a. Introduction
The Tanchangya language is one of the eleven indigenous languages in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh and an ethnic group in India and Myanmar. It is categorized under Indo-Aryan languages, a sub-group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, despite different scholars’ opinions of the Tibeto-Burman language family. Tanchangya language is rich to some extent with its folklore in oral literature. But due to the result of negligence, very few have paid attention to it. The language has inevitably intermixed with the surrounding majority of languages where they are living in Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh. They have adopted several words from Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman, and even Persian, and Dutch.
Tanchangya language is obscure perhaps as well as their history. Therefore, different scholars put forward different opinions on the Tanchangya language. In CHT, there is a record and even composed patriotic songs in CHT on ‘ten languages with eleven tribes’ (দশ ভাষাবাসী এগারটি জাতি)”. When one inquires whose language is omitted, that is certainly the Tanchangya language. Chakmas claims that Tanchangya is a sub-tribe of Chakma[1]. As a result, the Tanchangya language or identity is none other than Chakma. ‘They also say that Tanchangyas are the ‘real Chakmas’; in private, however, a Tanchangya is Tanchangya’[2]. Tanchangyas are not willing to accept such propaganda since no Myanmar chronicles have recorded the Tanchangya as Chakma. The difference is noted in the ‘Gazetteer of Chittagong Hill Tracts’, ‘they spoke a dialect slightly different from those of Chakmas’[3]. Indeed, the difference between Tanchangya and Chakma is not because of living in different geographical locations but due to being different ethnicities.
Another notable feature of the Tanchangya language is the assimilation of Burmese and Arakanese words. Such as ‘lʰʌŋ/লাং’ for “breaking the dawn” with few Mon similarities such as ‘ʌmɒ/আম’ (house) ‘tɒl/তল’ (ground floor) whereas such feature is comparatively not found in Chakma language. Tanchangya migrated from Burma two centuries ago but still, they (three countries Tanchangya) understand those words. Considerable similar vocabularies are found between Chakma and Tanchangya but such similarity also exists among Assamese, Bengali, and Odia, due to the root languages of Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Pali. This short writing is an attempt to bring about the Tanchangya language family and to trace the historical identity of the Tanchangya language.
b. Language Family-
Tanchangya people claim their language belongs to the Indo-European language family. However, according to Myanmar scholarship, Dainak/Daingnet (Dainak, Tongchangya, and Tanchangya are the same tribe but the only difference is their identification in respective countries of Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh) belong to the Tibeto-Burman race. In addition, Debnath also asserts that Tanchangya ethnically is Tibeto-Burman[4]. Myanmar scholars might have thought the ancient Sakyan race is the present Tsak or Chak/Thek, who dwell in the northern Rakhine state in Myanmar and the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh.
Dilemma may arise in the Tanchangya language whether it is Indo-European or Tibeto-Burman Language Family. However, it has closer derivative etymologies of Indo-Aryan languages with their distorted form. Therefore, after studying the language it will be clear on the language family. Moreover, according to Tanchangya’s oral history, their language is under the Indo-European family. Whether Magadhi, Prakrit, Sanskrit, or Pāḷi, all count under Middle-Indo-Aryan Languages. Furthermore, they claim that they are the descendants of Sakya, who lived in northern India, Kapilavastu in the 6th century B.C.E. ‘The Sakyan small kingdom was called Kapilavastu, which was included under Kosala kingdom’[5]. During the Buddha’s time, ‘Magadhi spoke in the whole Kosalan kingdom’.[6] Therefore, Sakyan must have spoken to Magadhi in their kingdom. At present Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and border areas between India and Nepal are the Sakyan places.
In ancient Burma, Tanchangyas are contemporary with other Tibeto-Burman and Mon-Khmer tribes. ‘Pyu, Thek/Thet/Sakya, Mon, and Kanyan are the ancient people in Burma[7]’. They dwelt in central Burma Tagaung from the 9th to the 7th century B.C.E. and with Arakanese until the 14th century C.E. in Arakan (until now they dwell as a Daingnet in Rakhine state in Myanmar). For that reason, Tibeto-Burman words assimilated into Tanchangya languages to some extent. Thus, scholars incline that the Tanchangya language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman Language Family.
