Tanchangya language

The Tanchangya language is one of the eleven indigenous languages in Chittagong Hill Tracts in present-day Bangladesh, and an ethnic group in the Indian states of Tripura and Mizoram, as well as Rakhine State in Myanmar. Despite commonly believe as Indo-Aryan language, it is categorized as aTibeto-Burman language.[2] It is closely related to Chakma and Chittagonian.

Tanchangya
𑄖𑄧𑄐𑄴𑄌𑄧𑄁𑄉𑄴𑄡
'Tanchangya' in Tanchangya/Chakma script
Native toBangladesh
RegionChittagong Hill Tracts (Bangladesh)
Mizoram and Tripura (India)
Rakhine State (Myanmar)
EthnicityTanchangya people
Native speakers
(22,000 cited 1991 census)[1]
Tanchangya alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3tnv
Glottologtang1330

Linguistic Analysis

Tanchangyas people primarily speak Tanchangya language. The language category is debateble. According to Rupak Debnath Tanchangya retains several features of Tibeto-Burman, viz., dentalisation of palatal and palate-alveolar obstruents, aspiration of word initial [t], substitution of [r] by [j] in the environment of the palatal vowel [i], and occurrence of tone contrasts with changes in laryngeal and supra-laryngeal setting of phonemes. [3]

Vocabulary

Tanchangya language has many words Indo-Aryan languages, with mixture of Pali, Sanskrit, Prakrit and other middle-Indo-Aryan languages. It also maintains some of the Burmanised words in their language particularly in Buddhist terminologies.

Ancient Tanchangya language

Ancient Tanchangya's words are believed to be the original words of Tanchangya since those words have been handing down a long time ago. It is not simply due to its earlier usage but it is universally understood by every Tanchangya despite any geographical distribution. According to Roti Kanta Tanchangya's collection of some ancient Tanchangya words.[4]

Tanchangya English
Mwga (āĻŽāĻ—āĻž) Uneducated, uncivilised
Awnsur (āĻ…āĻ¨ā§āĻ¸ā§āĻ°ā§) Regularly, always
Awnawpinaw (āĻ…āĻ¨-āĻĒāĻŋāĻ¨); Awnaw-sawnaw (āĻ…āĻ¨- āĻ¸āĻ¨āĻ…) Insane, foolish
Awrawk (āĻ…āĻ°āĻ•ā§) Nest
Hawla (āĻšāĻ˛āĻž) Fry, thick shrub bushes
Awsangya (āĻ…āĻ¸āĻžāĻ™ā§āĻ¯āĻž); Besangya (āĻŦā§‡āĻ¸āĻžāĻ™ā§āĻ¯āĻž) An unmarriageable relation
A-uk/Aruk (āĻ†-āĻ‰āĻ•ā§, āĻ†āĻ°ā§āĻ•ā§) Picture; Sketch

Middle Indo-Aryan

The ancient Indo-Aryan language, Sanskrit is the most influential language impacting on most of the present middle-Indo-Aryan languages such as without Hindi, and with Odiya, Bengali, and Assamese and even in Tanchangya language with distorted and half assimilated form. Though Tanchangya language is thought to be the Indo-Aryan language family, due to its long gap of meeting with Pāḷi and Sanskrit, their vocabularies are almost untraceable distorted forms. According to ‘Tanchangya Parichiti’ written by Biro Kumar Tanchangya of the words originated from Indo-Aryan language.

Tanchangya Pāḡi/Sanskrit English
Manai, Manei, Manus, Manuit (āĻŽāĻžāĻ¨āĻžāĻ‡, āĻŽāĻžāĻ¨ā§‡āĻ‡, āĻŽāĻžāĻ¨ā§āĻ‡āĻ¸ā§, āĻŽāĻžāĻ¨ā§āĻ‰āĻ¤ā§) Manussa/Manusa Man
Mela (āĻŽā§‡āĻ˛āĻž) Mahilā Woman
Ucu, Uju (āĻ‰āĻšā§, āĻ‰āĻœā§) Uju (Pāḡi) Straight

Tibeto-Burman

Tanchangay language belongs to Tibeto-Burman language family; hence, today there are many Buddhist religious’ terms are found in the Tanchangya Language. According to Rupak Debnath, 'During the 14th century, Daingnak group absorbed several Marma elements into them, even acquired something of the Marma’s language and adopted Marma script and numerals.[5]


Myanmar language and its culture influence to the neighbouring tribes in many ways.

Tanchangya Myanmar/Arakanese English
Pullyang/Pillang (āĻĒā§āĻ˛ā§āĻ˛ā§āĻ¯āĻžāĻ‚ āĻĒāĻŋāĻ˛āĻžāĻ‚) Palawng (Burmese) A traditional cane-basket
Pullang (āĻĒā§āĻ˛āĻžāĻ‚) Paleing (Burmese) Bottle
Dama Tagawl (āĻĄāĻžāĻŽāĻž āĻ¤āĻžāĻ—āĻ˛ā§) Straight Knife
Mawng Mawng (Burmese) Gong

Foreign words

In Tanchangya language it could also find few vocabularies derived from Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch, Turkish, Persian, French, English, and Hindi.

Tanchangya Arabic/English/ French English
Awktaw (āĻ…āĻ•ā§āĻ¤) Owakta (Arabic) Time
Gawrba (āĻ—āĻ°ā§āĻŦāĻž) Gorba(Arabic) Guest
Gamala/Gabala (āĻ—āĻžāĻŦāĻžāĻ˛āĻž, āĻ—āĻžāĻŽāĻžāĻ˛āĻž) Gamela (Portuguese) Bucket
Balti (āĻŦāĻžāĻ˛ā§āĻ¤āĻŋ) Balde (Portuguese) Bucket

Opinions on Tanchangya language

Outside Tanchangya tribe, there is a common belief that there is no difference at all between Tanchangya language and Chakma language. Such an instance can be seen at Dr. Satyakam Phukan's article named “An Analysis of the Ethno-Linguistic Roots and Connections of the Chakma and Tanchangya People”. According to him, the similarity is much compared to the difference between the words between Chakma and Tanchangya.[6] His analysis is basically from morphological perspective.

Tanchangya Chakma English
Bitsyawl Bijawl Smooth
Pawd,Jangal Pawt Road
Awna sawna Suli sawlaw Half-brain
Diri, Bilawng Dighawli Long time

References
  1. Tanchangya at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Debnath, Rupak (2008). Ethnographic Study of Tanchangya of CHT, CADC, Sittwe, and South Tripura. Kolkata: Kreativmind, India. p. 167.
  3. Debnath, Rupak (2008). Ethnographic Study of Tanchangya of CHT, CADC, Sittwe, and South Tripura. Kolkata: Kreativmind, India. p. 71.
  4. Roti Kanta Tanchangya (2000): 62-65
  5. Debnath, Rupak (2008). Ethnographic Study of Tanchangya of CHT, CADC, Sittwe, and South Tripura. Kolkata: Kreativmind, India. p. 88.
  6. "An Analysis of the Ethno-Linguistic Roots and Connections of the Chakma-Tanchangya People" (PDF). Dr Satyakam Phukan's Webpages. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.