First grammar book of Poumai released
Source: Chronicle News Service
Senapati, September 26 2021:
The first grammar book of Poumai Naga language (Poula) published by Brill (Leiden, Netherlands), one of the world's finest academic publishers, is finally out.
The book is authored by Dr Sahiinii Lemaina Veikho, a local linguist, who recently completed his PhD from the University of Bern, Switzerland.
Dr Sahiinii reportedly took seven years in writing the book.
The book will be of interest to those who are interested in Poumai Naga culture and language, and linguists, ethnographers and anthropologists working on languages and people of the Himalayan region.
Publication of the grammar book will be an important contribution to the development of Poula literature and in the held of comparative trans-Himalayan linguistics.
The book encompasses all aspects of Poula, including phonology, lexicon, morphosyntax, syntax and discourse.
In addition, a bilingual lexicon and a collection of fully-analysed texts are provided in the appendices.
The book is stated to be available for orders on (https://brill.com/view/title/57482).For those community members who can't afford to buy the book, the author has made a deal with the publisher to permit the community to produce a local edition of the book exclusively for the use of members of the speech community, hot for commercial purpose.
Currently, Dr Sahiinii heads the English department of Asufu Christian Institute, where he also works closely with Poumai Naga and Mao community members to develop dictionaries and teaching materials.
His research interest is on Angami-Pochuri languages to shed light on the phylogenetic position of the Angami-Pochuri clade as a whole within the Tibeto-Burman language family, also known as trans-Himalayan.