The Tripura of Bangladesh: a Sociolinguistic Survey
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DigitalResources Electronic Survey Report 2011-038 ® The Tripura of Bangladesh: A Sociolinguistic Survey Amy Kim Seung Kim Palash Roy Mridul Sangma The Tripura of Bangladesh: A Sociolinguistic Survey Amy Kim Seung Kim Palash Roy Mridul Sangma SIL International® 2011 SIL Electronic Survey Report 2011-038, July 2011 Copyright © 2011 Amy Kim, Seung Kim, Palash Roy, Mridul Sangma, and SIL International® All rights reserved CONTENTS Abbreviations Abstract Preface 1. Introduction 1.1. Language 1.2. History 1.3. People 1.4. Purposes and goals 1.4.1. Research of language development efforts 1.4.2. Study of the language varieties 1.4.3. Language attitudes, vitality, and bilingualism study 1.5. Geography 2. Summary of Findings 2.1. Research of language development efforts 2.2. Study of the language varieties 2.2.1. Lexical similarity study 2.2.2. Intelligibility study 2.3. Language attitudes, vitality, and bilingualism study 3. Research of Language Development Efforts 3.1. Procedures 3.2. Discussion of sample 3.3. Results 4. Study of the Language Varieties 4.1 Lexical similarity study 4.1.1. Procedures 4.1.2. Discussion of sample 4.1.3. Results 4.2. Intelligibility study 4.2.1. Procedures 4.2.2. Discussion of sample 4.2.3. Results 5. Language Attitudes, Vitality, and Bilingualism Study 5.1. Procedures 5.2. Discussion of sample 5.3. Results 5.3.1. Language use 5.3.2. Language attitudes – regarding language use 5.3.3. Language attitudes – towards language classes 5.3.4. Language vitality 5.3.5. Bilingualism 6. Recommendations Bangla Translations of Section 1.4, Section 2, and Section 6 Appendices A. Wordlists B. Recorded Text Tests C. Recorded Text Test Responses D. Questionnaires E. Sociolinguistic Questionnaire Responses F. Subject Biodata G. Tripura Community Information References ABBREVIATIONS CIQ = Community Information Questionnaire HTT = Hometown Test LWC = Language of Wider Communication MLE = Multilingual Education MT = Mother Tongue NGO = Non-governmental Organization RTT = Recorded Text Test TNT = Telephone and Telegraph UNICEF = United Nations Children’s Fund ABSTRACT The Tripura people collectively speak several language varieties. This survey report gives an account of the sociolinguistic research that took place among the Tripura in Bangladesh, including the Usoi Tripura (who refer to their language as Kau Brung), the Debbarma Tripura (who call their language Kok Borok), the Riang (who sometimes refer to their language as Kau Bru), and ten groups of Tripura from Khagrachari district (who also often call their language Kok Borok). The goals of the research were to better understand linguistic variation, language attitudes, intelligibility in select varieties, current language and community development efforts, and bilingual abilities among the Tripura people of Bangladesh. Tools used in this research were interviews, wordlists, questionnaires, and stories recorded in two varieties (Naitong Kok Borok from Khagrachari, Bangladesh, and Debbarma Kok Borok from Agartala, India). Fieldwork for this research took place from March through July 2007. 1 PREFACE As part of SIL Bangladesh’s efforts to assist in the development of minority languages, we researched the many language varieties of Kok Borok in Bangladesh. The field research took us from Naikhongchari in the south to Moulvi Bazar in the north, from Rajbari in the west to Thanchi in the east. This report is the result of the research conducted from March through July 2007. During this survey, for the first time, we had the able help and cheerful companionship of Palash Roy, a new, full-time Bangladeshi language surveyor. We commend him for his eager-to-learn attitude, his servant heart, and his valuable contribution. We also continued to enjoy the capabilities and fellowship of our other full-time survey colleague Mridul Sangma. We are thankful for these two men’s presence on the team and look forward to seeing them continue to develop into skilled language surveyors who will contribute much to minority language communities through their knowledge, skills, and character. Many thanks also go out to the people who helped us in many ways. Numerous village and Tripura community leaders took time out of their busy schedules to meet with us, patiently sharing their knowledge of and insights into the Tripura community and graciously serving us tasty tea and fruit. We are especially grateful for the invaluable assistance of many at Zabarang Kalyan Samity, especially Dhana and Doya, who introduced us to many Tripura leaders, organizations, and village communities and accompanied us on several of our visits with these people. We are also indebted to Promud and Jagadish of the Tripura Students’ Forum, for they provided our team with important insights and connections and invaluable translation help. We wish both of these organizations many blessings as they continue to serve the Tripura people. Finally, we reserve our deepest appreciation for the people and leaders of all the villages