A language could change to another language family. One may belong to another language family but due to the assimilation with an influential group, a tribe is likely to adopt another language. Such a case happened to the Assamese of North-east India. According to the history of Assam, ‘in the 13th century C.E. the powerful Mongol, Chengis Khan invaded Nanchao (Southern China called Yunnan) the Tai Groups (Shan, Tai, Laos, and Assamese). Thus they were compelled to migrate to the Shan Plateau in northern Myanmar, Assam, and North-Eastern States in India’[8].
The ancient Assamese language is Tibeto-Burma, unlike modern Assamese. They are a subgroup of Tai which belongs to the Tai-Kadai language family. However, Vaishnavism (who patronized Sanskrit) influenced the modern Assamese around the 16th century C.E. Due to that now their ancient language as well as their religion (i.e. Buddhism) are almost unrecognizable. When Hindu kings ruled the Ahom Kingdom around the 15th or 16th century C.E. they got Sanskrit influenced heavily. Hence, Assamese also has become similar even to Bengali due to the neighbor majority of Bengali in ancient Bengal. The present Assamese alphabets are also similar to Bengali which is just a difference of a few alphabets. A similar theory also could apply to the Tanchangya language for assimilating Tibeto-Burman words because they have been living together with Tibeto-Burman for many centuries. Consequently, they have adopted some words from Burmese and Arakanese. But it does not mean they belong to the Tibeto-Burman language family. They are linguistically Indo-European and by race they are Mongoloid.
c. Sources of language
The primary sources of the Tanchangya language are rooted in Indic languages. They are Pāḷi, Prakrit, Sanskrit, and other Middle Indo-Aryan languages. The reason for being closest to the Bengali language is that Bengali itself is based on Pāḷi, Prakrit, and Sanskrit. Nowadays, broken Bengali words or slightly modified words are directly used in the language due to administration, business, education, and legal matters in various ways where they dwell. And it will be even more if they neglect it in the future. The Tanchangya words are distorted; however, 80 percent of the vocabulary is derived from Indo-Aryan languages.
Besides the Indo-Aryan language, the Tanchangya people also adopted Tibeto-Burman words. However, they are comparatively few. According to the etymological derivative meaning, the Tanchangya words can be classified into fourfold namely Middle-Indo-Aryan (Pali, Prakrit, and Sanskrit), Tibeto-Burma (Burmese and Arakanese), Foreign words (Persian, Dutch, and English), and Original language. Biro Kumar Tanchangya noted the original derivative words in his “Introduction to Tanchangya” as “original language (nɪt bʰəsʌ/নিত ভাসা) of Tanchangya[9]”.
d. Synthetic Approach-
Some syntax elements will be examined to clarify the Tanchangya language family. From the linguistic perspective, syntax is universally accepted for determining its language family. Tanchangya like all Indo-Aryan languages, the sentence structure is subject-object-verb (SVO). For instance, “mʊɪ/মুই (I) bʰʌt/ভাত (rice) kʰʌŋɒt/খাঙত (eating)”. However, two more patterns are also intelligible structures in the Tanchangya language. The first pattern is omitting the subject, for instance, bʰʌt (rice) and kʰʌŋɒt (I am eating). The second pattern is object (bʰʌt/ ভাত/ rice)-verb (kʰʌŋɒt/ খাঙৎ/ eating)-subject (mʊɪ/মুই/ I am), unlike common sentence structure of ‘subject-object-verb (sov). But two structures are also easily intelligible for readers and listeners. The core reason for omitting the subject is that every “verb” of Indo-Aryan languages, inherits the subject, number, and person. Therefore, the subject is easily understood by looking at the verbal formation.
Besides omitting the subject, the verb also occasionally does not require a sentence. For instance, “ əmʌttʊn মত্তুন (to us) dɪbə (দিবা) (two) pɒwə (পআ) (sons)”. Like the Pali language, “gottena gotamo nātho” which means “Lord is Gotama by Clan.”. In this instance, the verb is omitted due to obviousness. Indeed, it is one characteristic of the Middle Indo-Aryan language i.e. Pali.
