Bawm language

<h2 id="general-information">General information</h2>
<p>Most of the <a href="/facts/Zo_people/qBv5gx0S">Zohnahthlak</a> communities live in <a href="/facts/Rangamati_Hill_District/oHIzzx2M">Rangamati</a> and <a href="/facts/Bandarban_District/1e3b8Ar2">Bandarban</a> districts of <a href="/facts/Chittagong_Division/162GCpVL">Chittagong</a> division in Bangladesh, with most of the Bawm community residing in the Bethel Para in Ruma subdistrict and Thanci subdistrict of the <a href="/facts/Bandarban_District/1e3b8Ar2">Bandarban</a> district. Also, the Bawm reside in the Rangamati Sadar and Barkal and Bilaichari subdistricts of the <a href="/facts/Rangamati_Hill_District/oHIzzx2M">Rangamati</a> district.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>
</p><p>Bawm language is fairly developed and contains a good amount of literature including dictionaries, religious texts, historical texts, folk stories and books such as short stories and science fiction. However, the Bawm language is at risk for endangerment. One way in which the language can prosper is through the use of multilingual education programs to ensure that the Bawm community as a whole has sufficient resources to pass the language to the next generation. The use of multilingual education programs requires the community to be educated in what types of books and literature to use.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>
</p><p>In 1981, around 7,000 Bawms inhabited the hills of southeastern Bangladesh.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> In 2004, around 5,000 Bawm inhabited India, with a population in all countries totaling around 16,000. In 2011, 10,000 Bawms inhabited the <a href="/facts/Chittagong_Hill_Tracts/gDCNvQsI">Chittagong</a> hills of <a href="/facts/Bangladesh/NXk4f78Y">Bangladesh</a> and 1,500 Bawm inhabited <a href="/facts/Myanmar/zcqQH2oE">Myanmar</a>. The endangerment status of the Bawm language in India and Myanmar is 6B and in Bangladesh is 5 (developing).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> The language is threatened severely in India and Myanmar as the number of speakers continues to decline. In Bangladesh, the language is stable but its speakers in numbers are not increasing.
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<h2 id="further-reading">Further reading</h2>
<ul><li>Reichle, Verena (1984). "Bawm Language and Lore: Tibeto-Burman Area". <i>Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London</i>. 47 (3): 591–592.</li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/1596">"Bawm Chin" at Endangered Languages</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240302105404/https://globalrecordings.net/en/program/c22720">"Good News - Bawm" at GlobalRecordings.net</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc0twBD-zr0">The Tribes of Myanmar (Burma): Chin State</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Thurgood, Graham; LaPolla, Randy J. (eds.). The Sino-Tibetan Languages. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Loncheu, Nathan (2013). Dena, Lal (ed.). Bawmzos: A Study Of The Chin-Kuki-Zo Tribes Of Chittagong. Akansha Publishing House. ISBN 9788183703468. <a href="9788183703468" target="_blank">9788183703468</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Kim, Amy; Roy, Palash; Sangma, Mridul (2011). The Kuki-Chin Communities of Bangladesh: A sociolinguistic survey (Report). SIL Electronic Survey Reports. Vol. 2011–025. SIL International. <a href="https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/41669" target="_blank">https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/41669</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Kim, Amy; Roy, Palash; Sangma, Mridul (2011). The Kuki-Chin Communities of Bangladesh: A sociolinguistic survey (Report). SIL Electronic Survey Reports. Vol. 2011–025. SIL International. <a href="https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/41669" target="_blank">https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/41669</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Van Schendel, Willem (1992). "The Invention of the 'Jummas': State Formation and Ethnicity in Southeastern Bangladesh". Modern Asian Studies. 26 (1): 95–128. doi:10.1017/S0026749X00015961. JSTOR 312719. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>Bawm language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
 <a href="https://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/bgr/" target="_blank">https://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/bgr/</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
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Bawm language open-in-new

Bawm language