /na/ | na /na/ | nang /naŋ/ | wit /wit/ | nang /naŋ/ | ᤂᤧᤏᤧ᤹ /kʰɛnɛʔ/ | ཁྱེད་རང་ /kʰeraŋ/ |
| Name | min /miŋ/ | amin /amin/ | hming /hmiŋ/ | ming /miŋ/ | min /min/ | ᤔᤡᤱ /miŋ/ | མིང་ /miŋ/ |
| Eye | mik /mik/ | mi /mi/ | mit /mit/ | mik /mik/ | mit /mit/ | ᤔᤡᤰ /mik/ | མིག /mik/ |
| Hand | hak /hak/ | phei /pʰei/ | kut /kut/ | lak /lak/ | kut /kut/ | ᤜᤢᤰ /huk/ | ལག /lak/ |
| Heart | heisia /heisia/ | mokyaba /mokjaba/ | thinlung /tʰinluŋ/ | nying /ɲiŋ/ | lung /luŋ/ | ᤛᤡᤰ /sik/ | སྙིང /ɲiŋ/ |
| Love | kihai /kihai/ | cha /tʃa/ | hmangaih /hmaŋai/ | ga /ɡa/ | daw /daw/ | ᤔᤡᤌᤡ /mitʰi/ | དགའ /ɡa/ |
| Tree | rik /rik/ | leiyik /leijik/ | thingkung /tʰiŋkuŋ/ | shing /ɕiŋ/ | thingkung /tʰiŋkuŋ/ | ᤛᤡᤱ /siŋ/ | ཤིང /ɕiŋ/ |
| House | ki /ki/ | shim /ʃim/ | in /in/ | khim /kʰim/ | inn /in/ | ᤜᤡᤶ /him/ | ཁྱིམ /tɕim/ |
| Dog | hui /hui/ | ui /ui/ | ui /ui/ | khwi /kʰwi/ | ui /ui/ | ᤁᤣᤳᤇᤡ /keptʃi/ | ཁྱི /tɕʰi/ |
| Cat | kʰemi /kʰemi/ | mibu /mibu/ | zawhte /zɔʔte/ | byila /bila/ | minu /minu/ | ᤐᤡᤛᤡ /pisi/ | ཞི་མི /ʑimi/ |
| Eat | so /so/ | ngui /ŋui/ | ei /ei/ | za /za/ | ei /ei/ | ᤆᤠᤔᤠ /tʃaːmaː/ | ཟ /za/ |
| Drink | hʷu /hʷu/ | rai /rai/ | in /in/ | thung /tʰuŋ/ | din /din/ | ᤌᤢᤴᤔᤠ /tʰuŋmaː/ | འཐུང /tʰuŋ/ |
| One | kha /kʰa/ | kha /kʰa/ | pakhat /pakʰat/ | thê /tʰe/ | pakhat /pakʰat/ | ᤌᤡᤰ /tʰik/ | གཅིག /tɕik/ |
| Two | kena /kena/ | khani /kʰani/ | pahnih /pahniʔ/ | zon /zon/ | pahnih /pahniʔ/ | ᤏᤧᤳᤇᤡ /nɛtɕːi/ | གཉིས་ /ɲiː/ |
| Hello | hangba /haŋba/ | hayau /hajau/ | chibai /tʃibai/ | kuzu zangpo /kuzu zaŋpo/ | na dam maw /na dam maw/ | ᤐᤣᤜᤢᤙᤣ /peːhuːje/ | ཁམས་བཟང /kʰamsaŋ/ |
| Thank you | kazi /kazi/ | ase /ase/ | ka lawm e /ka lɔːm e/ | kadrinche /kadrintɕe/ | ka lawm /ka lawm/ | ᤐᤡᤍᤠᤱ /pidaːŋ/ | ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ /tʰuktɕetɕe/ |
| Good | ahei /ahei/ | kahei /kahei/ | tha /tʰa/ | lekpo /lekpo/ | tha /tʰa/ | ᤏᤢᤒᤠ /nuba/ | ལེགས་པོ /lekpo/ |
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