Meithei

Meitei language

Meitei language

Tibeto-Burman language of India

"Manipuri language" redirects here. For the Meitei-Bengali creole language, see Bishnupriya Manipuri.
This article is about the sole official language of Manipur. For other speech forms, see languages of Manipur.
Unless otherwise specified, Meitei in this article is written in Meitei Mayek.

Meitei (ꯃꯩꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ, Eastern Nagari script: মৈতৈলোন্, romanized: meiteilon),[4] also known as Manipuri (ꯃꯅꯤꯄꯨꯔꯤ, Eastern Nagari script: মণিপুরী, /mænᵻˈpʊəri/ (IPA)), is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and one of the official languages India.[5] Meitei is the most widely-spoken Tibeto-Burman language of India and third the most used language of northeast India after Assamese and Bengali.[6] There are 1.76 million Meitei native speakers in India according to the 2011 census. Most of these, or 1.52 million, are found in the state of Manipur, where they represent majority of its population. There are smaller communities in neighbouring Indian states, such as Assam (168,000), Tripura (24,000), Nagaland (9,500), and elsewhere in the country (37,500). The language is also spoken by smaller groups in neighbouring Myanmar[7] and Bangladesh.[2]

Quick Facts Native to, Region ...
Meetei Mayek
This article contains the Meitei alphabet. Without proper rendering support, you may see errors in display.

Meitei and Gujarati, hold the third place among the fastest growing languages of India, following Hindi and Kashmiri.[8]

Meitei is not endangered: its status has been assessed as safe by Ethnologue (where it is assigned to EGIDS level 2 "provincial language"),[2] but is considered vulnerable by UNESCO. [9]

Meitei is one of the advanced literary languages, recognised by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.

Classification

Meitei belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages.[10][11]

During the 19th and 20th centuries, different linguists tried to assign Meitei to various sub-groups. Early classifier George Abraham Grierson (1903–1924) put it in Kuki-Chin, Vegelin and Voegelin (1965) in Kuki-Chin-Naga, and Benedict (1972) in Kuki-Naga. Robbins Burling has suggested that Meitei belongs to none those groups.[12] Current academic consensus agrees with James Matisoff in placing Manipuri in its own subdivision of the Kamarupan group—a geographic rather than a genetic grouping.[13] However, some still consider Meitei to be a member of the Kuki-Chin-Naga branch.[14]

History

A Meitei language stone inscription in Meitei script about a royal decree of a Meitei king found in the sacred site of God Panam Ningthou in Andro, Imphal East, Manipur

The Meitei language has existed for at least 2000 years.[15]

First Millennium CE

The one of the earliest known Manipuri compositions is ritual song Ougri (ꯑꯧꯒ꯭ꯔꯤ), which was used in religious and coronation ceremonies of rulers in Ancient Kangleipak. It may have existed before the Common Era.[16]

The first-century Numit Kappa (Meitei for 'The shooting of the Sun') is a religious epic.[17]

In the 3rd century CE, Poireiton Khunthok (ꯄꯣꯏꯔꯩꯇꯣꯟ ꯈꯨꯟꯊꯣꯛ), a narrative work about the legendary establishment of a colony in the Imphal Valley, under the leadership of Poireiton, was composed.[18]

The Khencho (ꯈꯦꯟꯆꯣ), a work of poetry was composed by the beginning of 7th century CE.[19] Although it is obscure and unintelligible to the present-day Meiteis, it still recited as part of the Lai Haraoba festival.[20]

One of the best-preserved early Meitei language epigraphic records is a copper plate inscription dating to the reign of King Khongtekcha (763–773 CE).[21] During the same time period, Akoijam Tombi composed the Panthoibi Khonggul ꯄꯥꯟꯊꯣꯏꯄꯤ ꯈꯣꯡꯀꯨꯜ, an account of the romantic adventures of the deified Meitei princess Panthoibi.[22]

