Khamyang language

Last updated
Khamyang
Native to India
Region Assam
Ethnicity800 Khamyang people [1]
Native speakers
50 (2003) [1]
Kra–Dai
Burmese script
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
ksu  – Khamyang
nrr  – Nora
nrr
Glottolog kham1291
ELP Khamyang

Khamyang is a critically endangered Tai language of India, spoken by the Khamyang people. Approximately fifty people speak the language; all reside in the village of Powaimukh, located seven miles downstream of Margherita in the Tinsukia district. [2] It is closely related to the other Tai languages in the Assam region: Aiton, Khamti, Phake, and Turung.

Contents

General information

The Khamyang (also spelled Kamjang, Khamjang) language is in a critically endangered state. [2] It is only spoken as a mother tongue in Powaimukh, and only by no more than fifty older adults. [2] It is used by older adults to communicate with one another, in specific religious and ritual times, and when in contact with other Tai speakers. Only two Khamyang speakers can read the language: Chaw Sa Myat Chowlik, and Chaw Cha Seng. Both are elderly and were born in 1920 and 1928, respectively. Additionally, the resident monk, Etika Bhikku, who natively speaks Tai Phake, is fluent in the Tai script. [2] In addition to the older generation of full speakers, there is a middle generation of semi-speakers of Khamyang. Morey writes that their knowledge has not yet fully been investigated. Also, children in Pawaimukh have some knowledge of the language. [2]

The phonetic transcription of Khamyang's name for the village is maan3 paa1 waai6, and it is Assamese/English name Pawoimukh. [2] According to Chaw Sa Myat, waai6 means rattan, and was given because rattan plants grow on the river. [2] There are several variants of the spelling: Pawaimukh, Powaimukh, and others; the 2011 census of India lists the village as Powai Mukh No. 2, as does Google Earth. [3] The translation of the village's Khamyang name is "Village of the Pawai River." [2]

The Khamyangs are also sometimes referred to as the Nora, although Morey notes that he has never heard the remaining Khamyang speakers refer to themselves as Nora. [2]

History

Very little has been written about the origin, language, and history of the Khamyang people. In 1981, Muhi Chandra Shyam Panjok discussed the history of the Khamyangs. [4] Panjok's account begins with a group of Tai, who in the future would be called Khamyangs, being sent into Assam by Tai King Sukhanpha. Their goal was to search for the king's brother Sukapha, the founder of the Ahom Kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley in 1228. After finding Sukapha and returning to King Sukhanpha, the Khamyangs settled at the Nawng Yang lake and lived there for approximately 500 years. Leach believes the lake to the south of the Tirap River, and cites the lake as the origin of the name "Khamyang". [5] In 1780, the Khamyangs resettled in the Assam region and became divided in the troubles of the final years of the Ahom Kingdom, fighting "with and against" the Ahoms. [4]

One group of Khamyangs settled in Dhali in 1798, and are thought to be the ancestors of the ethnic Khamyangs who currently live in the Jorhat and Golaghat districts. [4] Boruah lists several Khamyang villages in the Jorhat and Golaghat districts: Na-Shyam Gaon, Balijan Shyam Gaon, Betbaru Shyam Gaon in Jorhat; Rajapukhuri No. 1 Shyam Gaon in Golaghat. [6] Tai Khamyang is not spoken in these communities, and self-identification as a Khamyang is not necessarily based on the usage of the language. [2]

Another of the divided groups settled in the Dibrugarh district, then in 1922 resettled in the village of Pawaimukh. [7] The latter part of Panjok's account was confirmed by Chaw Sa Myat Chowlik, who was born around 1920, and told Morey the story of his parents bringing him to the newly founded village. [7] Pawaimukh is a village on the Burhi Dihing River. It is about seven miles downstream of Margherita. The community has about 40 houses along a single road. A Buddhist temple lies in the middle of the village, and in front of it is a small sand pagoda. [7]

Language Documentation

The Khamyang language appears in a number of linguistic surveys. One of the earliest linguistic surveys of the Assam region was done by Grierson, published in 1904 as the Linguistic Survey of India. Although Grierson did not mention Khamyang in his survey, he included a language called Nora that has not shown up in other surveys. Later, studies by Stephen Morey (2001-2), [2] Anthony Diller (1992), [7] and others were conducted on the Tai languages in Assam and included notes on Khamyang. Although there is not a grammar for Khamyang specifically, Morey goes into some depth about the languages in The Tai Languages of Assam: A Grammar and Texts (Morey, 2005), [2] and discusses its similarities with Tai Phake in chapter six of The Tai-Kadai Languages (Diller, Edmonson, Luo, 2008). [7]

The written Khamyang language uses a modified Tai script, with marked tones to differentiate it from the other tonal Assamese Tai languages. The Khamyang tonal system has six tones with a different distribution from the six tones of the Phake. [7] Several recordings of the Khamyang language have been uploaded to the internet, and include stories and conversation in the Khamyang language. [8]

Relationship between Khamyang and Nora

There is little documentation regarding the relationship between Khamyang and Nora. Some scholars posit that Khamyang and Nora are the same, or that the groups merged at one point in history. [7] In the Linguistic Survey of India, Sir George Abraham Grierson did mention and exemplify the language of the Nora (nrr). In Grierson's description in 1904, he stated that there were around 300 speakers in his time. Additionally, he provided some phonological notes which suggest some similarities with present-day Khamyang, and also two texts, including some riddles. [7]

