- David Vumlallian
Due to renewed interest in literary issues in recent years, I feel tempted to briefly address the subject to have a bird’s eye view of the field. To begin with, I want to clarify the relationship between “literature” and “language”. There appears to be some confusion on the relationship between literature and minor linguistic issues like spellings, grammar, punctuations, etc. I became aware of this problem when I went home ( I mean Lamka) some time back. There I observed semi-educated Zou elders discussing and debating in hotels on spelling guidelines enthusiastically. As expected, individual opinions differ widely on such matters. Even the Paites and Tedim Chins find it very difficult to reach a consensus on various “grammatical rules”. So many people who indulge in such “semantic squabbles” mistook their efforts to be a discourse on literature. In reality, however, such unproductive rigidities can only hinder the growth of literature. We cannot help wondering sometimes, what do these well-meaning friends have in mind when they talk about “literature” – such an abused term among the Zou speakers nowadays? All talks on the development of literature have been naively reduced to mere semantic squabbles and spelling “rules”. I am afraid we have been often sidetracked even before any literary work is actually performed. It is a worthy goal to strive for uniform spellings and standard grammar, and adapt them constantly according to current usages and writing conventions. But this is not the first condition to develop a “respectable literature” because literature and language are not the same entities despite their close relationship. Language is just a useful tool, only a means to build up literature of an “interpretive community”; it is not an end in itself. This is enough to direct our attention to core issues of literary development.
1. Functional Literature:
By definition, functional literature includes anything that is not covered by the “creative genre” of writing. Prose essays, critical essays, biography, travel writings, book review, and research articles constitute important parts of the functional category. Zou students at the post-graduate level should be encouraged and trained to write book-reviews and academic papers to enhance their careers both within and outside the academia. Moreover, such analytical and literary skills developed in the intellectual exercises can also be applied at some point of time to study our own Zou society. T.S. Eliot’s “Tradition and Individual Talent” is one of the best critical essays in American literature that I have ever come across. This is of interest not only from the literary point of view, but also from the philosophical point of view. British literature is very rich in critical essays and popular essays like that of Sir Francis Bacon, Joseph Addison, Charles Lamb, etc.
Here is a short extract from the great American poet and critic, T,S.Eliot’s essay, “Tradition and the Individual Talent”:
“… Yet if the only form of tradition, of handing down, consisted in following the ways of the immediate generation before us in a blind or timid adherence to its successes, "tradition" should positively be discouraged. We have seen many such simple currents soon lost in the sand; and novelty is better than repetition. Tradition is a matter of much wider significance. It cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour. It involves, in the first place, the historical sense, which we may call nearly indispensable to anyone who would continue to be a poet beyond his twenty-fifth year; and the historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence; the historical sense compels a man to write not merely with his own generation in his bones, but with a feeling that the whole of the literature of Europe from Homer and within it the whole of the literature of his own country has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order. This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional. And it is at the same time what makes a writer most acutely conscious of his place in time, of his contemporaneity”.
2. Creative Literature:
Zoukam is poorly developed in this crucial area of creative literature. I have been struck by the extreme relevance of African English novelists, sometimes refereed to as “Postcolonial African literature”. Chinua Achebe is naturally the first choice, and his most interesting work are : (a) Things Fall Apart, (b) Arrow of God, and (c) No Longer at Ease. The next choice would be Wole Soyinka’s Ake: The Years of Childhood, and Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions. There are also good African writers in French, but they cannot be considered due to language inaccessibility. There are already a handful of novel (fiction) translations in Paite from English, which interestingly belong to the sentimental genre of writing. Sentimental works are actually regarded by literary critics as suitable for low taste due to the overplay of certain emotions. The African writers we have listed are highly respectable, noble in theme, and culturally relevant for the Zou context. Fortunately, though my Three-Year Degree in English literature was rather basic, it still proves very helpful in professionally assessing such a topic as delicate as literary tastes and their relative merits.
