In 1894 Surgeon Major A.G.E Newland (IMS) redeveloped the Lai writing system and published a book called 'A Practical Hand Book of the Lais as spoken by the Hakas and other allied tribes of the Chin Hills (Commonly the Baungshe dialect),' printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Burma, 1897. MacNabb, B.Sc., political officer in Haka, wrote the first Lai language writing handbook, 'The Handbook of Haka or Baungshe Dialect of Chin Language,' printed by Superintendent, Government Printing Press, Rangoon, in 1891.

Lai language is written with the Roman alphabet. Steward Hudson developed the first writing system of Chin dialects in 1857 AD. ( January 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Īccording to Thomas Han Tai, British soldier Lieutenant R. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. History also said that the Mizo language is derived from the Zahau (Lai) language. It is probably due to history that some of Mizo have been living in the west part of Chin State before they migrated to the current Mizoram. Due to its closeness to the Mizo language, Falam Lai language vocabularies have been seen quite common in Mizo language. Falam Lai language is very close to its sibling Mizo language, chiefly used in Mizoram state India. Therefore, it is intelligible between Falam Lai and Hakha Lai. Although Hakha Lai dialect is not a tonal language, it shares the majority of its vocabulary with Falam Lai. Lai languages are mainly used in central townships of Chin State which include Hakha, Falam, Matupi and Thantlang. Other Lai languages are Mi-E (including Khualsim), and the Zokhua dialect of Hakha Lai spoken in Zokhua village. In Bangladesh, a related language is spoken by the Bawm people.

They include “ Laiṭong” ( Falam-Chin) spoken in Falam district, Laiholh ( Hakha-Chin) spoken around the Haka (Hakha/Halkha) capital of Chin State in Burma (Myanmar) and in the Lawngtlai district of Mizoram, India. The Lai languages or Pawih/Pawi languages are various Central Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages spoken by the Lai people or Pawi.

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