By HH Mohrmen
August 9 is marked as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. It started in December 23, 1994 when the United Nations General Assembly decided to observe the day as a special day for the Indigenous Peoples the world over. Language is one of the distinct features of the indigenous people, so the theme of this year’s celebration is, ‘Indigenous language.’
It may be mentioned that there are more than 370 million indigenous people in the world and they speak more than 4000 languages, but unfortunately almost half of these language are under threat of extinction. The United Nations report of 2016, stated that of the 4000 odd indigenous languages, 2680 languages are on the verge of extinction. Hence this year is also observed as the International year of Indigenous languages.
In was in this context that the NGO Grassroots in collaboration with FIMI International Indigenous Women’s forum and supported by the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council organised a two day meet on the theme, ‘Ka lawei ka ktien ba ïar u hynñiewtrep u hynñiewskum,’ or the future of the grand hynñiewtrep language.’ The organisers invited young people representing the different dialects spoken in different regions of the Hynñiewtrep hynñiewskum and also scholars from NEHU, and authors who had written and published books in different dialects to interact with the young people who came from different regions of the state.
This is the first time that such a platform was provided where speakers of different dialects met and interacted with each other. It is also the first time for some young people from the different regions to listen to speakers speaking their unique dialect. The first experiment was asking the young people to narrate in their own dialects be it Lyngngam, Jirang, Pnar, War Jaiñtia, War Pynursla, War Mawlat, Bhois etc; the journey they had taken to reach the place where the meeting was held, starting from their homes. This was a very interesting part of the meeting and perhaps the high point of the entire program. It was the first time even for this writer to hear young people speak the different dialects.
A panel discussion was held immediately after the program was inaugurated by Ms Sweetymon Rynjah, which was moderated by AK Nongkynrih. One of the issues that came out prominently in the discussion was the threat that writing the different dialects could pose to the common Khasi Sohra language. When the idea to come out with alphabets to write Pnar dialect was introduced, there were those who were apprehensive even to the extent of calling them ‘ki nongpynpait jaitbynriew’ (people who divided the tribe). There were concerns that if we encourage people to write in their own dialects then it would affect or weaken the literary language or the ‘ka ktien thoh ktien pule’ which is the Sohra dialect and which was given primacy by the Welsh missionaries.
Khasi Sohra is an official language which is like a river and the other ‘shnat ktien or ktien thaiñ’ (dialects)are like streams or tributaries which feed the main river. In the case of the Khasi language if the dialects die, the language will also die. Nobody can take away the status of Sohra Khasi as the official writing and reading language, because even in places where they speak a different dialect, Khasi is the common language that serves as a medium of communication even between those who speak different dialects. By virtue of it being used in churches and other important meetings, Khasi Sohra has acquired a status of the link language of the Jaidbynriew.
There are different reasons in which writing the different dialects could strengthen instead of weakening the common Khasi language. English language is as rich as it is now because it borrowed words from other languages. In the same way the different dialects will strengthen the language by incorporating words from the different dialects which cannot be found in Sohra dialect. Imagine how Khasi will be further be enriched if we take the grand Hynñiewtrep language as the base of the Khasi language. Take for example the word ‘chilly’ which in the different dialects is called Sohmynken, Sohmynthew, Samurit. Similarly if we take the different dialects into consideration, we have four different names for the egg, namely ka pylleng, ka thmat, ka lalun, ka hunsyi. It was also pointed out that the language is so rich that we have different names for rice depending on the stages that it is. ‘U kba’ is rice that is unhusked; ‘u khaw’ is when the husk is removed and ‘ka ja’ when rice is cooked.
There are words which are not found in Sohra language but are there in other dialects. For example there is no word in Khasi which we can translate ‘boomerang’ to, but it is available in Pnar and it is ‘lapakhot’. The word for elephant in Khasi is Hati which is a borrowed name, but in the Lyngngam dialect, they call the elephant ‘u Ïawbah’ and it is also said that the word ijahar’ we use now for FIR originated from Lyngngam dialect. But ijahar is also a Hindi word meaning FIR.
The need to put the different dialects in writing is also related to the Niamtre, Niam Tynrai rituals, prayers or chantings use by traditional religion. These are in local dialects and can only be chanted by that respective dialect. This point was made by Heibormi Sungoh a teacher, a writer and a traditional musician all rolled in one. He said that traditional religious prayers and chants like in the ‘Ïutang Poikha, chat lane, psiah ïung, choh syiar’ and others cannot be translated to any other language and even if we try, most of it will be lost in translation. Sungoh has published two books in Pnar Shangpung in which he documented all the chants, the rituals connected with different rites and passages performed by the followers of Niamtre in the Shangpung eleka.
Incorporating words from the ‘ktien thaiñ’ to Khasi Sohra is not new, in fact it was done by none other than u Soso Tham the greatest poet of the Jaidbynriew. This story was told to me by late Donelton Passah, retired under secretary of the then composite state of Assam and later Secretary of the Jaiñtia Hills Autonomous District Council, Jowai. He also wrote the foreword in the book ‘U Sier Lapalang.’ Soso Tham included words from the shnat ktien in his translation of ‘Sah beit ïa u prek hep/ ai na sata dar.’ The English version of the poem is ‘hit the nail child, hit it on the head,’ so if Soso Tham would have given it a Khasi Sohra translation then it will go something like this; ‘sah beit ïa u prek hep ai na khlieh daiñ/jraiñ,’ which sounds very violent. But fortunately Soso Tham was a teacher at Shangpung and knew that in Pnar dialect the head of the nail is call ‘sata,’ so when he translated the poem, he use Pnar word ‘sata.’
They say language is dynamic, hence while we gain new words we also lose some. For example there are many old words which are not in use anymore. ‘Rympei or tpei ding’ is rarely used now in the urban areas, similarly ‘tyngier’ ‘ka jingsliew ding’ and in Pnar ‘ïujnang’ which we used as hook to lock our doors are some of the terms that are not in use anymore. This is one of the major threats that puts language in danger of extinction. However, another major threat is external.
There is an invasion of new words from modern world for example computer, tablets, Apps, Mobile, AI, Robot etc. So what is the solution to this problem? If we continue using the English terms, then in no time we will not speak our language anymore and will be overwhelmed by these new terms. We already have examples of how we deal with such situations in the past. We adapt it to the Khasi way of speaking. For instance the Khasi word for kettle is ‘ketli,’ driver ‘u draibar’, clutch ‘u klosh,’ gear ‘u kiar,’ police ‘u pulit’ and for computer I suggested ‘korputar.’
The point is even if there is a variation, it is the same language under the Austro Asiatic language group. And for the Khasi language to grow the two- pronged approach is to incorporate words from the different dialects and to translate and adopt those into new Khasi- English terms.