Chinua Achebe is the foremost African writer in English today, and he is best known for his classic novel, Things Fall Apart. This is a groundbreaking representation of African society and colonial encounter from the native’s pint of view. It describes in a simple but noble language the transformation of modern Africa due to the impact of Western and Christian influence. It successfully brings out the beauty of traditional tribal societies and the cultural complexity of native life in pre-colonial Africa. It also enables the readers to see Christianity from the eyes of the first converts and their contemporary pagans. Things Fall Apart ends with the triumph of colonial rule and Christian missions. The pagan protagonist Okonkwo perishes because he cannot adapt himself with the changes that took place in colonial Africa.
Arrow of God is a sequel, and it traces how the pagan village priest, Ezeulu, gets caught between the need to maintain native tradition on the one hand, and the wish to learn the “magic” of Christian alphabets. So Ezeulu decides to send his son to learn this secret magical art of writing, but the village priest is doomed in his defence of native tradition since he is too defensive with his priestly position. Change continues to take place, and tradition can be kept alive only by making critical and creative changes.
Wole Soyinka uses a novel technique of story-telling which is related to the psychological principle of “stream of consciousness” by using flash backs and journey back in time to childhood. Ake: The Years of Childhood also deals with the relationship between Christianity and native culture, which is a highly relevant theme for the Zou context. It also describes the process of change within the life time of the author, trying to make sense of social change in modern Africa within one’s life time. Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions is narrated within the context of Zimbabwean culture. This is considered to be a pro-Christian novel by some critics. Tambu, the main character, makes a difference between the White colonisers in general and the White missionary specifically. The cultural perspective of Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions is rather different from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.
3. The Middle Path:
One of the most important marks of intellectual maturity has been the ability to reconcile a number of seemingly contradictory ideas in a new and creative order. Something like this is echoed by Sir Francis Bacon in his easy, “Of Unity in Religion”, where he said: “A man that is of judgment and understanding, shall sometimes hear ignorant men differ, and know well within himself, that those which so differ, mean one thing, and yet they themselves would never agree. And if it come so to pass, in that distance of judgment, which is between man and man, shall we not think that God above, that knows the heart, doth not discern that frail men, in some of their contradictions, intend the same thing; and accepteth of both?” Karl Marx has rightly asserted that there is an anti-thesis for every thesis, which can be later combined into the unity of truth, or synthesis – “thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis” formulation. The Greek philosopher, Plato, employed the same principle in his celebrated dialogues in classical 5th century Athens.
I am not happy with the effort in some corners to isolate the Zou community from the new currents of cultural and political life both within Zo nationalism and broader “Ecumenical Movement”. I should encourage the Zou students to participate in both these progressive movements in their own style and in a meaningful manner. I do not believe in shutting our door to the world and environment around us, we have to open up and rise to the occasion to face new challenges.
However, I do not at all mean that we should forget the Zou self and its cultural identity. On the contrary, I have publicly articulated in Gospel Tangkou (August 2000) my resentment with the “Zomi mania” of the earlier (specifically, Pu T.Gougin’s) generation to the extent of neglecting the immediate Zou community. I am afraid if my own statements are misinterpreted to support the other extreme of “Zou narrowism” and exclusivity best represented by the new Meitei-sponsored armed wing. Though such agenda may seemingly look patriotic at first sight, it can not take us very far in realising our long-term vision of moulding and shaping the Zous as one of the most informed and dynamic tribal community of Northeast India. The battle is to fight against particularism and exclusivist ideology both at the religious and secular spheres on the one hand, and also never get side-tracked and completely swept off our feet by Zo or Zomi nationalism to the extent of neglecting our own Zou household on the other hand. We should not shut down all our windows to the outside world, but engage in constructive dialogue with all our Zo brothers whenever the opportunity comes. In this way, we can serve the best interest of our Zou community, and earn the respect of others.