Another notable feature is the diminution of retroflex and two sibilant consonants. The retroflex (i.e. ṭ, ṭh, ḍ, ḍh, and ṇ and dental (t, th, d, dh, n) consonants pronounce similarly. Moreover, the pronunciation between the retroflex sibilant ‘ṣ’ and palatal sibilant consonant ‘ś’ is the same as the dental sibilant ‘s’. The inherent aspirate sound also pronounces with no aspirate sound in the group consonants.
Moreover, the Tanchangya language is not tonal. All the syllables in a word and all the words in a sentence receive equal stress like most Indo-Aryan languages. However, most of the Tibeto-Burman languages are tonal languages. Therefore, the subject inherits the verb and the tonal differences clearly show that the Tanchangya language is not a Tibeto-Burman language family but it belongs to the Indo-Aryan European language family.
e. Stage of Language-
Direct evidence does not support the evolution of the Tanchangya language. However, from a theoretical perspective, it can be assumed the evolution of the Tanchangya language falls into three stages. They are:
- Ancient Magadhi-This period is probably from the 9th century B.C.E. to the early 14th century C.E. The Sakyan used it until they migrated to Arakan from Micchagiri (Present name Thaye) in central Myanmar near the bank of Irrawaddy[10]. This could be a good basis for the Tanchangya language to preserve closely with Indo-Aryan languages such as Prakrit, Pāḷi, and Sanskrit. In this stage, scripts were unknown; if they were, they could be Brahmi scripts.
- Middle Sakyan- This period might have happened around the 14th century to 18th century C.E. In this period, ancient Burmese and Arakan languages could have been influenced to some extent. According to one of the Myanmar Chronicle ‘Danyawady Ayedaw Bung’ Mengdi, the Arakan king captivated the Sakyan to the Arakan Kingdom from Central Myanmar called Micchagiri (Thayet in Magwe Division). During this period Tanchangya language is believed to be a mixture of Indo-Aryan, and Tibeto-Burman languages. Therefore, those Tibeto-Burman words are still found in the Tanchangya language. For example, “kjɔŋ) (ক্যং)” means monastery, is a loan word from the Myanmar language but the pronunciation is like Arakanese due to closer contact with Arakanese in Arakan. During this time Arakan King gave the name Dainnak/Daingnet to the Tanchangya people. In 1818 C.E. the Dainak left Arakan for Chittagong Hill Tracts[11]. Even after their settlement, they were able to speak Arakanese fluently according to the sayings of their forefathers. Even their names also like Arakanese names such as Aung Koi Ching (ɔŋ kɔɪ ʧɪŋ) (অং কৈ চিং), Chui Hla Prue (ʧʊɪ lʰʌ prʊ) and (চৈ লহা প্রু)’ Thus, they still use most of the religious terms which are equivalent with Arakanese.
- Modern Tanchangya- The Tanchangya language has influenced inevitably depending on their location, where they live nowadays. This period perhaps began from the 19th century C.E. onwards until the present.
Depending on geographical location the influential languages have been compelled to adopt Tanchangya languages. In Bangladesh, the Tanchangy language got a lot of influence from the Bengali language whereas in India they use frequent English words, particularly among the young generation. In Burma, Dainak uses frequent Burmese words. However, the old generation who do not have any knowledge either of Bengali or English language in the remote areas preserve the ancient Tanchangya language. The Dainak people in Myanmar does still preserve ancient Pāḷi, and ancient Indo-European language family words despite a mixture with frequent Arakanese.
