Khasi language
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A
Pater Schmidt has here proved not only that the Mon-Khmer languages form a link between the Munda languages of India proper and the languages of Indonesia, -- grouping the first two, with Khasi and some other minor forms of speech, under the
This is the number found in the list given in Appendix I, in which the figures for each are compared with those of the Census of 1921. But in this enumeration there is. a good dial of double counting, as each language and each dia1ect is there given a separate number. A better idea of the results will be gained from the consideration that the Census of 1921 records 190, and the Survey records 179 languages, as distinct from dialects. When counting dialects, it must be borne in mind that, in order to make the total for the dialects tally with the number of the speakers of the language of which they form the members, it has been necessary to count the standard form of the language as one of the dialects. There are also, inevitably, cases in which a language has been returned, but its dialects not mentioned. For instance, the Khasi language (No. 8 in the list) and its dialects are arranged as follows : -- Khasi, Standard, Lyng-ngam, Synteng, War, Unspecified . Here, if we count Kbasi in the list of languages, we must omit ` Standard' and ` Unspecified' in counting our list of dialects and languages, or we shall be recording the same form of speech twice, or perhaps three times, over. Hence, in the above example, we can count only three dialects as additional to the standard Khasi language. On this principle, the 1921 Census has recorded 49 dialects in addition to the general language-names. The Survey, on the other hand, has recorded no less than 544 dialect-names in addition to the standard and unspecified forms of the 179 languages. The various forms of speech noted are therefore 237 (188 + 49) in the Census, and 723 (179 + 544) in the Survey. Each of these 723 is described in the Survey, in most cases with more or less complete grammatical accounts. A summary of the dotails2 of these figures is as follows
In the year 1906 there appeared in Brunswick a little book by Pater W. Schmidt entitled ` Die Mon-Khmer-Volker, ein Bindeglied zwischen Volkern Zentralasiens und Austronesiens ' which at once attracted the attention of students of language and of ethnology. The author's researches into the languages known as Mon, Khmer, and Khasi had already established his reputation as a skilled and, at the same time, as a sober philologist, and in this work new and far-reaching views, based on solid and wide learning, were enunciated. These dews up to the present time have not been seriously challenged.
Going north we come to Khasi, a Mon-Khmer language spoken in
the Khasi and Jaintia Hills of Assam. This was fully dealt with in the Survey. Its standard dialect has been often described, and moreover possesses a small literature with which it has been endowed by the local missionaries. Khasi is more or less isolated alike from its cousins of Burma and from those of India, and has struck out on somewhat independent lines apart from Mon, Nicobarese, and Munda, which are mutually more closely connected than any of them is with Khasi. With its three dialects of Lyng-ngam, Synteng, and War, in addition to the standard form of speech, Khasi forms an island of Mon-Khmer speech, left untouched in the midst of an ocean of Tibeto-Burman languages. Logan was the first to suggest, and Kuhn subsequently showed conc1usively, that it and the Mon languages belong to a common stock. The resemblances in the vocabularies of Khasi and of the dialects of the PalaungWa group settle the question. But the resemblance is not only one of vocabulary. The construction of the Mon and of the Khasi sentence is the same. The various component parts are put in the same order, and the order of thought of the speakers is thus shown to be the same. Like Mon and other members of the branch, and unlike the other Indo-Chinese languages by which it is surrounded, Khasl has no tones.1 On the other hand, it differs from the other Mon-Khmer languages in possessing the so-called articles, which are wanting in other members of the branch, and in having grammatical gender. Here we must leave the matter in the hands of the ethnologists. It will be interesting to see if any connexion of tribal customs can he traced, and. if the Mons or Palaungs still retain survivals of the matriarchal state of society which is so characteristic of the Khasis. The Palaungs, at any rate, trace their origin to a princess, and not to a prince.