4. Informed Language Policy:
Though I find it rather boring, I have been compelled to make some general remarks about the current “spelling squabbles” and grammar mania. Having said that language is not literature itself, I am very much aware of the need for an informed language policy for Zoukam. I am not talking about “spelling rules” which are easily broken as easy as they are created. There are certain questions we have to answer, and our approach to them will have long-term impact on future possibilities of strengthening Zoukam. Zoukam grammar has traditionally balanced itself between two larger language groups, viz., the Paite-Tedim Chin block, and the Thadou speaking community. Moreover, Zoukam has so much in common with both these two language groups. (In fact, this is more true for the tiny Simte dialect, but, unfortunately, we are on the path of “differentiating” these two closely connected speech communities). As a pioneer, Thangkhanlal had sensibly advocated a middle path that uses both the Paite-Tedim and the Thado spelling system. He first articulated this idea in his popular booklet, Naupangte Zolai Patna (published in 1967). Note that he used “Zolai” instead of “Zoulai” which would appear more familiar today. In principle, this is compatible with Paite-Tedim Chin spelling conventions. Then he also advocated a compromise between the two language blocks when he differentiated the words “siam” (bawl; to create) from “siem” (pil; skillful, intelligent). In this vein, he differentiated “sie” (hoilou; bad) from Sea (Teacher) on the basis of tonal variation. This system was further developed by Nehkhojang, chief translator of Zou Bible. Most of our Bible translators incidentally hailed from Thadou speaking area, including Semkhopau and Nehkhojang. Bro. Nehkhojang had to learn literally Zoukam before he embarked upon his task of translation that, of course, he performed amazingly well.
An article entitled “I Zoukam leh I Zoulai” in ZSP Annual Magazine (1995-96) had discussed the usage of “-IE” and “-IA” besides “-UA” and “-UO” in writing Zoukam. While the first Zou New Testament (BSI 1967) used both IA and UA, the later editions drastically shifted to IE and UO with much resentment from the reading audience. The new spelling usage developed by Bro Nehkhojang attempted to reconcile the two usages by prescribing a middle path. The author of the said ZSP article by Lamkhothong (a person with keen and consistent interest in Zoukam) argues convincingly:
“UA leh UO a gindan kibang pian veve a nanleh UA pen in eima aw sua piangsah zaw hi. UO i man chiang n Thadou/Kuki … aw-sua piang hi … Himi laimal unau Burma a um Zomite leh Tedim Chin chi teng in mang ua, Manipur ah Paite, Lushei, Vaiphei, Simte leh a dangdang in man pen in nei uhi. Tuaban ah i Zou Labu leh Bible masa ah zong kimang a i nam pumpi sung ah chi hoitah a kituta ziah in hen thei ahi nawn sih hi. Nanleh tulai i Bible tegel leh i labu tegel ah IE leh UO kiman in laimal zah dan leh kammal gawm dan nasatah a a hen ziah un i gam pumpi in kibuai lawta hi” (pp. 71-72).
In page number 72, the ZSP article demonstrates: “zieha” as wrong, and “ziah a” as correct. Likewise, “zie hi” is labeled wrong, and “ziah hi” as right. The whole point is to remind ourselves about the intimate relation our first Zou translators had with the Thadou speech community, which was also interestingly the most influential language then. Even Lianchinkhup adopted various spelling systems which is closer to the Thadou usage like the extensive use of “y”, for instance, kihylna. While both the Thadou and Paite-Tedim Chin systems are rather exclusive in their choice of spelling, the Zou translators happily move into either of the two systems by making a compromise. While the Thadous use J exclusively, the Paite-Tedim Chins extensively use Z; the Zous use both with only tonal variations or the pitch of the sound meant to be the guiding principle. But tonal variations are not easy to measure, and not much bothered by writer in the actual act of composition. Moreover, there is the important question of building bridge between our Zou speakers in Myanmer (highly influenced by Tedim Chin conventions) and the Zou speech community in Manipur. In this connection, I was recently informed by Lianchinkhup, translator of Zou Bible (BSI edition) that understandably the Zou speakers of Myanmar resented the Thadou influence on Zou spelling system in the Bible translations. So an informed language policy should consider the sensibilities of our Zou speakers in Myanmar and also look at the book market in Manipur. It ia a fact that few Thodou speakers understand Zoukam, but all Paite-Tedim speech communities understand spoken Zoukam, if not the written version. This is a broad policy matter that should inform any language convention we want to follow in future. At present, the influence of the Thadou system is immense due to certain historical circumstances of the translation of the Zou Bibles. I personally feel more or less persuaded by the case solidly put forward by the ZSP article of Lamkhothong, almost ten years back. Since both –UA and -IA represent the Zou sound more naturally and also link us up with our Zou brethren in Myanmar, I hope this is sensible.