Second Millennium CE

Further information: Meitei Mahabharata

Before 1675 CE, Meitei language experienced no significant influences from any other groups of languages.[23]

Beginning in the late 17th century, Hindu influence on Meitei culture increased. The Meitei language experienced some influences from other languages, in terms of its phonology, morphology (linguistics), syntax and semantics. At the same time, the traditional Meitei writing system was replaced with the Bengali-Assamese script by the Hinduised King Pamheiba.[23]

In 1725CE, Pamheiba wrote Parikshit, possibly the first piece of Meitei-language Hindu literature, based on the story of the eponymous king Parikshit of the Mahabharata.[24]

Geographical distribution

Further information: States of India by Meitei speakers

The majority of Meitei speakers, about 1.5 million[25] live in the Indian state of Manupur. Meitei is the official language of the Government of Manipur as well as its lingua franca.[5]

Districts of Barak Valley – Meitei speaking population settlement areas of Assam

There are nearly 170,000 Meitei-speakers in Assam,[25] mainly in the Barak Valley, where it is the third most commonly-used language after Bengali and Hindi.[26] Manipuri is also spoken by about 9500 people in Nagaland, in communities such as Dimapur, Kohima, Peren and Phek.[3][25] Meitei is a second language for various Naga and Kuki-Chin ethnic groups.[3]

Areas with significany numbers of Meitei speakers in Bangladesh

There are around 15,000 Meitei speakers in Bangladesh[27] mainly are in the districts of Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Sunamganj and Habiganj in the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh. In the past, there was a Meitei speaking population in Dhaka, Mymensingh and Comilla also.[28] Manipuri is used as a second language by the Bishnupriya Manipuri people.[3]

Myanmar has a significant Meitei speaking population in the states of Kachin and Shan and the regions of Yangon, Sagaing, and Ayeyarwady, among others.[29]

Name

According to the Ethnologue, the alternative names of Meitei language are Kathe, Kathi, Manipuri, Meetei, Meeteilon, Meiteilon, Meiteiron, Meithe, Meithei, Menipuri, Mitei, Mithe, Ponna.[3]

The name Meitei or its alternate spelling Meithei is preferred by many native speakers of Meitei over Manipuri.[30] The term is derived from the Meitei word for the language Meitheirón (Meithei + -lon 'language', pronounced /mə́i.təi.lón/).[30][31] Meithei may be a compound from mí 'man' + they 'separate'.[30] This term is used by most Western linguistic scholarship.[30] Meitei scholars use the term Meit(h)ei when writing in English and the term Meitheirón when writing in Meitei.[30] Chelliah (2015: 89) notes that the Meitei spelling has replaced the earlier Meithei spelling.[32]

The language (and people) is also referred to by the loconym Manipuri.[30] The term is derived from the name of the state of Manipur.[30] Manipuri is the official name of the language for the Indian government and is used by government institutions and non-Meitei authors.[30] The term Manipuri is also used to refer to the different languages of Manipur and to the people.[30] Additionally, Manipuri, being a loconym, can refer to anything pertaining to the Manipur state.

Speakers of Meitei language are known as "Kathe" by the Burmese people, "Moglie" or "Mekhlee" by the people of Cachar, Assam (Dimasas and Assamese) and "Cassay" by the Shan people and the other peoples living in the east of the Ningthee River (or Khyendwen River). "Ponna" is the Burmese term used to refer to the Meiteis living inside Burma.[33]

Dialects

The Meitei language exhibits a degree of regional variation; however, in recent years the broadening of communication, as well as intermarriage, has caused the dialectal differences to become relatively insignificant. The only exceptions to this occurrence are the speech differences of the dialects found in Tripura, Bangladesh and Myanmar.[34] The exact number of dialects of Meitei is unknown.[35]

The three main dialects of Meitei are: Meitei proper, Loi and Pangal. Differences between these dialects are primarily characterised by the extensions of new sounds and tonal shifts. Meitei proper is considered to be the standard variety—and is viewed as more dynamic than the other two dialects.[36] The brief table below compares some words in these three dialects:[37]

More information Standard Meitei, Loi ...