we researched—Barbakpur, Beltolipara, Bethanipara, Boro Pharangsia, Choto Madhuk, Dolchari, Doluchara, Jarichandrapara, Khagrapur, Katchaptali, Krishna Dayalpara, Laiphu Karbaripara, Lama, Lombapara, Mildhanpara, Noimail Gutchagram, Oldlankar, Pakkhipara, Robertpara, Sapmara, Satchari Tripura Basti, Sinaipara, Tongpaipara—who, no matter when we showed up, no matter how long we stayed, extended warm welcomes and gave their cooperation. We want to thank them for making themselves available for this work, and more than that, for accepting us, not just as researchers but also as friends. They make all the work worthwhile. It is our prayer that this work will enrich their lives in some way. Seung and Amy Kim Language Survey Specialists SIL Bangladesh July 2007 Dhaka, Bangladesh 2 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Language Among the more-informed, Kok Borok (also spelled Kokborok) is the name generally used to refer to the Tripura people’s language. In many of the language varieties spoken by the Tripura people, “kok”, or something similar, means “language” and “borok,” or something similar, means “person” but is used to refer to the Tripura people. Thus, “Kok Borok” can be said to mean “the language of the Tripura people.” Kok Borok was the official language of the independent Tripura kingdom from 585–1949, that is, for 1,364 years (Prabhangshu Tripura 2002:28). Then, on 19 January 1979, it was recognized as one of the state languages of Tripura state, India, and in 1990 Twipra University started offering a certificate of diploma in Kok Borok (Kokborok – Language of Borok people of Tripura). Kok Borok is now being considered for recognition as a national language of India (Wikipedia 2007c). While Kok Borok is the language of the Tripura people, it may be more accurate to say that Kok Borok is the overriding name given to a group of language varieties spoken by the Tripura people, for there are several rather distinct language varieties spoken among these people. Binoy Debbarma lists “eight distinct Kokborok dialects:” Bru, Debbarma, Jamatia, Koloi, Murasing, Rupini, Tripura, and Uchoi (B. Debbarma 2003:58). Another source (Wikipedia 2007c) lists a slightly different set of eight: Debbarma, Jamatia, Koloi, Rupini, Noatia or Tripura, Darlong, Molsom, and Reang. Thus, Kok Borok can be used to refer to the language of any Tripura person. It has also come to be known as “the standard dialect of the Debbarma tribe spoken around Agartala and the second official language of Tripura [state]” (Wikipedia 2007e). Among all of the language varieties spoken by Tripura people, it is this Debbarma language variety that has been most developed and that serves as a language of wider communication (LWC) among the Tripura people in many parts of Tripura state. Within Bangladesh, however, only a small percentage of the Tripura people are of the Debbarma clan and speak this “standard” Kok Borok. Instead, most of the Tripura in Bangladesh speak language varieties which are related to this standard but which also have some notable differences. They do, however, share the same linguistic classification: Sino- Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Jingpho-Konyak-Bodo, Konyak-Bodo-Garo, Bodo-Garo, Bodo. Listening to how the Tripura people of Bangladesh refer to their language among themselves revealed that those who are Debbarma do in fact generally refer to their language as Kok Borok. The Usoi Tripura, however, refer to their language as Kau Brung, and those of the Riang clan generally call their language Riang or Kau Bru. Furthermore, outsiders are generally quite unaware of the nuances of Tripura speakers’ complex language situation and often refer to the language itself as “Tripura.” Within Bangladesh this has become so commonplace that the Tripura people themselves will often call their language “Tripura,” “Tipera,” or “Tipra.” This seemed to be especially true among those living in Khagrachari district, for these people seemed to use the names “Kok Borok,” “Kau Bru,” and “Tipra” interchangeably when referring to their language. In this report the term “Kok Borok” will be used to refer collectively to the language varieties of all Tripura speakers. It will be qualified with words such as “Debbarma” or “Khagrachari” to refer to specific types of Kok Borok. 3 Kok Borok is a tonal language (Kokborok – Language of Borok people of Tripura). Kok Borok author Nanda Kumar Deb Barma states that there are seven tones in Kok Borok but that a symbol is needed for perhaps only three of them (Nanda Kumar Deb Barma, personal communication). With regards to tone Dr. Francois Jacquesson writes, In Kok Borok, we have a low tone and a high tone, for instance, what Binoy Debbarma writes thwi ‘to die’ (low tone) and thwih ‘blood’ (high tone). This scholar, as others before him, writes the high tone with a final h, and wisely decided that all words without final h have the low tone. Of course, in this case all high tones should be written with h, because if you don’t do it consistently, words without h will be understood as being low tone.