In Volume II, page 7 of the Survey, I have stated that Khasi, there spelt ` Khassi ' possesses tones, but this was a mistake due to the fact that at the time we possessed no satisfactory definition of what a tone is. Many words in Khasi do end in a glottall check, and such a glottal check is called ` the abrupt tone' or ` the entering tone ' in other Indo-Chinese languages. But this glottal check is, properly, got a tone at all. The word ` tone' should be confined to indicating the pitch or the change of pitch of the voice, and has no reference to the abruptness or otherwise with which a word is uttered. All the Austro-Asiatic languages, including Khasi, employ this glottal check, but it is a distinguishing characteristic of all of them that none employs the true tones which indicate the meaning of a word by pitch or change of pitch.
Other references to this language in The Linguistic Survey Of India
NOTE: The following are not likely to be complete paragraphs. They are excerpts obtained through an Internet search.
[Not copiable]
A backgrounder
The Language
The Khasi language did not have any script. The early missionaries from Serampore in the present Indian state of West Bengal attempted to write down the Khasi language using the Bengali script. But there were few takers among the Khasis. Rev. Thomas Jones, the first Welsh missionary amidst the Khasis and who is now honored as the ‘Father of Khasi Alphabets’, used the Roman script in the early 1840s to write down the Khasi spoken language.
Neither the then British government establishment ruling the place was in favour of this attempt nor the superiors of the young missionary at the Welsh Mission Society at Liverpool. However, the writing of Khasi language using the Roman script was well received by the Khasis and is now well established.
Dr. John Roberts, a Welshman from Corris, was the founder-Principal of Cherra Theological College established in Nongsawlia, Sohra in 1887. It was the first College in North East India. For starting the College, he had to shoulder the entire responsibility of putting the administrative set up in place, prepare the curricula, engage teachers and arrange for the required finance.
Inspite of all these responsibilities, he translated much of the Old Testament, composed many hymns in Khasi, co-founded the first Khasi Journal, and wrote many books and poems. For all these, he is honoured as the ‘Father of Khasi Literature’. He died in Sohra on 23rd July 1908 and was buried at the Nongsawlia Presbyterian Cemetry, in the land of the people whom he so deeply loved and served faithfully.
Since the first missionaries had established their first mission at Cherrapunjee the dialect of Sohra (Cherrapunjee) became the literary Khasi throughout Khasi land. The people of Cherrapunjee are known for their oratory. Some of them really have the gift of the gab.
Different villages even around Cherrapunjee have completely different dialects that others from nearby villages even, cannot understand and use the standard Khasi to communicate in between themselves. For example, the people of Nongriat where the Double Decker Root Bridge is there speak a different dialect, which a person knowing only standard Khasi cannot understand. Thus there are different dialects for Tyrna, Shella, Mairang, Nongstoin, Mawlynnong.
The Khasi language belongs to Mon-Khmer group of languages. It is reported to have a tenuous link with the Munda language of Central India, but is more closely related to the languages of South East Asia in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Kampuchea.
The Khasi language discriminates inanimate things as masculine and feminine genders. The prefix ‘u’ (pronounced ‘oou’) to a noun or pronoun identifies masculine gender and ‘ka’ the feminine gender of the person, animal, bird or article. For example ‘Ka sngi’ refers to the Sun (feminine) and u bnai refers to the moon (masculine). When you are in Meghalaya, you will notice the Bank names have a prefix of ‘Ka’. This is because banks are classified as of feminine gender. So you will get ‘Ka State Bank of India”, “Ka Indian Overseas Bank”. so on and so forth. Read the ‘Legends of the Place’ for an interesting story about the Sun and the Moon.