Source: Laiteng Leeng Group
Due to renewed interest in literary issues in recent years, I feel tempted to briefly address the subject to have a bird’s eye view of the field. To begin with, I want to clarify the relationship between “literature” and “language”. There appears to be some confusion on the relationship between literature and minor linguistic issues like spellings, grammar, punctuations, etc. I became aware of this problem when I went home ( I mean Lamka) some time back. There I observed semi-educated Zou elders discussing and debating in hotels on spelling guidelines enthusiastically. As expected, individual opinions differ widely on such matters. Even the Paites and Tedim Chins find it very difficult to reach a consensus on various “grammatical rules”. So many people who indulge in such “semantic squabbles” mistook their efforts to be a discourse on literature. In reality, however, such unproductive rigidities can only hinder the growth of literature. We cannot help wondering sometimes, what do these well-meaning friends have in mind when they talk about “literature” – such an abused term among the Zou speakers nowadays? All talks on the development of literature have been naively reduced to mere semantic squabbles and spelling “rules”. I am afraid we have been often sidetracked even before any literary work is actually performed. It is a worthy goal to strive for uniform spellings and standard grammar, and adapt them constantly according to current usages and writing conventions. But this is not the first condition to develop a “respectable literature” because literature and language are not the same entities despite their close relationship. Language is just a useful tool, only a means to build up literature of an “interpretive community”; it is not an end in itself. This is enough to direct our attention to core issues of literary development.
1. Functional Literature:
By definition, functional literature includes anything that is not covered by the “creative genre” of writing. Prose essays, critical essays, biography, travel writings, book review, and research articles constitute important parts of the functional category. Zou students at the post-graduate level should be encouraged and trained to write book-reviews and academic papers to enhance their careers both within and outside the academia. Moreover, such analytical and literary skills developed in the intellectual exercises can also be applied at some point of time to study our own Zou society. T.S. Eliot’s “Tradition and Individual Talent” is one of the best critical essays in American literature that I have ever come across. This is of interest not only from the literary point of view, but also from the philosophical point of view. British literature is very rich in critical essays and popular essays like that of Sir Francis Bacon, Joseph Addison, Charles Lamb, etc.
Here is a short extract from the great American poet and critic, T,S.Eliot’s essay, “Tradition and the Individual Talent”:
“… Yet if the only form of tradition, of handing down, consisted in following the ways of the immediate generation before us in a blind or timid adherence to its successes, "tradition" should positively be discouraged. We have seen many such simple currents soon lost in the sand; and novelty is better than repetition. Tradition is a matter of much wider significance. It cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour. It involves, in the first place, the historical sense, which we may call nearly indispensable to anyone who would continue to be a poet beyond his twenty-fifth year; and the historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence; the historical sense compels a man to write not merely with his own generation in his bones, but with a feeling that the whole of the literature of Europe from Homer and within it the whole of the literature of his own country has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order. This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional. And it is at the same time what makes a writer most acutely conscious of his place in time, of his contemporaneity”.
2. Creative Literature:
Zoukam is poorly developed in this crucial area of creative literature. I have been struck by the extreme relevance of African English novelists, sometimes refereed to as “Postcolonial African literature”. Chinua Achebe is naturally the first choice, and his most interesting work are : (a) Things Fall Apart, (b) Arrow of God, and (c) No Longer at Ease. The next choice would be Wole Soyinka’s Ake: The Years of Childhood, and Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions. There are also good African writers in French, but they cannot be considered due to language inaccessibility. There are already a handful of novel (fiction) translations in Paite from English, which interestingly belong to the sentimental genre of writing. Sentimental works are actually regarded by literary critics as suitable for low taste due to the overplay of certain emotions. The African writers we have listed are highly respectable, noble in theme, and culturally relevant for the Zou context. Fortunately, though my Three-Year Degree in English literature was rather basic, it still proves very helpful in professionally assessing such a topic as delicate as literary tastes and their relative merits.