Additionally, it is said by some Tai in India that Nora and Khamyang are identical languages, although according to text, Linguist Stephen Morey has never heard the remaining Khamyang speakers refer to themselves as Nora. [7]

Vitality

Although the language is critically endangered, it is not yet moribund. There has been an attempt to pass the language on to the next generation; Morey writes that in 2001 a meeting of Khamyang elders was held, and the gathered decided to promote the speaking of the language in the village. [2] In 2002, Chaw Mihingta began teaching the language to primary school age children. Every day at around 4 pm, young children at the village primary school began attending Khamyang instruction. [2] Their lessons consist of practicing writing numbers, lists of everyday words, short dialogues, and Tai characters. [2]

Recently, the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme has set up a project to document the Khamyang language. It aims to document more of the Khamyang oral literature as well as the available written manuscripts with the aim of being used to "produce textbooks and other language learning materials for revitalizing the use of this language by its young native speakers".

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahom script</span> Abugida used to write the Ahom language

The Ahom script or Tai Ahom Script is an abugida that is used to write the Ahom language, a dormant Tai language undergoing revival spoken by the Ahom people till the late 18th-century, who established the Ahom kingdom and ruled the eastern part of the Brahmaputra valley between the 13th and the 18th centuries. The old Ahom language today survives in the numerous manuscripts written in this script currently in institutional and private possession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tai languages</span> Branch of the Kra–Dai language family

The Tai, Zhuang–Tai, or Daic languages are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai or Siamese, the national language of Thailand; Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos; Myanmar's Shan language; and Zhuang, a major language in the Southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, spoken by the Zhuang people (壯), the largest minority ethnic group in China, with a population of 15.55 million, living mainly in Guangxi, the rest scattered across Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou and Hunan provinces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahom people</span> Ethnic group from Assam

The Ahom or Tai-Ahom is an ethnic group from the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The members of this group are admixed descendants of the Tai people who reached the Brahmaputra valley of Assam in 1228 and the local indigenous people who joined them over the course of history. Sukaphaa, the leader of the Tai group and his 9,000 followers established the Ahom kingdom, which controlled much of the Brahmaputra Valley in modern Assam until 1826.

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The Khamyang (Tai-Khamyangs or Shyam), is a subgroup of the Tai peoples of Southeast Asia. They are numerically a small indigenous group found in Tinsukia, Jorhat, Sivasagar and Golaghat districts of Assam, and adjacent parts of Arunachal Pradesh. Their population totals about 7,000, of which only a small minority speak the native Tai Khamyang language while the vast majority speak the Assamese language. The Khamyang are followers of Theravada Buddhism and are closely related to the Khamti. They maintain good relations with other Tai Buddhist tribes of Assam.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deori language</span> Tibeto-Burman language spoken in northeastern India

Deori is a Tibeto-Burman language in the Tibeto-Burman languages family spoken by the Deori people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Deori are also a part of Bodo–Kachari people. Among the four territorial groups only the Dibongiya have retained the language. The others—Patorgoyan, Tengaponiya, and Borgoyan—have shifted to Assamese. It is spoken in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh, and in Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Sivasagar and Jorhat districts of Assam. The primary literary body of Deori is known as "deori chucheba chengcha".

Khamyang may refer to:

The Turungpeople or Tai Turung, are a numerically small Buddhist community in the northeastern Indian state of Assam. They speak their own Turung language.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southwestern Tai languages</span> Branch of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia

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The Aiton language or Tai Aiton language is spoken in Assam, India, in the Dhonsiri Valley and the south bank of the Brahmaputra. It is currently classified as a threatened language, with fewer than 2,000 speakers worldwide. Its other names include Aitonia and Sham Doaniya.

The Phake language or Tai Phake language is a Tai language spoken in the Buri Dihing Valley of Assam, India. It is closely related to the other Southwestern Tai languages in Assam: Aiton, Khamti, Khamyang, and Turung.

All Tai Ahom Students Union (ATASU) or Chom Hom Lik Hen Tai Ahom Tang Mung in Ahom language is a students' union in Assam, India.

References

  1. 1 2 Khamyang at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
    Nora at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Morey, Stephen. 2005: The Tai Languages of Assam: A Grammar and Texts, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  3. ↑ Census of India, 2011, Primary Census Abstract Data Tables, Assam. http://censusindia.gov.in/pca/pcadata/pca.html.
  4. 1 2 3 Panjok, Muhi Chandra Shyam. 1981: History of Tai Khamyang Group of Great Tai Race. Paper presented at the International Conference of Tai Studies, New Delhi, February.
  5. ↑ Leach, E. R. 1964: Political Systems of Highland Burma, London: London School of Economics
  6. ↑ Boruah, Bhimkanta. 2001: Tai Language in India: An Introduction.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Diller, Anthony V. N.; Edmonson, Jerold A.; Luo, Yongxian. 2008: The Tai-Kadai Languages. London, Routledge.
  8. ↑ Paradisec Catalog, https://corpus1.mpi.nl/ds/asv/?1&openhandle=hdl:1839/00-0000-0000-0015-A604-9
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