What specific initiatives have you taken to revive Karbi?
I belong to the Karbi ethnic group and speak Karbi, which is a member of a large Tibeto-Burman linguistic group. Karbi is marked as ‘vulnerable’ on the ‘UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 2010’ list. However, it is not yet a dead language, owing to the tireless efforts of some scholars.
I am engaged in documenting oral stories and songs that are mostly associated with traditional healing practices and rituals. These folkloric elements are important in documenting the language itself.
What are the reasons behind tribal languages dying? What can governments, private organisations and individuals do to prevent this?
Contact and fusion with other languages and growing multilingualism of Karbi tribals is responsible for gradual extinction of the language.
There has been a pronounced trend of bilingualism among the Karbi tribes as many speak Assamese. In 1961, about 53% of the Karbi population spoke two languages, Assamese and Karbi. By 1971, this had reduced to 29%, ie approximately 71% of Karbi tribals spoke only their native tongue. However, in recent years, bilingualism has again increased.
I feel the state language policy is also responsible to a large degree in making Karbi vulnerable. Simultaneously, the lack of systematic language preservation efforts and drive within the community (to promote and preserve the indigenous language) has also hurt.
What needs to be done by the Government and Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council?
Some urgent steps need to be taken:
a) Standardization of spoken and written Karbi
b) Inclusion in education curriculum and textbook production
c) Incorporation of culture and history in education and by academia
d) Documentation (collection of folklore, stories, rituals, songs) by individuals and community organisations.
Can you share some interesting facts about the language?
Karbi has many verbs, being an action-oriented language. Very few instances of indirect or passive speech are found. The vocabulary is very intense and philosophical.
A lore suggests ancient Karbi writing tradition was lost in a crossing. According to another story, Karbi was written on buffalo skin in very ancient times. But one day, a powerful spirit was offended and sent rats to devour the skins, destroying them forever.
A partial script, Kido, is still used by Karbi tribes elders in traditional administration for communicating limited information.
How many people in the world speak this language today?
According to recent research, Karbi is spoken by approximately 1,50,000. Colonial accounts state that 82,282 people spoke this language in 1901, as per data gathered during the Census.
Tell us about the origin and evolution of this language.
Karbi belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family, which is the most diverse in Northeast India. But linguists are yet to arrive at any definitive conclusion about the exact position of the language in the family, in spite of the fact that it shares many commonalities with the neighbouring Tibeto-Burman and Austroasiatic languages of the Northeast.
