Lyngngam language

Last updated
Lyngngam
Lyngam
Native to India
Region Meghalaya, Assam
Native speakers
11,586 (2011 census) [1]
Austroasiatic
Language codes
ISO 639-3 lyg
Glottolog lyng1241

Lyngngam is an Austroasiatic language of Northeast India closely related to Khasic languages. Once listed as a dialect of Khasi, Lyngngam has in recent literature been classified as a distinct language and believed to be former Garo speakers. Lyngngam speakers have food and dress similar to the neighboring Garo people. Garos consider Lyngngam ancestors to belong to the Garo Megam tribe, from which the Lyngam tribe emerged. Garo Megam tribe is also referred by name, Chisak Megam. Lyngngam Male Traditional dance outfits and customs are similar to that of Garo Tribe. As per Garo Oral Traditions Megam/Lyngngam people are said to be part of Garo Tribe.

Contents

Phonology

Consonant inventory

The following table lists the consonants attested in Lyngngam. [2]

  Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal /m//n//ɲ//ŋ/ 
Stop voiceless /p//t//c//k//ʔ/
aspirated /pʰ//tʰ//cʰ//kʰ/ 
voiced/b//d//ɟ//ɡ/ 
Voiceless fricative  /s/  /h/
Liquid  /l,r/   
Glide /w/ /j/  

The main difference with the Khasi language is that Lyngngam does not possess the voiced aspirated series. Furthermore, Lyngngam does not have the phoneme /ç/. Words which have /ç/ in Khasi typically have /c/ or /s/ in Lyngngam, [3] as in the following pairs of cognates:

LyngngamKhasimeaning
cʔeŋçʔeŋbone
cɨppʰeuçipʰeu10
sɲjəkçɲiuʔhair
snaːrçnjaʔchisel

Vowel inventory

The following table lists the vowel inventory of the language. [2] The only vowels showing a length distinction are /i/ and /a/, in contradistinction to Khasi, where length is distinctive for all vowels.

  Front
unrounded
Central
unrounded
Back
rounded
High /i,iː//ɨ//u/
Mid /e//ə//o/
Low /a,aː/

Words with diphthongs in Khasi have monophthongs in Lyngngam, [3] as in the following pairs of cognates:

LyngngamKhasimeaning
bnibnaːimonth
ksuksəudog
motmietnight

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meghalaya</span> State in northeastern India

Meghalaya is a state in northeast India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills and (b) the Garo Hills. The estimated population of Meghalaya in 2014 was 3,211,474. Meghalaya covers an area of approximately 22,429 square kilometres, with a length-to-breadth ratio of about 3:1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khasi language</span> Austroasiatic language of Meghalaya state, India

Khasi is an Austroasiatic language with just over a million speakers in north-east India, primarily the Khasi people in the state of Meghalaya. It has associate official status in some districts of this state. The closest relatives of Khasi are the other languages in the Khasic group of the Shillong Plateau; these include Pnar, Lyngngam and War.

A.tong is one of the Garo dialect Sino-Tibetan language which is also related to Koch, Rabha, Bodo other than Garo language. It is spoken in the South Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills districts of Meghalaya state in Northeast India, southern Kamrup district in Assam, and adjacent areas in Bangladesh. The spelling "A.tong" is based on the way the speakers themselves pronounce the name of their language. There is no glottal stop in the name and it is not a tonal language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khasi people</span> Ethnic group in North-East India

The Khasi people are an ethnic group of Meghalaya in north-eastern India with a significant population in the bordering state of Assam, and in certain parts of Bangladesh. Khasi people form the majority of the population of the eastern part of Meghalaya, that is Khasi Hills, constituting 78.3% of the region's population, and is the state's largest community, with around 48% of the population of Meghalaya. They are among the few Austroasiatic-speaking peoples in South Asia. The Khasi tribe holds the distinction of being one of the few remaining tribes that have a matrilineal society. Under the Constitution of India, the Khasis have been granted the status of Scheduled Tribe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware languages</span> Native American languages centered around the Delaware River

The Delaware languages, also known as the Lenape languages, are Munsee and Unami, two closely related languages of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family. Munsee and Unami were spoken aboriginally by the Lenape people in the vicinity of the modern New York City area in the United States, including western Long Island, Manhattan Island, Staten Island, as well as adjacent areas on the mainland: southeastern New York State, eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, and Delaware.

Sankethi is a South Dravidian language that is closely related to Kannada and Tamil. It is sometimes considered a dialect of Kannada or Tamil, but there are considerable differences that make it unintelligible to speakers of both languages. It has strong lexical influences from Kannada, as well as borrowings from Sanskrit. It is most commonly spoken in Karnataka, India by the Sankethi people, who migrated from Sengottai in Tamil Nadu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shina language</span> Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in Gilgit-Baltistan and Gurez valley

Shina is a Dardic language of Indo-Aryan language family spoken by the Shina people. In Pakistan, Shina is the major language in Gilgit-Baltistan spoken by an estimated 1,146,000 people living mainly in Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan. A small community of Shina speakers is also found in India, in the Guraiz valley of Jammu and Kashmir and in Dras valley of Ladakh. Outliers of Shina language such as Brokskat are found in Ladakh, Kundal Shahi in Azad Kashmir, Palula and Sawi in Chitral, Ushojo in the Swat Valley and Kalkoti in Dir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khasic languages</span> Family of Austroasiatic languages native to the Shillong Plateau

The Khasic or Khasian languages are a family of Austroasiatic languages native to the Shillong Plateau, spoken in the northeastern Indian state Meghalaya and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh, spoken by the Khasi people.