Devi (2002)[38] compares the Imphal, Andro, Koutruk, and Kakching dialects of Meitei.

Status

Further information: Meitei classical language movement and Meitei associate official language movement

Meitei is the sole official language of the Government of Manipur, and has been an official language of India since 1992.[39][5]

Meitei language was the court language of the historic Manipur Kingdom,[40] and before it merged into the Indian Republic.[41] The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, recognised Meitei as one of the major advanced Indian literary languages in 1972, long before it became an official language in 1992.

In 1950, the Government of India did not include Meitei in its list of 14 official languages.[42] A language movement, spearheaded by organisations including the Manipuri Sahitya Parishad and the All Manipur Students' Union demanded that Meitei be made an official language for more than 40 years, until Meitei was finally added to the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India in 1992.[43][44]

There is also a movement to make Manipuri an associate official language in Assam, in order to protect the identity, history, culture and tradition of Manipuris residing in Assam.[45][46][47]

The Meitei language is one of the 13 official languages of the India used to administer police, armed services, and civil service recruitment exams.[48][49]

The Press Information Bureau of the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting publishes in 14 languages, including Meitei.[50]

Education

Meiti/Manupuri is a language of instruction in all in the educational institutions in Manipur. It is one of the 40 instructional languages offered by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), controlled and managed by the Ministry of Education.[51] Meitei is taught as a subject up to the post-graduate level in Indian universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, Gauhati University, the University of North Bengal.[52][53] Indira Gandhi National Open University teaches Meitei to undergraduates.[54]

Assam

Meitei language instruction has been offered in the lower primary schools of Assam since 1956.[55] The Board of Secondary Education, Assam offers secondary education in Manipuri.[56] The Assam Higher Secondary Education Council of Assam offers both Meitei-language schooling and instruction in Meitei as a second language.[57]

Since 2020, the Assam Government has made an annual grant of ₹5 lakh (equivalent to ₹5.9 lakh or US$7,400 in 2023) to the Manipuri Sahitya Parishad (Manipuri Language Council). It also invested ₹6 crore (equivalent to ₹7.1 crore or US$880,000 in 2023) in the creation of a corpus for the development of the Meitei language.[55]

The Department of Manipuri of Assam University offers education up to the Ph.D. level in Meitei language.[58][59][60]

Tripura

Since 1998, the Government of Tripura has offered Meitei language as a "first language" subject at primary level in 24 schools throughout the state.[61]

In December 2021, Tripura University proposed to the Indian Ministry of Education and the University Grants Council (UGC), regarding the introduction of diploma courses in Meitei, along with international languages like Japanese, Korean and Nepali.[62]

Phonology

The exact classification of the Meitei language within Sino-Tibetan remains unclear. It has lexical resemblances to Kuki and Tangkhul.[63]

Tone

The Meitei language is a tonal language. There is a controversy over whether there are two or three tones.[64]

Segments

Meitei distinguishes the following phonemes:[65]

Consonants

More information Labial, Dental/Alveolar ...

Vowels

More information Front, Central ...

Note: the central vowel /ɐ/ is transcribed as <ə> in recent linguistic work on Meitei. However, phonetically it is never [ə], but more usually [ɐ]. It is assimilated to a following approximant: /ɐw/ = /ow/, /ɐj/ = [ej].

