Grammatical Sketch of the Kakhyen Language
J. N. Cushing
The Kakhyen or Singpho are the most numerous people occupying the mountainous region stretching from Upper Assam across Northern Burma beyond the Chinese boundary into Yunan. In Burma they extend as far south as Momeit and Theinni. During the last forty years, at different times, more or less attention has been called to this interesting people. On the Assam side, Hannay, Robinson, Bronson, Brown and Dalton, and on the Burman side, Anderson, Bowers, and Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries have published sketches of their language and mode of life.
The language of the Kakhyen is by no means so monosyllabic as most of the languages of Farther India. Dissyllables are numerous. These are not couplets of two words signifying the same thing which are so common in these languages, but proper dissyllabic words.
Doubtless the language has a remote afﬁnity to the Burman. In grammatical construction the Kakhyen and Burman are precisely the same, and this constitutes their principal resemblance. There are only a few words, however, which show the slightest resemblance to the Burman. The Burman has only three tones or intonations, while the Kakhyen has six. In this the Kakhyen resembles the Karén far more than the Burman, for the Karén has six tones. (Re-edition. Originally published 1880 in London).
Contents: Alphabet. Tones. Classification of Words (Nouns. Number. Gender. Case. Pronouns. Adjectives. Verbs. Particles. Adverbs).
ISBN 9783862889037. LINCOM Gramatica 220. 33pp. 2018.