Some insights gained from Prof. Gerard Diffloth of French origin and his Cambodian wife who were our guests when they were researching on the links of Khasi and War-Khasi languages to Mon-Khmer languages are given below:
A HISTORY OF KHASI LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
A HISTORY OF KHASI LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE / CIIL Mysore
Origin and development
The origin and development of early Khasi language (written) and Khasi literature cannot be separated from the history of the Christian missions in the Khasi and Jaintia hills. With the initial contact of Krishna Chandra Pal with some Khasis in 1+12 at Bhologanj in Syllhet district of present day Bangladesh (the East Bengal in India), the Serampore Baptist Mission started evangelism in the hills. Though Chandra Pal worked only for a few months among the Khasis, Carey was enthusiastic to translate the New Testament of the Bible into Khasi.
The one and only Khasi literate was found to assist the translation of the bible into the Khasi language. This was in the year 1813-14. Since literacy was then in Bengali, translation was by the use of the Bengali script. Around 1816, a few translated versions of the Gospel of Matthew were printed and distributed among some Khasis who could read the Bengali script. The years later, a landmark was made- when the Khashee New Testament was printed by the Serampore Mission though a branch of the Mission was set up in Sohra (Cherrapunjee) in 1833, along with the first school for Khasis. By 1838 the Mission had to close down because of some problems.
Thomas Jones
One door closed, another opened for the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Mission saw the beginning of a remarkable interaction with faraway, oriental Khasis. Thomas Jones and his wife arrived at Cherrapunjee in 1841. They set about the work of educating the Khasis and translating the scriptures, assisted by few literate Khasis, especially u Laithat. In the same year the first Khasi boo, “Ka Kot Pule Nngkong” (Khasi First Reader) was printed, along with “Ka Kitab Nyngkong” (AB). It was in these two primers that the 21 alphabets in the Roman Script, were introduced. There were five vowel sounds a, e, i, o, u and sixteen consonant b, k, d, g, Ng, h, j, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w, y. It was much later, in 1896, that two more sounds, Ї (pronounced as yii) and ñ (pronounced as eiñ) were added, brings a total the total number of alphabets to 23. The decision to change the script from Bengali to roman was because it was found that the latter was more suited to the sound system of Khasi. For example, the Khasi language in Bengali script rendering of the Lord’s Prayer is almost incomprehensible to most Khasis “Ho ujunga bandra ubasyong ha beneng u kpa, kajungphi kakartteng babha ‘unmane long’. The same transcribed in Roman script reads “Ko Kypa jong ngi uba ha byneng; long ka Bakhuid ka Kyrteng jong me” (1846).
The latter is much truer to the pronunciation and sound systems of Khasi, and this version is comprehensible even to modern day Khasi readers. Thomas Jones one become known later as “U kpa ki dak thoh khasi” (Father of the Khasi Alphabet)/ “U Kpa ka thoh Khasi” (Father of Khasi Writing).
The following is a list of his contribution to Khasi literacy, education and Khasi writings.
1. 1841- Ka Kitab Nyngkong (AB) (First Book)
2. 1841- Ka Kot Pule Banyngkong (Khasi First Reader)
3. 1841- Ka Kot Shaphang ka jingkoit Jingkhiah (Health Book)
4. 1841- Ka Jingai i Mei (Translation of Rhodd Mam)
5. 1841- Ka Kot Tikir (Christian Cathecism)
6. 1842- Ka Jingduwai U Trai (Lord’s Prayer)
7. 1843- Ka Testament Bathymmai (Portions of the New Testament)
8. 1843- Ka Kot Nongialam (Lessons on Christ Teachings)
9. 1845- Hymns from the Cottage Hymn Book; T. Jones.
10. 1846- Ka Jingduwai u Trai (Revised Version of the Lord’s Prayer)
11. 1846- Bengali Translation of James 3:12-27
12. 1846- Ka Kospel u Mathaios (Gospel of Matthew)
13. 1848- Translation of the Ten Commandments: W. Lewis
Though Thomas Jones laid the foundation for written Khasi, it was left to other succeeding missionaries, especially John Roberts, to continue and improves the task of translation and writing of religious and other writings in Khasi especially those to be used in school and church. The following is a list of books written by missionaries and others.
