LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 12 : 1 January 2012
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.

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Copyright © 2012
M. S. Thirumalai
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Negation in Khasi

Bashisha Shabong, Ph.D. Scholar

Abstract

Khasi has /-?m/ as the negative marker. It has two phonologically conditioned shapes. /-m/ after a vowel and /-?m/ after a consonant. They occur as a free word. The negative imperative marker /wat/, usually precedes the verbal construction.

1. Introduction

The term ‘Khasi’ stands for both the tribe and the language. Khasi belongs to one of the five sub-groups of Mon-Khmer family of languages. It is spoken in the district of Khasi Hills in the state of Meghalaya. As per the census of India 2011 the total population of Meghalaya is 2,964,007 of which male and female are 1,492,668 and 1,471,339 respectively.. Total area of Meghalaya is 22,429 sq. km. Density of Meghalaya is 132 per sq. km which is lower than national average 382 per sq. km. In 2001, density of Meghalaya was 103 per sq. km, while nation average in 2001 was 324 per sq. km.

2. Khasi language

Khasi has SVO order. This order displays an interesting aspect of agreement. It is between the subject and the verb (predicate) of the same clause. Having SVO order means that the subject occurs first in a sentence. However the agreement markers occur preceding the nouns. When there is a pronoun as the subject, these agreement markers themselves function as personal pronouns. In a possessive construction, the genitive maker follows the head noun. So, the prepositions precede the nouns.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Bashisha Shabong, Ph.D. Scholar
Linguistics Department
Assam University
Silchar
Assam
India
sbasisha@gmail.com
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