Polish orthography is the system of writing the Polish language. The language is written using the Polish alphabet, which derives from the Latin alphabet, but includes some additional letters with diacritics. The orthography is mostly phonetic, or rather phonemic—the written letters correspond in a consistent manner to the sounds, or rather the phonemes, of spoken Polish. For detailed information about the system of phonemes, see Polish phonology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garo language</span> Sino-Tibetan language of India and Bangladesh

Garo, also referred to by its endonym A·chikku, is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Northeast Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam, and Tripura. It is also spoken in certain areas of the neighbouring Bangladesh. According to the 2001 census, there are about 889,000 Garo speakers in India alone; another 130,000 are found in Bangladesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bodo–Kachari people</span> Group of ethnic peoples in Northeast India

Bodo–Kacharis is a name used by anthropologist and linguists to define a collection of ethnic groups living predominantly in the Northeast Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and West Bengal. These peoples are speakers of either Bodo–Garo languages or Assamese. Some Tibeto-Burman speakers who live closely in and around the Brahmaputra valley, such as the Mising people and Karbi people, are not considered Bodo–Kachari. Many of these peoples have formed early states in the late Medieval era of Indian history and came under varying degrees of Sanskritisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korku language</span> Mundu language spoken in Central India

Korku is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Korku people of central India, in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. It is isolated in the midst of the Gondi people, who are Dravidian, while its closest relatives are in eastern India. It is the westernmost Austroasiatic language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People of Assam</span> Ethnic group

The People of Assam inhabit a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious society. They speak languages that belong to four main language groups: Tibeto-Burman, Indo-Aryan, Tai-Kadai, and Austroasiatic. The large number of ethnic and linguistic groups, the population composition, and the peopling process in the state has led to it being called an "India in miniature".

Kensiu (Kensiw) is an Austroasiatic language of the Jahaic subbranch. It is spoken by a small community of 300 people in Yala Province in southern Thailand and also reportedly by a community of approximately 300 speakers in Western Malaysia in Perak and Kedah states. Speakers of this language are Negritos who are known as the Maniq people or Mani of Thailand. In Malaysia, they are counted among the Orang Asli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hajong people</span> Ethnic group in northeast India

The Hajong people are an ethnic group from Northeast India and northern parts of Bangladesh. The majority of the Hajongs are settled in India and are predominantly rice-farmers. They are said to have brought wet-field cultivation to Garo Hills, where the Garo people used slash and burn method of agriculture. Hajong have the status of a Scheduled Tribe in India and they are the fourth largest tribal ethnicity in the Indian state of Meghalaya.

Konyak is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Konyak people in the state of Nagaland, north-eastern India. It is written using the Latin script.

Megam is one of the Garo dialects in Garo Hills and And in Khasi Hills which is a part of Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Mymensingh and in Kalmakanda subdistrict, Netrokona district, Mymensingh division, Bangladesh. It is a sub-language of Garo and it is closely related to Garo, but has been strongly influenced by Khasian languages, to the extent that it is only 7–9% lexically similar to A’being, the neighboring Garo dialect, but 60% similar to the Khasian language Lyngngam. Lyngngam are also a part of Megam tribe. Lynngam people in Khasi Hills after prolonged exposure to Khasi traditions and customs have adopted a Khasi Identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nottoway language</span> Extinct Native American language of Virginia

Nottoway, also called Cheroenhaka, is an extinct language spoken by the Nottoway people. Nottoway is closely related to Tuscarora within the Iroquoian language family. Two tribes of Nottoway are recognized by the state of Virginia: the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia and the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe. Other Nottoway descendants live in Wisconsin and Canada, where some of their ancestors fled in the 18th century. The last known speaker, Edith Turner, died in 1838. The Nottoway people are undertaking work for language revival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matrilineal society of Meghalaya</span> Migration flow in Meghalaya

Multiple tribes in the state of Meghalaya in northeast India practise matrilineal descent. Often referred to as Khasi people and Garo people, among the Khasi people which is a term used as a blanket term for various subgroups in Meghalaya who have distinguishing languages, rites, ceremonies, and habits, but share an ethnic identity as Ki Hynniew Trep whereas the Garo people refers to the various groups of Achik people. The Khasi, Garo, and other subgroups have a proud heritage, including matrilineality, although it was reported in 2004 that they were losing some of their matrilineal traits. The tribes are said to belong to one of the "largest surviving matrilineal culture[s]" in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hinduism in Meghalaya</span> Hinduism in the Indian state

Hinduism is a minority religion in the Meghalaya state of India constituting 12% of the state's population. The Nartiang Durga Temple in Meghalaya is one of the 51 Shakti peethas on Earth and is considered by Hindus of Meghalaya as the permanent abode of Goddess Durga. Hinduism is a popular religion practice by Rabhas, Hajongs, Kochs, Rajbongshis, Mikirs, Bengalis, Nepalis, Biharis etc.

References

  1. "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  2. 1 2 Nagaraja 1996 , sect. 1
  3. 1 2 Nagaraja 1996 , sect. 2