14. 1855- Ka Kot Laiphew: Griffith Hughes
15. 1857- Ka Scriptures History (History of the Scriptures) Robert Perry
16. 1857- Ka jingiaid u Pilgrim (Pilgrim’s Progress) Mrs. W. Lewis
17. 1876- Ka Kot Jingrwai (Khasi Hymnal consisting of 242 hymns translated or composed by Hugh Roberts and Jerman Jones: Also considered to be the first book of Khasi poetry).
18. 1879- Ka Mary Jones (Bibliography of Mary Jones) by Hugh Roberts
19. 1882- Ka jingiaid u Pilgrim (revised version) John Robert
20. 1883- Ka History u Jisu Khrist (History of Jesus Christ): John Roberts
21. 1884- Ka Testament Barim. (Five Books of the Old Testament) John Roberts
22. 1889- U Nongkitkhubor (ed.) William (the first newspaper in Khasi)
23. 1891- Ka Kot Pule Baar. (Second Reader): John Roberts
24. 1891- Ka Kot Pule Balai (Third Reader): John Roberts
25. 1891- Ka Testament Barim II: John Roberts
26. 1891- Ka Testament Barim III: John Roberts
27. 1891- Ka Kot Bah (Khasi Bible) John Roberts
28. 1893- Ka Niam Khasi: R.S.Berry
29. 1893- Ka Niam Khein ki Khasi: R.S.Berry
30. 1893- Ka Kitab Jingphawar (Khasi Chants): R.S.Berry
31. 1893- Ka Niam Khasi (Khasi religion): Jeebon Roy
32. 1893- Ka Kitab shaphang uwei u Blei. (Book about one God) Jeebon Roy
33. 1895- Khasi Primer: C.L.Stephen
34. 1895- Ka Kot Pule Basaw (Fourth Reader): John Roberts
35. 1896- U Khasi Mynta (Khasi Now): Hormu Rai Diengdoh
1841-1895
The publication of the Khasi Readers for use in the school (between 1841-1895) paved the way for literacy and education. The Readers include stories, fables, essays, folktales, fairytales, poems, songs, including the very popular anthem –Ri Khasi, the six verses of which were composed by John Roberts . The Fourth Reader also has some Khasi “Phawar” (rhyming), ki ktien kynnoh (akin words, imitative and echo words), ki jingsneng tymmen (ancient wise sayings), ki ktien ia hap (synonyms), incorporating many elements of Khasi language and literary forms. Thus the seeds of literary writing were sown in the Readers. Perhaps it is for this reason that John Roberts was known as "U Kpa Ka Khasi Literashor" (Father of Khasi Literature).
He 1891 Khasi bible (Kot Bah) is also an important landmark in the development of the written Khasi language and literature. It is a source book of innumerable stories, documented records, history songs and many other literary and non-literary forms of writing. It also provided the language, the idioms, vocabulary (of coined words) and the diction of standard Khasi.
1889 is important for the budding Khasi writers like Radon Sing Berry, Joel Gatphoh, Morkha Joseph and others, who wrote articles for U Nongkitkhubor, the first Khasi newspaper. By 1893 R.S. Berry and Jeebon Roy had published their own works in Khasi contributing to an understanding Khasi thought rituals religion and culture and providing the basis for golden monumental works “The Khasis”. During this period a few works in English appeared, such as William Pryse “Introduction to the Khasi Language” (1855) and Hugh Roberts “Khasi Grammar” (1867).