Chinua Achebe is the foremost African writer in English today, and he is best known for his classic novel, Things Fall Apart. This is a groundbreaking representation of African society and colonial encounter from the native’s pint of view. It describes in a simple but noble language the transformation of modern Africa due to the impact of Western and Christian influence. It successfully brings out the beauty of traditional tribal societies and the cultural complexity of native life in pre-colonial Africa. It also enables the readers to see Christianity from the eyes of the first converts and their contemporary pagans. Things Fall Apart ends with the triumph of colonial rule and Christian missions. The pagan protagonist Okonkwo perishes because he cannot adapt himself with the changes that took place in colonial Africa.
Arrow of God is a sequel, and it traces how the pagan village priest, Ezeulu, gets caught between the need to maintain native tradition on the one hand, and the wish to learn the “magic” of Christian alphabets. So Ezeulu decides to send his son to learn this secret magical art of writing, but the village priest is doomed in his defence of native tradition since he is too defensive with his priestly position. Change continues to take place, and tradition can be kept alive only by making critical and creative changes.
Wole Soyinka uses a novel technique of story-telling which is related to the psychological principle of “stream of consciousness” by using flash backs and journey back in time to childhood. Ake: The Years of Childhood also deals with the relationship between Christianity and native culture, which is a highly relevant theme for the Zou context. It also describes the process of change within the life time of the author, trying to make sense of social change in modern Africa within one’s life time. Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions is narrated within the context of Zimbabwean culture. This is considered to be a pro-Christian novel by some critics. Tambu, the main character, makes a difference between the White colonisers in general and the White missionary specifically. The cultural perspective of Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions is rather different from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.
3. The Middle Path:
One of the most important marks of intellectual maturity has been the ability to reconcile a number of seemingly contradictory ideas in a new and creative order. Something like this is echoed by Sir Francis Bacon in his easy, “Of Unity in Religion”, where he said: “A man that is of judgment and understanding, shall sometimes hear ignorant men differ, and know well within himself, that those which so differ, mean one thing, and yet they themselves would never agree. And if it come so to pass, in that distance of judgment, which is between man and man, shall we not think that God above, that knows the heart, doth not discern that frail men, in some of their contradictions, intend the same thing; and accepteth of both?” Karl Marx has rightly asserted that there is an anti-thesis for every thesis, which can be later combined into the unity of truth, or synthesis – “thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis” formulation. The Greek philosopher, Plato, employed the same principle in his celebrated dialogues in classical 5th century Athens.
I am not happy with the effort in some corners to isolate the Zou community from the new currents of cultural and political life both within Zo nationalism and broader “Ecumenical Movement”. I should encourage the Zou students to participate in both these progressive movements in their own style and in a meaningful manner. I do not believe in shutting our door to the world and environment around us, we have to open up and rise to the occasion to face new challenges.
However, I do not at all mean that we should forget the Zou self and its cultural identity. On the contrary, I have publicly articulated in Gospel Tangkou (August 2000) my resentment with the “Zomi mania” of the earlier (specifically, Pu T.Gougin’s) generation to the extent of neglecting the immediate Zou community. I am afraid if my own statements are misinterpreted to support the other extreme of “Zou narrowism” and exclusivity best represented by the new Meitei-sponsored armed wing. Though such agenda may seemingly look patriotic at first sight, it can not take us very far in realising our long-term vision of moulding and shaping the Zous as one of the most informed and dynamic tribal community of Northeast India. The battle is to fight against particularism and exclusivist ideology both at the religious and secular spheres on the one hand, and also never get side-tracked and completely swept off our feet by Zo or Zomi nationalism to the extent of neglecting our own Zou household on the other hand. We should not shut down all our windows to the outside world, but engage in constructive dialogue with all our Zo brothers whenever the opportunity comes. In this way, we can serve the best interest of our Zou community, and earn the respect of others.
