Khasi language

Khasi
Khasi
Native to	India, Bangladesh
Region	Meghalaya
Ethnicity	Khasi people
Native speakers	Template:1.6 million (2001 census)
Language family	Austroasiatic Khasic Khasi
Dialects	Bhoi Khasi Nonglung
Official status
Official language in	Meghalaya
Language codes
ISO 639-2	kha
ISO 639-3	kha
Glottolog	khas1269

Khasi is an Austroasiatic language spoken primarily in Meghalaya state in India by the Khasi people. Khasi is part of the Austroasiatic language family, and is fairly closely related to the Munda branch of that family, which is spoken in east–central India.

Although most of the 1.6 million Khasi speakers are found in Meghalaya state, the language is also spoken by a number of people in the hill districts of Assam bordering with Meghalaya and by a sizable population of people living in Bangladesh, close to the Indian border. Khasi has been "associate official language" in Meghalaya since 2005, and as of May 2012, was no longer considered endangered by UNESCO.

Khasi is rich in folklore and folktale, and behind most of the names of hills, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, birds, flowers, and animals there is a story.

Dialects

Khasi has significant dialectal variation. Several dialects have only partial mutual intelligibility, and Bhoi and Nonglung are distinct enough to be sometimes considered separate languages. Other dialects are Sohra, Khynriam, and War (not the same as the related War language); Sohra and War are 75% similar lexically. Sohra dielects is standard.

Script

In the past, the Khasi language had no script of its own. William Carey attempted to write the language with the Assamese script between 1813 and 1838. A large number of Khasi books were written in the Assamese script, including the famous book Ka Niyiom Jong Ka Khasi or The Rule of the Khasis, which is an important manuscript of the Khasi religion. The Welsh missionary, Thomas Jones, in 1841 wrote the language in the Latin script. As a result, the Latin alphabet of the language has a few similarities with the Welsh alphabet. The first journal in Khasi was UNongkit Khubor (The Messenger) published at Mawphlang in 1889 by William Williams.

Alphabet

• Capital letters A, B, K, D, E, G, Ng, H, I, Ï, J, L, M, N, Ñ, O, P, R, S, T, U, W, Y.
• Small letters a, b, k, d, e, g, ng, h, i, ï, j, l, m, n, ñ, o, p, r, s, t, u, w, y.

Grammar

Nouns and noun phrases

Word order

The order of elements in a Khasi noun phrase is (Case marker)-(Demonstrative)-(Numeral)-(Classifier)-(Article)-Noun-(Adjective)-(Prepositional phrase)-(Relative clause), as can be seen from the following examples:

ar	tylli	ki	sim
two	classifier	plural	bird
'two birds'

kata	ka	samla	ka-ba	wan	mynhynnin
that:fem	fem	girl	fem-relative	come	yesterday
'that girl who came yesterday'

ka	kmie	jong	phi
fem	mother	of	you
'your mother'

Gender

Khasi has a pervasive gender system. There are four genders in this language:

u masculine

ka feminine

i diminutive

ki plural

Humans and domestic animals have their natural gender:

ka kmie `mother'

u kpa `father'

ka syiar `hen'

u syiar `rooster'

Rabel (1961) writes: "the structure of a noun gives no indication of its gender, nor does its meaning, but Khasi natives are of the impression that nice, small creatures and things are feminine while big, ugly creatures and things are masculine....This impression is not born out by the facts. There are countless examples of desirable and lovely creatures with masculine gender as well as of unpleasant or ugly creatures with feminine gender"

Though there are several counterexamples, Rabel says that there is some semantic regularity in the assignment of gender for the following semantic classes:

Feminine	Masculine
times, seasons
clothes	reptiles, insects, flora, trees
physical features of nature	heavenly bodies
manufactured articles	edible raw material
tools for polishing	tools for hammering, digging
trees of soft fibre	trees of hard fibre

The matrilineal aspect of the society can also be observed in the general gender assignment, where so, all central and primary resources associated with day-to-day activities are signified as Feminine; whereas Masculine signifies the secondary, the dependent or the insignificant.

Feminine	Masculine
Sun (Ka Sngi)	Moon (U Bnai)
Wood (Ka Dieng)	Tree (U Dieng)
House (Ka Ïing)	Column (U Rishot)
Cooked rice (Ka Ja)	Uncooked rice (U Khaw)

Classifiers

Khasi has a classifier system, apparently used only with numerals. Between the numeral and noun, the classifier tylli is used for non-humans, and the classifier ngut is used for humans, e,g.

Don	ar	tylli	ki	sim	ha	ruh.
there:are	two	classifier	plural	bird	in	cage
'There are two birds in the cage.'

Don	lai	ngut	ki	bakyrpang	hapoh	shnong.
there:are	three	classifier	plural	chief	in	village
'There are three chiefs in the village.'

