LANGUAGE IN INDIA

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Volume 23:6 June 2023
ISSN 1930-2940

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Numerals in Hrangkhol

Nawaf Zahdaan Helmi, Ph.D.

Abstract

The North-East region of India is known for its linguistic diversity and is home to the densest concentration of languages of the Tibeto-Burman family. More than a hundred Kuki-Chin languages are spoken in and around the seven North-Eastern states. Hrangkhol is a Kuki language of the Tibeto-Burman family spoken in Assam, Tripura, and parts of Manipur and Mizoram. The present paper proceeds from recent, extensive fieldwork and discusses the numeral system of the Hrangkhol language spoken in Assam. Numerals are expressions used in daily interactions to calculate, count objects, make measurements, or transmit data of any kind. Like most Tibeto-Burman languages, Hrangkhol also has a decimal numeral system. Higher numeral values are expressed by combining items of lower numeral values through addition or multiplication. In Hrangkhol, both suffixes and prefixes are added to the basic numerals to form different types of numerals. The numerals in Hrangkhol can be classified into cardinal, ordinal, multiplicative, fractional, distributive, restrictive, and approximate. Syntactically, the numerals usually follow the head noun, as in other SOV languages.

Keywords: Numerals, Hrangkhol, Kuki, Assam.

Introduction

Hrangkhol is a Kuki language belonging to the Tibeto-Burman language family of Northeast India. According to Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India Vol. III, Part III (1903) and Bradley (1997), Hrangkhol is part of the Old Kuki sub-group of the Tibeto-Burman language family. It is spoken in Assam, Tripura, and parts of Manipur and Mizoram. The Census of India (2000) estimates the Hrangkhol community's population to be approximately 18,700, which is also cited in the Ethnologue (2023). According to the EGIDS scale in Ethnologue (2023), the Hrangkhol language's status is threatened. In Assam, the primary location of the Hrangkhols is in Haflong Circle of Dima Hasao District (previously known as North Cachar Hills). The Hrangkhols are distributed over a wide geographical region. Although they have a noticeable degree of homogeneity, some dialectal differences can be observed within the language. Debbarma (2018) divides Hrangkhol into four major regional dialects: the Barak Valley or Hrangkhol dialect, the Hrangchal dialect, the Sranglong Dialect, and the Hrangkhawl Dialect. This paper will discuss the numeral system of the Barak Valley or Hrangkhol dialect. Historically, like many tribes in North-East India, the Hrangkhol tribe did not have a written script until the arrival of Christian missionaries.

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

Nawaf Zahdaan Helmi, Ph.D.
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
nawafh123@gmail.com
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