4. Informed Language Policy:
Though I find it rather boring, I have been compelled to make some general remarks about the current “spelling squabbles” and grammar mania. Having said that language is not literature itself, I am very much aware of the need for an informed language policy for Zoukam. I am not talking about “spelling rules” which are easily broken as easy as they are created. There are certain questions we have to answer, and our approach to them will have long-term impact on future possibilities of strengthening Zoukam. Zoukam grammar has traditionally balanced itself between two larger language groups, viz., the Paite-Tedim Chin block, and the Thadou speaking community. Moreover, Zoukam has so much in common with both these two language groups. (In fact, this is more true for the tiny Simte dialect, but, unfortunately, we are on the path of “differentiating” these two closely connected speech communities). As a pioneer, Thangkhanlal had sensibly advocated a middle path that uses both the Paite-Tedim and the Thado spelling system. He first articulated this idea in his popular booklet, Naupangte Zolai Patna (published in 1967). Note that he used “Zolai” instead of “Zoulai” which would appear more familiar today. In principle, this is compatible with Paite-Tedim Chin spelling conventions. Then he also advocated a compromise between the two language blocks when he differentiated the words “siam” (bawl; to create) from “siem” (pil; skillful, intelligent). In this vein, he differentiated “sie” (hoilou; bad) from Sea (Teacher) on the basis of tonal variation. This system was further developed by Nehkhojang, chief translator of Zou Bible. Most of our Bible translators incidentally hailed from Thadou speaking area, including Semkhopau and Nehkhojang. Bro. Nehkhojang had to learn literally Zoukam before he embarked upon his task of translation that, of course, he performed amazingly well.
An article entitled “I Zoukam leh I Zoulai” in ZSP Annual Magazine (1995-96) had discussed the usage of “-IE” and “-IA” besides “-UA” and “-UO” in writing Zoukam. While the first Zou New Testament (BSI 1967) used both IA and UA, the later editions drastically shifted to IE and UO with much resentment from the reading audience. The new spelling usage developed by Bro Nehkhojang attempted to reconcile the two usages by prescribing a middle path. The author of the said ZSP article by Lamkhothong (a person with keen and consistent interest in Zoukam) argues convincingly:
“UA leh UO a gindan kibang pian veve a nanleh UA pen in eima aw sua piangsah zaw hi. UO i man chiang n Thadou/Kuki … aw-sua piang hi … Himi laimal unau Burma a um Zomite leh Tedim Chin chi teng in mang ua, Manipur ah Paite, Lushei, Vaiphei, Simte leh a dangdang in man pen in nei uhi. Tuaban ah i Zou Labu leh Bible masa ah zong kimang a i nam pumpi sung ah chi hoitah a kituta ziah in hen thei ahi nawn sih hi. Nanleh tulai i Bible tegel leh i labu tegel ah IE leh UO kiman in laimal zah dan leh kammal gawm dan nasatah a a hen ziah un i gam pumpi in kibuai lawta hi” (pp. 71-72).
In page number 72, the ZSP article demonstrates: “zieha” as wrong, and “ziah a” as correct. Likewise, “zie hi” is labeled wrong, and “ziah hi” as right. The whole point is to remind ourselves about the intimate relation our first Zou translators had with the Thadou speech community, which was also interestingly the most influential language then. Even Lianchinkhup adopted various spelling systems which is closer to the Thadou usage like the extensive use of “y”, for instance, kihylna. While both the Thadou and Paite-Tedim Chin systems are rather exclusive in their choice of spelling, the Zou translators happily move into either of the two systems by making a compromise. While the Thadous use J exclusively, the Paite-Tedim Chins extensively use Z; the Zous use both with only tonal variations or the pitch of the sound meant to be the guiding principle. But tonal variations are not easy to measure, and not much bothered by writer in the actual act of composition. Moreover, there is the important question of building bridge between our Zou speakers in Myanmer (highly influenced by Tedim Chin conventions) and the Zou speech community in Manipur. In this connection, I was recently informed by Lianchinkhup, translator of Zou Bible (BSI edition) that understandably the Zou speakers of Myanmar resented the Thadou influence on Zou spelling system in the Bible translations. So an informed language policy should consider the sensibilities of our Zou speakers in Myanmar and also look at the book market in Manipur. It ia a fact that few Thodou speakers understand Zoukam, but all Paite-Tedim speech communities understand spoken Zoukam, if not the written version. This is a broad policy matter that should inform any language convention we want to follow in future. At present, the influence of the Thadou system is immense due to certain historical circumstances of the translation of the Zou Bibles. I personally feel more or less persuaded by the case solidly put forward by the ZSP article of Lamkhothong, almost ten years back. Since both –UA and -IA represent the Zou sound more naturally and also link us up with our Zou brethren in Myanmar, I hope this is sensible.
Source: Laiteng Leeng Group
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