Tanchangya_language
Tanchangya language
Indigenous language of Bangladesh
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 the common belief that it is a Tibeto-Burman language, it is categorized as a Indo-Aryan language.[2] It is closely related to Chakma and Chittagonian.
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| Tanchangya | |
|---|---|
| đđ§đđ´đđ§đđđ´đĄ | |
 'Tanchangya' in Tanchangya/Chakma script | |
| Native to | Bangladesh |
| Region | Chittagong Hill Tracts (Bangladesh) Mizoram and Tripura (India) Rakhine State (Myanmar) |
| Ethnicity | Tanchangya people |
Native speakers | 46,000 (2022)[1] |
| Tanchangya alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tnv |
| Glottolog | tang1330 |
Tanchangyas people primarily speak Tanchangya language. The language category is debatable. 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]
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 (āĻŽāĻāĻž) | 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°āĻā§) | Nest |
| Hawla (āĻšāĻ˛āĻž) | Fry, thick shrub bushes |
| Awsangya (āĻ āĻ¸āĻžāĻā§āĻ¯āĻž); Besangya (āĻŦā§āĻ¸āĻžāĻā§āĻ¯āĻž) | An unmarriageable relation |
| A-uk/Aruk (āĻ-āĻāĻā§, āĻāĻ°ā§āĻā§) | 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 the Tanchangya language is thought to be the Indo-Aryan language family, due to its long gap of meeting with PÄḡi and Sanskrit, their vocabularies are almost untraceable distorted forms. According to âTanchangya Parichitiâ written by Biro Kumar Tanchangya of the words originated from the Indo-Aryan language.
| Tanchangya | PÄḡi/Sanskrit | English |
|---|---|---|
| Manai, Manei, Manus, Manuit (āĻŽāĻžāĻ¨āĻžāĻ, āĻŽāĻžāĻ¨ā§āĻ, āĻŽāĻžāĻ¨ā§āĻāĻ¸ā§, āĻŽāĻžāĻ¨ā§āĻāĻ¤ā§) | Manussa/Manusa | Man |
| Mela (āĻŽā§āĻ˛āĻž) | MahilÄ | Woman |
| Ucu, Uju (āĻāĻā§, āĻāĻā§) | Uju (PÄḡi) | Straight |
Tibeto-Burman
Tanchangay language belongs to Tibeto-Burman language family; hence, today there are many Buddhist religiousâ 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 Marmaâs 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¤āĻžāĻāĻ˛ā§) | Straight | Knife |
| Mawng | Mawng (Burmese) | Gong |
Foreign words
In the 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 āĻā§āĻ¤) | Owakta (Arabic) | Time |
| Gawrba (āĻāĻ°ā§āĻŦāĻž) | Gorba(Arabic) | Guest |
| Gamala/Gabala (āĻāĻžāĻŦāĻžāĻ˛āĻž, āĻāĻžāĻŽāĻžāĻ˛āĻž) | Gamela (Portuguese) | Bucket |
| Balti (āĻŦāĻžāĻ˛ā§āĻ¤āĻŋ) | Balde (Portuguese) | Bucket |
Outside the 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 âAn Analysis of the Ethno-Linguistic Roots and Connections of the Chakma and Tanchangya Peopleâ. 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 |
- Tanchangya at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
- Debnath, Rupak (2008). Ethnographic Study of Tanchangya of CHT, CADC, Sittwe, and South Tripura. Kolkata: Kreativmind, India. p. 167.
- Debnath, Rupak (2008). Ethnographic Study of Tanchangya of CHT, CADC, Sittwe, and South Tripura. Kolkata: Kreativmind, India. p. 71.
- Roti Kanta Tanchangya (2000): 62-65
- Debnath, Rupak (2008). Ethnographic Study of Tanchangya of CHT, CADC, Sittwe, and South Tripura. Kolkata: Kreativmind, India. p. 88.
- "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.
- "Tanchangya Wikibook". 2014.
- "Tongchangya World". 2018.
- "Tongchangya World : History, Culture, and Literature". 2017.
- "Tanchangya". 2017.
- "United Tanchangya Academic and Cultural Forum (UTACF)". 2015.
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