Early 1900s
Books and other publications which came out in the early 20th century are:
1903- U Nongap Phira : Sib Charan Roy
1903- U Lurshai : Soso Tham
1906- Khasi English Dictionary: Nissor Singh Lyngdoh
1915- Kausik (a Novel) : Hari Charan roy
1918- English-Khasi Dictionary
1920- U Phawer Aesop (translation of Aesop’s Fables) : Soso Tham
1924- U Tipsngi (a Drama) : Dino Nath
1925- Ki Poetry Khasi : Edrenel Chyne
1925- Ki Poetry Khasi : Soso Tham
1931-32- Ka Jingshai jong ka ri Khasi: M. Bareh
1936-37- Ka Riti Jong ki Ri ka laiphew Syiem : G.Costa
1937- Ka Pansngiat Ksiar : H.Elias
1937- Ka Kot Niam Khasi : H.Lyngdoh
1938- Ki Syiem Khasi bad Synteng : H.Lyngdoh
1939- Translation of Cantlie’s notes on Khasi Law : T.Cajee
1941- Ki Umjer Ksiar
1941- Ki Sngi Barim u Hynniew trep : Soso Tham
According to Hugh Roberts “the dialect of Cherrapunjee is taken as a standard because it is the purest, as universally acknowledged by the natives, besides being more amendable to systematical arrangement than the ‘patois’ of the smaller villages’ (p 14, he went on saying that “ugly barbarianism i.e., dialectal variations) such as sngoi (for sngi), massoi (for massi, now spelt masi), lom (for lum), loi (for leit), iam (for em) and others should be avoided. It is clear from the above statement that Roberts, like others in his time, were “purists’, brought up in the classical traditional approach. This is also evident from the fact that he wrote about “Complete Paradigm for the conjugation of all verbs, based on native usage, the usus loquendi,…have been supplied.
A few more observation by Roberts will throw some light on the Khasi then "the Khasis have no written language of their own, and therefore no literature of any kind. There are no materials as far as we know, from which to connect their present with the past, or trace out a history for them. This entire absence of native literature however, suggests a long period of isolation from the more civilized race" (XVI). Thus, the steady progress in the use of written khasi through newsletter, newspaper, textbooks, poetry, prose and drama, more importantly the use of Ka Kot Bah (Khasi Bible), in the length and breadth of the Khasi Jaintia hills, helped to spread literacy and education among the Khasis. Another important aspect is the evolution of a standard dialect, based on the Sohra (Cherrapunjee) dialect in the southern slopes of the khasi hills. The reason being, the importance of Cherrapunjee as an administrative, educational and religious headquarter of the British. It is this Sohra dialect which linked the various sub-groups i.e., the Jaintia (Pnar) in the East, the War-Jaintia in the South-east, the Bhoi in the north, the Lyngngam in the West, and the Khynriam (Khasi) in the central region. Much later, when the headquarter was shifted to the more hospitable Shillong area, the Sohra dialect was transported to Shillong which became the capital of undivided Assam.
LINGUISTIC CLASSIFICATION:
GENETIC
According to Peter W. Schmidt (1906) the 'Austric - family' comprises the Austronesian and Austro-Asiatic as its sub-families. Indeed, the great Austric family of speech comprises a far wider area of the globe including Indonesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. J.H. Hutton pointed out that the Austro-Asiatic was at one time the most widely spread language in the world. It spreads from central India to New Zealand and from Madagascar upto Eastern Island (West of South America).
The important Austric languages in India are Kol or Munda, Khasi and Nicobarese. Munda group of languages is spoken in Central and Eastern India, Monkhmer group which includes Khasi and Nicobarese spoken in Meghalaya and the Nicobar Islands.
The myth, once widely subscribed to, about the Khasi being as isolated and unique has been exploded by linguists like J.R. Logan (1853) and P.W. Schmidt (1906), who found that they were neither isolated nor unique. At least in the form of speech they can be linked on the one hand to the great Monkhmer family in the east, and on the other, to the Mundari speaking Ho, Santal, Kharia, Birhor and other languages in the west.
Classifications of Austro-Asiatic Language Family
Below are the classifications of Austro-Asiatic Language Family (Diffloth, 1974 cited in Encyclopedia Britannia and Diffloth, 2005).
Typological Classification
Typological classification refers to the classification based on linguistic structures. This type of classification is further divided into: Word Order typology and Morphological typology.