Adjectives

There is some controversy about whether Khasi has a class of adjectives. Roberts cites examples like the following:

u	briew	ba-bha
masc	man	rel-good
'a good man'

In nearly all instances of attributive adjectives, the apparent adjective has the prefix /ba-/, which seems to be a relativizer. There are, however, a few adjectives without the /ba-/ prefix:

u	'riew	sníew
masc	man	bad
'a bad man'

When the adjective is the main predicate, it may appear without any verb 'be':

U	ksew	u	lamwir.
masc	dog	masc	mad
'The dog is mad.'

In this environment, the adjective is preceded by an agreement marker, like a verb. Thus it may be that Khasi does not have a separate part of speech for adjectives, but that they are a subtype of verb.

Prepositions and prepositional phrases

Khasi appears to have a well-developed group of prepositions, among them

bad 'with, and'

da 'with (instrumental)'

na 'from'

ha 'in, at'

jong 'of'

The following are examples of prepositional phrases:

ka	kmie	jong	phi
fem	mother	of	you
'your mother'

u	slap	u	ther	na	ka	bneng
masc	rain	masc	pour	from	fem	sky
`Rain poured from the sky.'

Verbs and verb phrases

Agreement

Verbs agree with 3rd person subjects in gender, but there is no agreement for non-3rd persons (Roberts 1891):

	Singular	Plural
1st person	nga thoh ‘I write’	ngi thoh ‘we write’
2nd person	me thoh ‘you (fam.) write’ phi thoh ‘you (form.) write’	phi thoh ‘you (pl). write’
3rd person	u thoh ‘he writes’ ka thoh ‘she writes’	ki thoh ‘they write’

The masculine and feminine markers /u/ and /ka/ are used even when there is a noun phrase subject (Roberts 1891:132):

Ka	miaw	ka	pah.
fem	cat	fem	meow
‘The cat meows.’

Tense marking

Tense is shown through a set of particles that appear after the agreement markers but before the verb. Past is a particle /la/ and future is /yn/ (contracted to 'n after a vowel):

Khasi	English
U thoh.	He writes.
U la thoh.	He wrote.
Un thoh	He will write.

Negation

Negation is also shown through a particle, /ym/ (contracted to 'm after a vowel), which appears between the agreement and the tense particle. There is a special past negation particle /shym/ in the past which replaces the ordinary past /la/ (Roberts 1891):

Khasi	English
Um thoh.	He doesn't write.
Um shym thoh.	He didn't write.
Um nym thoh	He won't write.

Copulas

The copula is an ordinary verb in Khasi, as in the following sentence:

U	Blei	u	long	jingïeid.
masc	God	masc	be	love
‘God is love’

Causative verbs

Khasi has a morphological causative /pn-/ (Rabel 1961). (This is spelled pyn in Roberts (1891):

Base verb	Gloss	Causative verb	Gloss
hiar	come down	pynhiar	let down, export
tip	know	pyntip	make known
phuh	blossom	pynphuh	beautify
ïaid	walk	pyn-ïaid	drive, put agoing
jot	perish	pyn-jot	destroy
poi	arrive	pyn-poi	send

Sentences

Word order

Word order in simple sentences is subject–verb–object (SVO):

U	ksew	u	bam	doh.
masc	dog	masc	eat	flesh
‘The dog eats meat.’

However, VSO order is also found, especially after certain initial particles, like hangta 'then' (Rabel 1961).

hangta	la	ong	ki	khnai	ïa	ka	Naam
then	past	say	dimin	mouse	accusative	fem	Naam
'Then said the (little) mouse to Naam ...'

Case marking

Sometimes the object is preceded by a particle ya (spelled ia in Roberts 1891). Roberts says "ia, 'to', 'for', 'against' implies direct and immediate relation. Hence its being the sign of the dative and of the accusative case as well"

U	la	ái	ia	ka	kitab	ia	nga.
masc	past	give	accusative	fem	book	accusative	me
'He gave the book to me.'

It appears from Roberts (1891) that Khasi has differential object marking, since only some objects are marked accusative. Roberts notes that nouns that are definite usually have the accusative and those that are indefinite often do not.

Rabel (1961) says "the use of /ya/ is optional in the case of one object. In the case of two objects one of them must have /ya/ preceding.... If one of the objects is expressed by a pronoun, it must be preceded by /ya/."

Passive

Khasi has a passive, but it involves removing the agent of the sentence without putting the patient in subject position. (A type called the 'non-ascensional passive'). Compare the following active-passive pair (Roberts 1891) where the patient continues to have accusative case and remains in the object position:

Ki	dang	tháw	ia	ka	íng	da	ki	dieng..
plur	contin	build	accusative	fem	house	from	plur	wood
'They are building the house of wood.'

Dang	tháw	ia	ka	íng.
contin	build	accusative	fem	house
'The house is being built.'