Phonological processes

A velar deletion is noted to occur on the suffix -lək when following a syllable ending with a /k/ phoneme.[64]

Meitei has a dissimilatory process similar to Grassmann's law found in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit, though occurring on the second aspirate.[66] Here, an aspirated consonant is deaspirated if preceded by an aspirated consonant (including /h/, /s/) in the previous syllable. The deaspirated consonants are then voiced between sonorants.[citation needed]

/tʰin-/

pierce

+

 

/-kʰət/

upward

→

 

/tʰinɡət/

pierce upwards

/tʰin-/ + /-kʰət/ → /tʰinɡət/

pierce {} upward {} {pierce upwards}

/səŋ/

cow

+

 

/kʰom/

udder

→

 

/səŋɡom/

milk

/səŋ/ + /kʰom/ → /səŋɡom/

cow {} udder {} milk

/hi-/

trim

+

 

/-tʰok/

outward

→

 

/hidok/

trim outwards

/hi-/ + /-tʰok/ → /hidok/

trim {} outward {} {trim outwards}

Writing systems

Meitei script

Depiction of the 18th century historic burning of texts written in Meitei script.

The Meitei script (ꯃꯩꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ, Meitei mayek)[67] is one of the official scripts of the Indian Republic. Meitei mayek is also known as Kanglei script (ꯀꯪꯂꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ)[68] or kok sam lai script (ꯀꯣꯛ ꯁꯝ ꯂꯥꯏ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ, romanized: kok sam lai mayeke), after its first three letters.[69][70] Its earliest known appearance is on 6th century coins.[71] It was used until the 18th century, when it was replaced by the Bengali script, and then revived in again massively in the 20th.[72] In 2021, the use of Meetei Mayek to write Manipuri was officially adopted by the Government of Manipur, alongside Bengali script.[73]

The Roman alphabet has been used in medium for teaching basic Meitei as a second language teaching by the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur.[74][75] More recently, the Board has issued a directive that no more Manipuri textbooks using the Latin alphabet be published.[76] Meitei language editions of the Bible in Roman script are very commonly used by the Christians in Manipur.[77]

The Naoriya Phulo script is a constructed script, invented by Laininghan Naoriya Phulo (1888–1941). It shares many similarities with Devanagari and Bengali script.[78] It was championed by Apokpa Marup, but never widely adopted.[79]

Grammar

Sentences in the Meitei language use the format subject–object–verb word order (SOV). For example, in the sentence Ei chak chai (ꯑꯩ ꯆꯥꯛ ꯆꯥꯢ), which translates to I eat rice, the gloss is "ei" (I), "chak" (rice), "chai" (eat).

Nouns

Nouns and pronouns are marked for number in Meitei. The plural is indicated by the suffixes -khoi (for personal pronouns and human proper nouns) and -sing (for all other nouns). Verbs associated with the pluralised nouns are unaffected. Examples are demonstrated below:[80]

More information Noun (Meitei), Noun (English) ...

When adjectives are used to be more clear, Meitei utilises separate words and does not add a suffix to the noun. Examples are show in the chart below:[80]

More information Adjective (Meitei), Adjective (English) ...

Compound verbs

Compound verbs are created by combining root verbs each ending with aspect markers. While the variety of suffixes is high, all compound verbs utilise one of two:[81]

More information Suffix, English translation ...

Aspect markers appear as suffixes that clarify verb tense and appear at the end of the compound verb. Overall, the formula to construct a compound verb becomes [root verb] + [suffix] + [aspect marker]:[81]

More information Language, Root verb ...

Compound verbs can also be formed utilising both compound suffixes as well, allowing utterances such as pithokningle meaning "want to give out".

Number words

Further information: Meitei numerals
More information Numeral, Word ...

Literature

Main articles: Ancient Meitei literature and Meitei literature
The Numit Kappa, a Classical Meitei 1st century epic based on Meitei mythology and religion.

The Khamba Thoibi Sheireng, a poem of 39,000 verses composed by Hijam Anganghal Singh and first published in 1940 (Meitei: ꯈꯝꯕ ꯊꯣꯏꯕꯤ ꯁꯩꯔꯦꯡ, romanized: Poem on Khamba Thoibi) [82]) is regarded as the national epic of the Manipuris.[83][84] It is a classical Meitei language epic poem based on the ancient romantic adventure tale of Khamba and Thoibi of Moirang. It is regarded as the greatest of all Meitei epic poems.[85][86][87]

The Meitei classical language movement seeks to gain recognition for Meitei as one of the of the Classical Languages of India.[88][89][90]

Annual events

Various annual events are organised to promote, protect and develop Meitei language, in the sovereign states of India and Bangladesh in particular as well as in other parts of the world in general.