Word Order typology
The following are the characteristics of Khasi based on the word order typology:
1. Khasi is a verb medial language. Its basic word order pattern is Subject Verb Object (SVO).
Example: u jɔn u ba:m ja
3MSG john MSG eat rice
“John eats rice”
2. Khasi has preposition.
Example: hapɔʔ kamra
in room
‘In the room’
3. The direct object precedes the indirect object.
Example: u sa:m u yɔʔ ka jiŋai na ka susan
MSG Sam MSG receive PNG present from FEM susan
‘Sam receives a gift from Susan’.
4. The adjectives follow the head noun.
Example: ka kɔt ba bʰa
PNG book AdjMkr good
‘A good book’
Genitive follows the governing noun
Example: ka kɔt jɔŋ ŋa
PNG book GEN I
‘My book’
It is to be mentioned here that the genitive marker in proper nouns is optional whereas in pronouns it is obligatory.
Example: i) ka kɔt jɔŋ u ban
PNG book GEN MSG ban
‘Ban’s book’
ii) ka kɔt Ø u ban
PNG book GEN MSG ban
‘Ban’s book’
The numerals precede the head noun.
Example: ∫ipʰɛu tIrli ki yeŋ
ten cl PNG house
‘Ten houses’
Classifiers:
There are two classifiers in Khasi. They are ‘tılli’ and ‘ngut’. ‘tılli’ is used to refer to –human and ‘ngut’ is used to refer to + human.
Example: i) a:r ŋut ki kʰinnaʔ
two cl pl child
‘Two children’
ii) la:i tılli ki kɔt
three cl pl book
‘Three books’
In Khasi, the time adverbial follows place adverbial
Example: ka la leit ∫a delhi minnin
FEM past go to delhi yesterday
‘She went to Delhi yesterday’
Time and place adverbials occur in ascending order
Time adverbials:
ha ka pɔ:r san baje minstep ha ka ar tarik u lbɛr a:r hajar san
loc PNG time five o’clock morning loc PNG two date PNG march two thousand five
“At five o’clock in the morning on the 2nd of March 2005”
Place adverbials:
Ha nehu ha maulai ha ∫illɔŋ
Loc nehu Loc mawlai Loc shillong
“At NEHU in Mawlai in Shillong”
The Standard of Comparison follows the marker of comparison
Example: u ram u kham jrɔng ban ya u ∫am
MSG ram MSG more tall than Acc MSG sham.
‘Ram is taller than Sham’.
Khasi is a left peripheral language.
Khasi being a verb medial language has left peripheral complementizer. The complementizer preceded the embedded clause.
Example: ka lin ka ɔŋ ba ka- n wan minta.
FEM lin FEM say Comp PNG fut come today
‘Lin said that she will come today’
Interrogatives
Interrogatives in Khasi are of two types i) Wh-question, and ii) Yes/No questions. Questions words can occur in two positions: i) in the initial position and ii) in the final position. Both these forms are unmarked. The different types of Wh-question words in Khasi are as follows:
i) balɛi ‘why’
ii) haŋno ‘where’
iii) katno ‘what’/ ‘how much’
iv) kaei ‘what’
v) mano ‘who’
Example: i) haŋno ka kɔt ?
where PNG book
Where is the book?
ii) ka kɔt haŋno ?
PNG book where
Where is the book?
Yes/No questions do not take any question marker. They are rather expressed with the help of intonation.
Example: pʰi laʔ dɛp bam ja
You pst finish eat rice
Have you eaten your food?
In the above sentence, ‘bamja’ carries a rising pitch.
Tag question markers occur post verbally.
ym dei is a tag question marker.
13. Reduplication: Khasi made used of the process of reduplication extensively. Khasi exhibits both total and partial reduplication. Some of the grammatical categories that can be reduplicated are noun, verb, adjectives, and adverbs. This can be attested by the following example:
Example: Adverb
suki suki
slow slow ‘slowly’
Example: Verb
diʔ diʔ
drink drink ‘drink’
Example: Adjectives
bha bha
good good ‘good’
Besides reduplication, onomatopoeia and echo words are also found.