This type of passive is used, even when the passive agent is present in a prepositional phrase:

La	lah	pyniap	ia	ka	massi	da	U Míet.
past	perfective	kill	accusative	fem	cow	by	U Miet
'The cow was killed by U Miet.'

Questions

Yes-no questions seem to be distinguished from statements only by intonation:

Phi	kit	khoh	Til?
you	are carrying	a basket	Til?
'Will you take a basket, Til? Phin shim ka khoh, Til?

Wh-questions don't involve moving the wh-element:

?uu	leit	šha ei?
masc	go	where
Where is he going?'

Embedded clauses

Subordinate clauses follow the main verb that selects them (Roberts 1891:169):

Nga	tip	ba	phi	la	leh	ia	kata.
I	know	that	you	past	do	accusative	that
'I know that you have done that'

Relative clauses follow the nouns that they modify and agree in gender:

Ka	samla kynthei	ka-ba	wan	mynhynnin	ka	la	iáp.
fem	girl	fem-relative	come	yesterday	fem	past	die
'The girl who came yesterday has died.'

Sample text in Khasi

Khasi	English
1. Ha kaba mynnyngkong U Blei u la thaw ia ka bneng bad ia ka khyndew. Bad ka pyrthei ka la long bakhlem dur bad kaba suda, bad ka jingdum ka la long halor ka khmat ka jingjylliew, bad U Mynsiem U Blei u da khih halor ki urn.	In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Some Khasi words and phrases

Khasi language	English
Khublei (khu-blei)	Thank you
Phi long kumno?	How are you? In short it is also used as “Kumno?”
Nga khlaiñ	I am fine.
Kumne	Short form response to ‘Kumno?’ meaning ‘like this’.
Um	Water
Ja	(cooked) rice
Dohkha (doh-kha)	fish (meat)
Dohsyiar (doh-syiar)	chicken (meat)
Dohsniang (doh-sni-ang)	pork
Dohmasi (doh-ma-si)	beef
Dohblang (doh-bl-ang)	mutton
Jyntah (jyn-tah)	dish (meat/vegetable)
Jhur (jh-ur)	vegetable
Dai	lentils
Mluh (ml-uh)	salt
Duna (du-na)	less
Sohmynken (soh-myn-ken)	chilli
Ai biang seh	Please give again (serve again).
La biang	enough
Ai um seh	Please give water.
Ai ja seh	Please give food (rice).
Ai jyntah seh	Please give (side dish) vegetable / meat.
Ai aiu?	Give what?
Ai kwai seh	Please give ‘kwai’.
Aiu?	What?
Mynno?	When? (past)
Lano?	When? (future)
Hangno? / Shano?	Where?
Kumno?	How?
Khublei shibun.	Thank you very much.
Thiah suk.	Sleep well. (The equivalent of "Good Night".)
Kumno ngan leit sha Ward’s Lake?	How do I go to Ward’s Lake?
Katno ka dor une / kane?	What is the price of this? (une is masculine gender, kane is feminine gender and ine is neutral gender)
Leit suk.	Go in peace.
Reply is “Shong suk.”	Literal meaning is “Stay happy.”

Numbers

1	wei
2	ar
3	lai
4	saw
5	san
6	hynriew
7	hynñiew
8	phra
9	khyndai
10	shipew
20	arphew
30	laiphew
40	sawphew
50	sanphew
60	hynriewphew
70	hynñiewphew
80	phraphew
90	khyndaiphew
100	shispah
200	arspah
300	laispah
400	sawspah
500	sanspah
600	hynriewspah
700	hynñiewspah
800	phraspah
900	khyndaispah
1000	shihajar

Publications in Khasi

There are a number of books (including novels, poetry, and religious works) as well as newspapers in the Khasi language. The most famous Khasi poet is U Soso Tham (1873–1940). The online newspaper U Mawphor is published in the Khasi language.

See also

• Bible translations into the languages of Northeast India

References

• Nagaraja, K.S. 1985. Khasi - A Descriptive Analysis. Poona: Deccan College Postgraduate Research Institute.
• Pryse, William. 1855. An Introduction To The Khasi Language. (Reproduced 1988)
• Rabel, Lili. 1961. Khasi, a language of Assam. Baton Rouge, La: Louisiana State Press.
• Rabel-Heymann. 1977. Gender in Khasi nouns. Journal of Mon-Khmer Studies 6:247-272
• Roberts, H. 1891. A grammar of the Khasi language for the use of schools, native students, officers and English residents. London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner.
• Singh, Nissor. 1906. Khasi-English dictionary. Shillong: Eastern Bengal and Assam State Secretariat Press.

External links

• Online Khasi literature
• Entry for Khasi at the Language Information Service of India
• The World Atlas of Language Structures Online: Khasi
• Resource Center for Indian Language Technology Solutions: Khasi
• Khasi to English Vocabulary
• Basic words and phrases in Khasi language