Lotha language

Lotha
Native to	Nagaland, India
Region	West-central Nagaland, Wokha district
Ethnicity	Lotha Naga
Native speakers	170,000 (2001 census)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Ao Lotha
Language codes
ISO 639-3	njh
Glottolog	loth1237[2]

The Lotha language is part of the Sino-Tibetan language family, spoken by approximately 166,000 people in Wokha district, west-central Nagaland, India. It is centered in the small district of Wokha (capital Wokha). This district has more than 114 villages such as Pangti, Maraju (Merapani), Englan, Baghty (Pakti) and others, where the language is widely spoken and studied.

Names

Alternate names include Chizima, Choimi, Hlota, Kyong, Lhota, Lotha, Lutha, Miklai, Tsindir, and Tsontsii (Ethnologue).

Dialects

Ethnologue lists the following dialects of Lotha.

• Live
• Tsontsu
• Ndreng
• Kyong
• Kyo
• Kyon
• Kyou

Orthography and literature

Lotha is written in the Latin script, introduced by the British and American missionaries in the late 19th century. It is a medium of education up to the post-graduate level in the state of Nagaland. It is also the language in which the church sermons are preached. The Bible has been translated into the Lotha language, adding significantly to its vocabulary, which had an influence of Assamese and Hindi. The language has been carried to all parts of the country by the waves of emigrants.

References

1. Lotha at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Lotha Naga". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

External links

• Translation of the beginning of the Book of Genesis in Lotha.