Uipo language
{{Short description|Sino-Tibetan language of Manipur, India}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Uipo
| altname =Khoibu
| image =
| imagescale =
| imagecaption =
| region = eastern Manipur
| ethnicity = Uipo
| speakers = 2,000
| date = 2024
| familycolor = Sino-Tibetan
| fam2 = Tibeto-Burman
| fam3 = Central Tibeto-Burman (?)
| fam4 = Kuki-Chin–Naga
| fam5 = Tangkhul–Maring
| fam6 = Maringic
| iso = nkb
| glotto = khoi1251
| glottorefname = Khoibu
}}
File:WIKITONGUES- Donyashel speaking Khoibu.webm.]]
Uipo (also known by the exonym Khoibu) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Khoibu people in Manipur, India. It is related to the Tangkhulic languages. There are just under 2,000 speakers centered around the village of Kangshim in Manipur, located to the southeast of Imphal.{{cite conference |title=Situating Uipo: evidence from stem alternations |last=Schumann |first=Freya |date=2024 |location=Taipei |conference=SEALS 33 (33rd Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistic Society)}}
Distribution
Uipo is spoken in Khoibu Khullen, Khangshim, Nungourok, Salemram, Yamolching, Thalem, Biyang, and Khadungyon in Chandel district and Thawai village in Ukhrul district.{{cite web |last1=Schumann |first1=Freya |title=Uipo tonology |url=https://sites.google.com/view/hls26/program |website=26th Himalayan Languages Symposium |access-date=1 June 2025 |language=English |date=4–6 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203110013/https://sites.google.com/view/hls26/program|archive-date=3 December 2024| url-status=live}}{{cite news |title=UNESCO misfires again : Khoibu dialect not on endangered list |url=https://e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=7..060910.sep10 |access-date=1 June 2025 |publisher=The Sangai Express |date=5 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610222927/https://e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=7..060910.sep10 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |location=Imphal |language=English |url-status=live}}
Community research
In 2020, the Uipo language activist Mosyel Syelsaangthyel Khaling became the first Indian citizen to receive the Excellence in Community Linguistics Award of the Linguistic Society of America.{{cite web|title=Uipo Language Activist to Receive 2020 Excellence in Community Linguistics Award |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/news/2019/11/22/uipo-language-activist-receive-2020-excellence-community-linguistics-award|accessdate=10 June 2020}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Sino-Tibetan languages}}
{{Kuki-Chin–Naga languages}}
{{Languages of Northeast India}}
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