The designation Zomi referes to a group of Tibeto-Burman languages spoken by tribal peoples in parts of the hilly border country of India, Burma and East Pakistan. On the Indian side, the most important of this are Lushai and Thado; in in Burma, Tiddim, Falam and haka Chin. Manipur which is connected with them, but has significant difference as well, is sometimes included in the Zomi group.

The name Kuki-Chin is composite, and is a coining of linguists. Kuki is a Bengali term applied to tribes on the Indian side, and Chin (written in Burmese as Khyan) the name given to those in Burma. Neither name is indigenous, the nearest to a common name being Zo, referring to ‘hill’ (!!?) and used of the Lushai of themselves, or in wider contexts of all related tribes. This term appears in the name Mizo the new official designation of the Lushai (“hill-people’), as well as in Zou and Zotung, and in the similar form Sho or Asho, referring to the southern Chin.

A group of tribes in Tripura and Sylhet, in the north-west of the region are commonly called Hallam, while their neighbours in Cachar and the Jaintia Hills, the Biete are known to the Khasi as Hadem, and the Sakachep of Sylhet are sometimes called Khelma. The Dimasa-Kachari, whose language belongs to another group, but live in contact with these tribes are known to the Bengali as Haidamba and hidimba. It seems then that Hallam is primarily a geographical term.

Other tribes have an element rang in their name, such as Ranglong, Hrangkhol, Gangte (or Rangte) and Rongtu. this element also appears in the names of Non-Kuki tribes, including Riang, Rengma, Nruanghmei etc., and is perhaps cognate with Malay orang-”man”.

Some tribesmen tie their hair in a bun at the back, others in a know over the forehead. The Lushai, who wear the back-bun call these other tribes pawi, and the Burmese similarly applied the term Baungshe (“worn in front”) to the Haka Chin. Other names have a geographical reference, so Hmar – “north”, Simte – “southern people”, the suffic-te in this and other names (such as Gangte, Paite, Biete etc) being a common noun plural affix hence ‘people’)

LOCATION :The region where Zomi languages are spoken streches from about 91.30 East to 95.0 East, and from 25.30 North to 18.0’ North. For the most pat it consists of ranges of hills running from north to south, and upto 9,000 feet high, though mostly much lower than this. The rivers run north and south between the ranges except for short stretches of their lower courses where they break through the gaps in the hills and flow eastward or westward. Apart from the Manipur valley, where irrigated rice cultivation is possible; most of the terrain is sub-tropical forest which is cleared by jhumming or the slash-and-burn system, for the planting of hill rice and other crops; while bamboo provides the material for housing, furnishing and the utensils in daily domestic use.

The Zomi region covers parts of different political areas as follows:
1. Assam : part of the North Cachar and Mikir Hills, part of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, Cahcar, and the Lushai Hills or Mizo District.
2. Nagaland : part of the extreme south.
3. Manipur : state
4. Tripura : state
5. East Pakistan (Bangladesh) : Sylhet District and the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
6. Burma : The Chin Hills Special Division, where large Chin groups including Tiddim, Falam, and Haka are to found, and parts of the Magwe Division (Pakokku and Thayetmyo) and Arakan Division (Arakan Hill Tracts, Akyab, Kyaukpyu and Sandoway), where various southern Chin tribes are located.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOURCE : In the early nineteenth century references occur in various reports relating to the eastern frontiers of India, and these often include brief notices of language. Later more systematic comparative lists were prepared, as well as monographs on individual tribes, and grammars and dictionaries of the more important languages.

Since then, important studies have been made of a few languages, such as Lushai, but much still remains to be done. Efforts were made to promote a Linguistic Survey of Burma, and a preliminary report, which included statistics of Chin languages were issued at Rangoon in 1917, but subsequent events prevented this project ever materializing. However, in 1954, under the auspices of the Rangoon University, a survey party led by Prof. G. H. Luce visited the Chin Hills, of which a report was published in the Journal of the Burma Research Society Vol 42, Part I, 1959. On of the fruits of this expedition was Prof. E.J.A. Henderson’s Tiddim-Chin, which is the first extensive treatment of a Zomi language according to modern technical linguistic methods.

Detail bibliographies of Zomi language studies may be found in the introduction and under individual language headings in the Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. III, Part III (Calcutta, 1904). Later works may be sought in R. Shafer; Bibliography of Sino-Tribetan Languages, (Wiesbaden, 1957). Reference to these and other materials are included in this present report.

Dr. G.E. Marrison, Lingustic Advisor
Bible Society of India and Ceylon, 1964
THE ZOMI LANGUAGES,
A contribution to their classification, 1967