A comparison between Khasi and Manipuri word order

Abstract

Manipuri (Meithei) and Khasi are languages spoken in Manipur and Meghalaya, two northeastern states of India. A number of Manipuri speakers are also found in neighboring states like Assam and Tripura and outside the country in Bangladesh and Myanmar. Manipuri belongs to the Kuki-Chin branch of the Tibeto-Burman family, and Khasi to the Mon-Khmer branch of the Austroasiatic family. The population of Khasi speakers is about half a million, while that of Manipuri is about a million as a mother tongue in Manipur state alone. Both Khasi and Manipuri are recognized as official languages in their respective states. At the national level, Manipuri is included as one of the scheduled languages in the Indian constitution. It is interesting to note that Khasi forms a linguistic island amid the Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan speakers in the northeastern region of India. From the viewpoint of social organization, the Khasi and the Manipuri communities show highly diversified systems, the former matriarchal and the latter patriarchal. Since the languages belong to different families but are spoken in the same geographical area, comparison between the two is interesting.