ABSTRACT
A Kuki-Chin language spoken primarily in and around the city of Hakha in Chin State, Burma and in adjacent areas of India and Bangladesh by about 100,000 people, Lai is also used extensively as a second language by speakers of other Chin languages in the Chin Hills. It has an orthography developed by missionaries during the early part of the twentieth century which is used extensively, although it does not represent vowel length or tone, two essential aspects of the language’s phonology. Certain characteristics of the orthography, such as how to represent an alveolar/retroflex distinction in stops and where to mark word boundaries, are subject to ongoing debate.