Software

Further information: Meitei input methods

In 2021, Rudali Huidrom, a Manipuri researcher of the EBMT/NLP laboratory, Waseda University, Japan, created a text corpus named "EM Corpus" (shortened form of "Emalon Manipuri Corpus"). It is the first comparable text to text corpus built for Meitei language (mni) and English language (eng) pair from sentences. The writing system used for Meitei language in this corpus is Bengali script. It was crawled and collected from thesangaiexpress.com – the news website of "The Sangai Express", a daily newspaper of Manipur from August 2020 to 2021. In version 1, she created the monolingual data, having 1,034,715 Meitei language sentences and 846,796 English language sentences. In version 2, she created the monolingual data, having 1,880,035 Meitei language sentences and 1,450,053 English language sentences.[99][100]

EM-ALBERT is the first ALBERT model available for Meitei language. EM-FT is also FastText word embedding available for Meitei language. These resources were created by Rudali Huidrom and are now available at free of cost at the European Language Resources Association catalogue (ELRA catalogue) under CC-BY-NC-4.0 licence.[99][100]

A screen shot of Google Translate translating a sentence from English language into Meitei language

On 11 May 2022, Google Translate added Meitei-language (under the name "Meiteilon (Manipuri)") during its addition of 24 new languages to the translation tool. The writing system used for Meitei language in this tool is Meitei script.[101][102][103]

Sample text

The following is a sample text in Modern Meitei of the Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (by the United Nations):[104][lower-alpha 1]

ꯃꯤꯑꯣꯏꯕ ꯈꯨꯗꯤꯡꯃꯛ ꯄꯣꯛꯄ ꯃꯇꯝꯗ ꯅꯤꯡꯇꯝꯃꯤ, ꯑꯃꯗꯤ ꯏꯖꯖꯠ ꯑꯃꯁꯨꯡ ꯍꯛ ꯃꯥꯟꯅꯅ ꯂꯧꯖꯩ ꯫ ꯃꯈꯣꯏ ꯄꯨꯝꯅꯃꯛ ꯋꯥꯈꯜ ꯂꯧꯁꯤꯡ ꯁꯦꯡꯏ, ꯑꯐ ꯐꯠꯇ ꯈꯪꯏ, ꯑꯗꯨꯅ ꯑꯃꯅ ꯑꯃꯒ ꯂꯣꯏꯅꯕ ꯃꯇꯝꯗ ꯃꯆꯤꯟ ꯃꯅꯥꯎꯒꯨꯝꯅ ꯂꯣꯏꯅꯒꯗꯕꯅꯤ ꯫ (in Meitei script)

মিওইবা খুদিংমক পোকপা মতমদা নিংতম্মী, অমদি ইজ্জৎ অমসুং হক মান্ননা লৌজৈ । মখোই পুম্নমক ৱাখল লৌশিং শেঙই, অফ ফত্তা খঙই, অদুনা অমনা অমগা লোইনবদা মচীন মনাওগুম্না লোইনগদবনি । (in Bengali script)

Mioiba khudingmak pokpa matamda ningtammi amadi ijjat amasung hak mānnana leijei, makhoi pumnamak wākhal loushing shengi, apha phatta khangi, aduna amana amaga loinabada machin manāogumna loinagadabani. (Roman transliteration)

míːójbə kʰud̯íŋmək pókpə mət̯ə̀md̯ə níːŋt̯ə̀mmi, əməd̯i iːdʒət əməʃùng hə́k màːnənə lɐ̀jdʒɐ̀j. məkʰój púmnəmək wakʰə̀l lə̀wʃiŋ ʃèŋi, əpʱə̀ pʱə́ːt̯ə kʰə́ŋi, əd̯unə əmənə əməgə lòjnəbəd̯ə mət͡ʃìn mənáwgùmnə lójnəgəd̯əbəni' (IPA transliteration).