It is the Dainak language that differs from the Tibeto-Burman languages in Myanmar. According to Aung San Suu Kyi, ‘the early peoples of Arakan are something of a mystery. It is thought that they were a mixture of Mongolian and Aryan peoples who had come over from India. Certainly, the early kings of Arakan were of Indian stock[12]. The Arakanese belong to Tibeto-Burman linguistically but by race, they belong to Mongoloid whereas the Dainak is Mongoloid by race and linguistically belong to Indo-Aryan. Further, Aung San Suu Kyi states that the language of some of the other groups shows the influence of Bengali. Indeed, to whom she is referring is the Marmagyi (Barua in Bangladesh) who speak Bengali and Dainak, whose languages have some similarities with Bengali. Hence, the usage of Tanchangya vocabulary is a little bit different based on their localities. However, still, most of the words are similar among the Tanchangyas in Bangladesh, Tongchangya in Mizoram, Tanchangya-Chakma in Tripura, and Dainak (Chakma) in Rakhine State and Yangon Division in Myanmar.
f. Classification of Language-
Based on sept/kingship group (gɒsʌ) (গসা)Tanchangya language is classified into 12 kingship group. Out of the 12, only four kingship group languages are distinctive, which differ slightly among Tanchangya languages. For example, the sentence ‘Where are you going brothers?’ in Tanchangya:
- mʊɒ gɒsʌ (মুঅ গসা)- kʊrɪ dʒɒtte dʌlɒk? (কুরি জত্তে দা লক্?)
- dɒnjʌ gɒsʌ (দোন্যা গসা)- kʊrʊ dʒɒtte dʌlɒk? (কুরু জত্তে দা লক্?)
- kʌrvʌ gɒsʌ (কার্বা গসা)- hudɪ dʒɒtte dʌlɒk? (কুদু জত্তে দা লক্?)
- mɔŋlʌ gɒsʌ & melɔŋ gɒsʌ(মেলং গসা আহ মংলা গসা)-kwet dʒɒtte dʌlɒk?(ক্বেত জত্তে দা লক্?).
Among twelve kingship groups in the Tanchangya language, kʌrvʌ gɒsʌ and ɔŋjɔ gɒsʌ (অঙয়- গসা) show some similarity with Chakma’s vocabularies. For instance, “berʌ” in Chakma is also called “berʌ” (বেরা) in kʌrvʌ gɒsʌ tribe unlike mʊɒ gɒsʌ and dɔɪnjʌ gɒsʌ which they call “beseɡʌ” (বেসেগা). Therefore, the Tanchangya language is analyzed into four categories owing to the distinctive language pattern.
Conclusion-
Tanchangya language is one of the minority languages in Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar. They preserve language orally. Despite being a minority language, the Government of Bangladesh regards it as a separate language whereas in India they consider it a sub-tribe of Chakma in Mizoram, India. The language is mainly based on the Middle-Indo-Aryan language of Pāḷi, Sanskrit, and Prakrit. But due to the evolution of the language, its deviation is also almost untraceable. Therefore, scholars’ opinions on the Tanchangya language of Tibeto-Burman are beyond the historical evidence. Simply with the deviation from the original word, it is unwise and beyond the fact directly to make into conclusion that the language belongs to Tibeto-Burman language. All the above factual information identifies that the language belongs to Indo-European Language Family. Indeed, the Tanchangya language is just the Tanchangya language without being a sub-language of Chakma or others. Their language is mostly preserved orally in local ballad song called “ɡɪŋɡʊlɪ/গিংগুলি” concerning history, culture, and beliefs. For further research, interested scholars are welcome to comments and criticism on the discussed points.
Footnotes
[1] Here are some published books noted on “Tanchangya is a sub-tribe of Chakma”. (Chakma 2006: 20); (Rajput 1963: 2); (Ishaq 1971: 44); (Lewin 1869:62).
[2] (Debnath 2011: 54)
[3] (Ishaq 1971: 44); For details clarification of differences between Chakma and Tanchangya see (Debnath 2011: 54).
[4] (Debnath 2011: 54)
[5] (Law 2008: 5)
[6] (Basham 2004: 394)
[7] (Harvey 2010, 3)
[8] Grierson 1902: 1)
[9] (Tanchangya 1995: 30)
[10] (Tin and Luce 2008: 1)
[11] (Ishaq 1971: 44)
[12] (Kyi 2010: 63)
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