02-01-004
4
KHASSI.
The connexion of Khassi with the other languages of the M
n-Khm
r
family was recognised so long ago as the year 1853, when Logan, in his paper
on the General Characters of the Burma-Tibetan, Gangetic and Dravirian Languages,
spoke of it as 'a solitary record that the Mon-Kambojan formation once extended
much further to the North-West than it now does.' This statement of opinion
seems to have escaped the notice of subsequent students of the language, for
though a few scholars have once and again referred to the connexion with Mn-Khmr,
the usually accepted account of Khassi has been that it is an entirely isolated
member of the Indo-Chinese languages.
It
was not till 1889, forty years after Robinson published the first Khassi Grammar,
that Pro- fessor F. Kuhn, in his masterly Beitr
ge
zur Sprachenkunde Hinterindiens, first seriously attacked the question, and
showed conclusively the true affinity of this interesting form of speech.
The home of Khassi is the district of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, the head-quarters
of which are Shillong; the seat of Government in Assam. Speakers of it are also
found in the adjoining districts of Sylhet and Cachar. The standard dialect
is that spoken round Cherrapunji in the South Khasi Hills. It will be dealt
with at length further on. Besides this three other dialects have been reported
for this Survey, viz., (1) the Lyng- ngam, or the language of the south-western
corner of the hills, bordering on the Garo Hills; (2) the Synteng or Pn
r,
or the language of the upper portions of the Jowai sub- division, east of Shillong;
and (3) the Wr, or dialect of the low Southern valleys, opening out on to
the plains of Sylhet.
Specimens of these three have, it is believed, never before been printed,
and those now given afford the only materials for exhibiting their differences
from the standard and peculiarities of grammatical structure. Synteng approaches
the standard dialect much more nearly than the others.
The following figures have been reported as the estimated number of speakers
of each dialect:-
|
Dialect.
|
Where spoken.
|
Number of speakers.
|
| Standard |
Khasi and Jantia Hills
|
113,190
|
| Lyng-ngam Ditto |
Ditto
|
|
1,850
|
| Synteng or Pnr |
Ditto
|
|
51,740
|
| Wr |
Ditto
|
|
7,000
|
| Unspecified |
Sylhet |
3,200
|
|
| Unspecified |
Cachar |
313
|
|
| |
|
|
3,513
|
| |
|
TOTAL
|
177,293
|
The
interest attaching
to the Khassi language is due chiefly to the isolated position which it occupies
among the aboriginal tongues of India, and especially among the Tibeto-Burman
group which encloses it. This isolation, it may be added, is equally
Quoted as
an authority in the Introduction to the Family.
So Schott,
as quoted below, p. 427; Cust, The Modern Languages of the East Indies, p. 117;
and Roberts, Khassi Grammar, p. xvii.
For the following
account of the Khassi language, I am indebted to the kindness of Sir Charles
J. Lyall, K.C.S.I., who has not only written the introductory remarks and the
grammatical sketch which follow, but has also revised the specimens and given
me invaluable advice and assistance in preparing them for the press.