Cultural and linguistic affinities amongst Meitei-Sizang-Thadou

This paper attempts to highlight the cultural and linguistic affinities amongst Meitei, Sizang and Thadou people. The data are collected from the field works in Imphal (Manipur, India), Tamu (Sagaing division of Myanmar) and Diphu (KarbiAnglong of Assam, India) for Meitei, Sizang, and Thadou respectively. Linguistically, Meitei, Sizang and Thadou share common Tibeto- Burman feature of SOV word order, agglutinative forms, sharing lexical cognates due to language contact. Culturally, these languages show some similarities; however, Thadou and Sizang are more similar. Nonetheless, languages have been a reflection of those cultural distinctions as well as their identities.

Integrating mobile phones in English Language Teaching: a study in Manipur University

The advancement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has great impact on students’ accessibility to information and different source materials. With the rapid development of modern science and technology, mobile devices have undergone massive changes and it has become so advanced that they can perform almost all the functions of a computer. Cell phones can be used for learning purposes. The present paper discusses possible future applications of cell phones for English language teaching and learning in Manipur University. The data was obtained from a set of questionnaires sent to selected students to find out their attitudes towards this mode of teaching English language. The analysis revealed that students use mobile phones to help them in their studies and they believe that integrating mobile phones in a language teaching gives the learners the opportunity of availing the benefits of digital age. They also believed that cell phones have great potential in language teaching and learning.

Language shift and maintenance: a case study of Kani Tribes

This paper aims to look into the status of the language maintenance and shifts in the Malampasha, a language spoken by the Kanikkar (ISO 639-3, kev) community in Kerala. The paper also intends to draw out some of the struggles that the Kanikkar community face in the wake of the dominating presence of Malayalam.

A comparative study of the tense and aspect in Standard Khasi and its varieties

In this study, we will undertake a comparative study of the syntax of the Tense and Aspect of Standard Khasi, an Austro-Asiatic language spoken in the state of Meghalaya and its two varieties Trangblang and Mawlong. Trangblang belongs to the War-Jaiñtia dialect of Khasi and is spoken in Trangblang village situated in Amlarem Block in Jaiñtia Hills District. Mawlong, on the other hand, is a War-Khasi dialect of Khasi and is spoken in Mawlong village located in the East Khasi Hills District. The main aim of this study is to compare and contrast the similarity and variation between these varieties when compared with the Standard Khasi using a comparative methodology. This study also aims to present the morphology of Tense and Aspect and to account for the syntactic analyses of Tense and Aspect in these varieties.

Reflections on the beginnings of Linguistics at Tribhuvan University

The definitive account of the birth and development of linguistics, and of the study of minority languages in Nepal has yet to be written. In this brief account we focus on the part of that development that arose from interactions between SIL and Tribhuvan University in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

Creative adjustment of linguistic and textual resources in literary translation

The present article conceptualizes the process of rewriting the given text in the target language (TL) as regeneration of the text across languages. Shedding light on similarities and differences between producing a text across languages i.e. transwriting and within a language i.e. writing, it is argued that translation is a creative process almost exclusive to linguistic and textual levels.

The complexity of tone in Nubri

This paper introduces the tonal system of the amagaun dialect of Nubri. We first present an introduction to linguistic tone, with a focus on tone as it is found in Tibetan languages, before moving on to describe the tones in Samagaun Nubri monosyllables and disyllabic expressions. We conclude that the tonal system in Nubri cannot be accounted for by exclusive reference to Tibetan languages. The implication is that contact with a non-Tibetan language has played a significant role in the history of the language.

A preliminary sociolinguistic survey of Nubri Valley

This paper reports results of a preliminary sociolinguistic survey that was carried out in Nubri Valley. Interviews were taken with people from throughout the valley. Some of the main findings are described here. The Nubri-perceived differences in dialect intelligibility and social status are discussed as well as the overall language vitality in the context of evolving social practices and observed language shift in the younger generations.

Patterns of sound change in Deori and Dimasa

This paper compares the two cognate Tibeto- Burman languages, Deori and Dimasa, in terms of sound change patterns in certain class of lexical items. In this regard, it discusses the noun categorization devices besides the counting system, some morphological features and the use of borrowing present in these languages. The paper, thereby, studies briefly their sociolinguistic context of language loss and retention.

Inter-clausal dependency in Western Tamang

Western Tamang, a highly embedding dialect of Tamang, presents an array of inter-clausal dependency (both semantically and syntactically) ranging from most to least exemplified by verbal complements and chained clauses, respectively. In terms of such dependency, subordinate adverbial clauses stand in between verbal complements and chained clauses in Western Tamang. This is, indeed, a typologically interesting phenomenon, especially, in inter-clausal dependency in Bodic languages like Tamang.