Karbi Lamtasam
Karbi-Assamese-English Online Dictionary
(Produced by ABILAC in collaboration with IGNCA)
Language Profile
Name of the Language: Karbi
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan
ISO Code: 639-3: mjw (https://www.ethnologue.com/language/mjw/)
Glottocode: karb1241 (https://glottolog.org/glottolog?search=Karbi#9/25.8779/92.2641)
Brief description on the Community and the Language
Khoyasing Hanse
The original home of the Mongoloid group as we know was in West China near Howang-Ho and Yang-Tee-Kiang river, and migrated to India before 1500 B.C. from these places. In this way, the whole of North-East became home to so many ethnic communities and tribes of the Mongoloid group, speaking different languages and dialects of Tibeto-Burman language, each having their own cultures, folklores, traditional customs and practices.
Racially the Karbis also belong to the great Mongoloid group and linguistically to the Tibeto-Burman language group. Formarlly they were known as ‘Mikir’ to the neighbouring people and as mentioned in the Constitution order of the Govt. of India. But the Karbis did not prefer the name ‘Mikir’ as a generic term used by the neighbouring people with a derogatory connotation attached to it and latter ceased to use the name completely.
Generally the Karbis used to introduce themselves by the autonym ‘Karbi’ which represents the tribe, the language and their folk religion. In ancient time, they purposely planned to introduce themselves as ‘Arleng’ which means ‘man or human being’ in general. It was necessary to use the term to differentiate themselves from the cannibalistic tribes ‘hi’i’ Demon or Devil and as ‘Asura’ or ‘Danava’ called by the Aryan, which existed in their surrounding at that time. They inhabit in many parts of the North-East of India since time immemorial including Assam, Arunachal pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. So, they claim to be autochthonous to the land where once they inhabited. Besides India, they are found in the Indo-Bangladesh border and largely concentrated in and around the Syhlet district of Bangladesh.The population of the Karbis in the whole of North-East of India is more than 900,000 (Nine lakhs) according to the Govt. census in 2011. It is learned through some evidences and findings that the number of the Karbi speakers outside Assam is now on decline.
Previously it was said that, the language spoken by the Karbis, belong to the great Tibeto-Burman language group. The term Tibeto-Burman was first applied to this group in 1856 by James Richardson Logan. The exact place of the Karbi language within the group is still not ascertained. The Karbis came in contact with the Aryans and Austrics elsewhere in Assam earlier than other ethnic Tibeto-Burman groups. So, some of the words used by them are found to be borrowed or coined from the Indo-Aryan or Austro-Asiatic languages, as a result of living together at a place and having much interaction with them for a long period of time. As for example the Sanskrit ‘anna’ as ‘an’ and ‘kul’ as ‘kur’ and the Khasi ‘lingdow’ as ‘lindok’ in Karbi accent came to the Karbis through the Indo-Aryan and Autro-Asiatic languages. So many such illustrative materials can be extracted from the realm of cultures and traditions and these has made the linguists more confused to find out the right position of Karbi language within the group. The greatest concentration of the community and the speakers of the language as of today are in the home district of Karbi Anglong. The language spoken by them especially in Assam may be widely divided into two mutually intelligible major variants, viz., the Hill and the Plain Karbis, which are distinctly recognisable.
By looking at the linguistic map of India, the linguists had classified the Indian tribes into different linguistic groups. The Karbis, being the Mongoloid stock of the Himalayan region, undoubtedly comes under the great Tibeto-Burman language speaking group within the Sino-Tibetan language family.
Both G. A. Griersion (in his book ‘Linguistic survey of India, vol-III’), Prof. Makhan Jha (in his book ‘An approach to the Indian Anthropology’) had classified the linguistic families of the Himalayan region and shown the linguistic affinity of the Karbis with the Manipuri, Thado, Paite, Sokte, Hmar and Mizo etc. Observing the language affinity with them the position of the Karbi language can be put along the Bodo-Naga and the Kuki-Chin sub-group.
The Karbi language is categorised characteristically as tonal and differs a little from other languages of the Tibeto-Burman linguistic sub-group. Keeping all the facts in mind, Satya Narayan Goswami, S. K. Chattupadhyaya, Deepti Phukan Patgiri and many linguists had classified the linguistic families of the Himalayan region, and put the linguistic position of the Karbis distinctly in between the Bodo-Naga and Kuki-Chin sub-group.