Onomatopoeia:
Onomotopeic words in Khasi are found in abundant. They act as adverbs modifying verbs that precede them. In Khasi, we can have mimic word as in
Example: miau ‘cat’
Echo-words
In echo-words the second word is meaningless. The word will have its meaning only when it is attached to the first word.
Example: u ksoid u kʰrɛi ‘devil and the like’
ki mra:t ki mreŋ ‘animal and the like’
Negative markers
In Khasi, the negative markers occur before the verb. It has pre-verbal negative. The negative markers are –m and khlem. Khlem is used to indicate past and –m indicates future.
Example: u sam u khlem bam ja
MSG sam MAS Neg eat rice
‘Sam did not eat rice’
ka- m ba:m
PNG Neg eat
“She will not eat”
Numerals
The pattern of numeral formation is Xx10/100+Y where X and Y is any numeral.
Example: i) la:i pʰɛu san
Three ten five
‘Thirty five’
ii) san spa: ʔ san
five hundred five
‘Five hundred and five’
Morphological typology
Morphological typology classifies languages into four types; isolating, agglutinating, inflectional and polysynthetic languages.
i) Isolating language: refers to a language where each word consists of just one morpheme. In isolating languages, all the words are invariable. There are no endings. Grammatical relationship is shown through the use of word order. An alternative term for isolating is analytic. Chinese and Vietnamese are often cited as best examples of isolating languages.
ii) Agglutinating: In agglutinating language, words are built up out of a long sequence of unit, with unit expressing a particular grammatical meaning in a clear one to one way. A sequence of fine affixes might express the meaning of ‘amo’ one for each category of person, number, tense voice and mood. Turkish, Finnish Japanese and Swahili form words in this way.
Swahili: I love you is expressed as ‘mimi ni na ku panda we we’, which is analyze as
mimi ni na ku panda we we
me I pre you love you
iii) Polysynthetic language: Polysynthetic language demonstrates morphologically complex, long word forms containing a mixture of agglutinating and inflectional features as in the construction typical of Eskimos, Mohawk and Australian languages. For example, the aboriginal language Tiwi expresses ‘I kept on eating’ as ‘ngirruunthingapikani’ which is analyzable as;
ngi - rru - unthing- apu- kani
Pst for sometime eat repeatedly.
Inflectional language:
Is a type of language established by comparative linguistics using structural criteria and focusing on the characteristic of the word. In inflectional languages word displays grammatical relationships morphologically: they typically contain more than one morpheme but unlike agglutinating languages, there is no one to one correspondence between these morphemes and the line or sequence of morphs. In Latin ‘amo’ meaning ‘I love’ the form simultaneously represents tense, first person, singular, present tense, active and indicative. This ‘fusing’ of properties has led to such languages being called inflectional.
This classification of languages is sometime a problem. Language cannot always be classified on the basis of morphological typology because not all languages belong to the same family share the same features as in the type of language above. A language may share a feature similar to an isolating type and it may also share a feature similar to an agglutinating type of or inflectional, in which case, a language may be said to be both isolating as well as agglutinating, for eg, English seems to account the features of agglutinating, inflectional and isolating according to these sentence.
(i) The girl will go to school- as an isolating.
(ii) The tallest man have asking- as an inflecting.
(iii) Anti-dis-establish-ment-arian-ism- as an agglutinating.
Keeping in view the definitions of the types of languages mentioned above, Khasi exhibits the features of both isolating and agglutinating languages.
Example: (Isolating)
i) u lam u ba:m sɔʔ
MSG lam MSG eat fruit
‘Lam eats fruit’
(Agglutinating)
ii) nɔŋ + hika:i
NOM teach
Teacher’
See also
Khasi language
