- Tangkhul
The Tangkhul is a Naga tribe living in the Indo-Myanmar border area occupying Ukhrul district in Manipur, India and Somra Tangkhul hills in Myanmar. They are taking a major role for the intregation of naga tribes in Northeast India and Myanamr. The major dream of their leaders is to integrate whole naga tribes by forming a Greater Nagaland or Nagalim, the word 'lim' meaning land in the Ao Naga language. According to 2001 statistics of the Government of India, Tangkhuls number around 50,0000 (excludes those in Myanmar).
Dialects: Although the Tangkhul Naga tribe speaks more than a hundred dialects, the common lingua franca is the Hunphun dialect called as the Tangkhul language. Almost every village having a different dialect ranging from slight variation to more. Neighbouring villages may share similarities but a villager from the southern part of the Tangkhul area would not be able to understand the dialects spoken by those in the north.
The Tangkhul language spoken by Hunphun (the traditional name of Ukhrul) village closely resembling the dialect spoken by the neighbouring villages became the most common dialect among the Tangkhuls as the British set up their administration in Ukhrul besides the American Baptist missionary Rev. William Pettigrew translating the Bible in Hunphun dialect. It was akin to Martin Luther translation of the Bible into German which unified and standardised the varying German dialects till then.
Linguistically, the Tangkhul language comes under the classification of Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman.
Language development: Literacy rate in first language: Because of the diversity in dialects, it would be difficult to have a fair, standardized language to gauge the literacy level. However if the knowledge of Tangkhul is taken as an indicator, most young Tangkhuls are losing their grasp of the language, often preferring to use English to describe more complex ideas. English is taught in schools and the number of people able to read the Roman script is high. Almost all young people can read and write the Roman script; older people would be less proficient. Literacy rate in other language: 70% Meitei, English. Taught in primary schools. Roman script. Magazines. Newspapers. Radio programs. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible: 1976.
External links
www.tangkhul.com
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