English: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

See also

Footnotes

  1. The Meitei-language translation of the passage of the Article 1 has two foreign words present, "ꯏꯖꯖꯠ" ("iːdʒət") and "ꯍꯛ" ("hə́k"), meaning "dignity" and "rights" respectively, as given in the source website. The original Meitei-language terms for "dignity" and "rights" are "ꯏꯀꯥꯏ ꯈꯨꯝꯅꯕ" ("í.kai kʰum.nə.bə") and "ꯐꯪꯐꯝ ꯊꯣꯛꯄ" ("pʰəŋ.pʰəm tʰok.pə") respectively.

References

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Further reading

  • 1. A Short History of Kangleipak (Manipur) Part-I, by Chingtamlen, 2005
  • 2. A Short History of Kangleipak (Manipur) Part-II, by Chingtamlen, 2007
  • 3. A Short History of Kangleipak (Manipur) Part-III, by Chingtamlen, 2008
  • 4. The Meetei and the Bishnupriya, by Chingtamlen, 2008

Culture

  • Brara, N. Vijaylakshmi. (1998). Politics, society, and cosmology in India's North East. Delphi: Oxford University Press.
  • Budha, W. (1992). Indigenous games of the Meiteis. Manipur: Wangkeimayum Publications.
  • Kshetrimayum, Otojit. (2014). Ritual, Politics and Power in North East India: Contexualising the Lai Haraoba of Manipur. Delhi: Ruby Press & Co.
  • Singh, M. Kirti. (1988). Religion and culture of Manipur. Delhi: Manas Publications.
  • Singh, M. Kirti. (1993). Folk culture of Manipur. Delhi: Manas Publications.
  • Singh, Saikhom Gopal. (2014). The Meeteis of Manipur: A Study in Human Geography. Delhi: Ruby Press & Co.

Language

  • Bhat, D. N. S.; & Ningomba, S. (1997). Manipuri grammar. Munich: Lincom Europa.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (1990). Experiencer subjects in Manipuri. In V. M. Manindra & K. P. Mohanan (Eds.), Experiencer subjects in South Asian languages (pp. 195–211). Stanford: The Center for the Study of Language and Information.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (1992). Tone in Manipuri. In K. L. Adams & T. J. Hudak (Eds.), Papers from the first annual meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 1991 (pp. 65–85). Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (1992). Bracketing paradoxes in Manipuri. In M. Aronoff (Ed.), Morphology now (pp. 33–47). Albany: State University of New York Press.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (1994). Morphological change and fast speech phenomena in the Manipuri verb. In K. L. Adams & T. J. Hudak (Eds.), Papers from the second annual meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 1992 (pp. 121–134). Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (1997). A grammar of Meitei. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 0-19-564331-3.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2002). Early Meitei manuscripts. In C. I. Beckwith (Ed.), Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages: PIATS 2000: Tibetan studies: Proceedings of the ninth seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000 (pp. 59–71). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2002). A glossary of 39 basic words in archaic and modern Meitei. In C. I. Beckwith (Ed.), Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages: PIATS 2000: Tibetan studies: Proceedings of the ninth seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000 (pp. 189–190). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2004). "Polysemy through metonymy: The case of Meitei pi 'grandmother'". Studies in Language. 28 (2): 363–386. doi:10.1075/sl.28.2.04che.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2015). "Is Manipur a linguistic area?". Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics. 2 (1): 87–109. doi:10.1515/jsall-2015-0004. S2CID 130962163.
  • Singh, Ningthoukhongjam Khelchandra. (1964). Manipuri to Manipuri & English dictionary.
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