Karbi language

The Karbi language (US: /kɑːrbi/ (listen)), is spoken by the Karbi (also known as Mikir or Arleng) people of Northeastern India.

Karbi
Arleng
RegionAssam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh
EthnicityKarbi
Native speakers
528,503 (2011)[1]
Official status
Official language in
 India (Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, Assam)
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
mjw – Karbi
ajz – Plains Karbi (Amri)
Glottologkarb1240
ELPKarbi[2]

It belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family, but its position is unclear. Grierson (1903)[3] classified it under Naga languages, Shafer (1974) and Bradley (1997) classify the Mikir languages as an aberrant Kuki-Chin branch, but Thurgood (2003) leaves them unclassified within Sino-Tibetan. Blench and Post (2013) classify it as one of the most basal languages of the entire family.

There is little dialect diversity except for the Dumurali / Kamrup Karbi dialect, which is distinct enough to be considered a separate Karbi language.

History

Like most languages of Northeast India, Karbi writing system is based on Roman script, occasionally in Assamese script. The earliest written texts in Karbi were produced by Christian missionaries, especially by the American Baptist Mission and the Catholic Church. The missionaries brought out a newspaper in Karbi titled Birta in the year 1903, Rev. R.E. Neighbor's 'Vocabulary of English and Mikir, with Illustrative Sentences' published in 1878, which can be called the first Karbi dictionary. Sardoka Perrin Kay's 'English–Mikir Dictionary' published in 1904, Sir Charles Lyall and Edward Stack's The Mikirs in 1908, the first ethnographic details on the Karbis and G.D. Walker's 'A Dictionary of the Mikir Language' published in 1925 are some of the earliest known books on the Karbis and the Karbi language and grammar.[4]

The Karbis have a rich oral tradition. The Mosera (recalling the past), a lengthy folk narrative that describes the origin and migration ordeal of the Karbis, is one such example.

Varieties

Konnerth (2014) identifies two main Karbi varieties.

Phonology

Data below are from Konnerth (2017).[5]

Initial consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop Voiceless p t c k
Voiced b d ɟ~j
Aspirated pʰ~ɸ tʰ kʰ
Fricative β~w s h
Nasal m n
Rhotic r~ɾ
Approximant l ɟ~j
  • Palatal /ɟ~j/ constitutes free variation between a stop and a glide production.
  • Also, allophonic alternations typical for the area include /pʰ~ɸ/ (within the same speaker) and /r~ɾ~ɹ/ (intergenerational and interdialectal).

Final consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop p t k
Nasal m n ŋ
Rhotic r~ɾ~ɹ

Vowels
  Front Central Back
High /i/ /u/
Close-mid /e/ /o/
Low /a/
Diphthongs of Karbi (ei)aioiui

Syllable structure

Karbi syllables may be the open (C)(C)V(V) or the closed (C)(C)VC. Possible onset consonant cluster combinations are as follows: /pl pr pʰl pʰr tʰr kl kr kʰr/.

Geographical distribution

Karbi is spoken in the following areas of Northeast India (Ethnologue).

See also

Notes
  1. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement1.aspx2001 census Archived 2012-02-06 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Karbi.
  3. Linguistic survey of India vol III Part II
  4. Karbis Of Assam
  5. Konnerth, Linda. 2017. "Karbi." In The Sino-Tibetan Languages (2017).

References
  • Konnerth, Linda (2014). A Grammar of Karbi (PhD). University of Oregon. hdl:1794/17928.
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