Tai Khamyang

The Tai Khamyangs is one of the Tai groups of Assam who migrated from Southeast
Asia in eighteenth century. Of course, there are some different views when the Khamuangs
entered Assam. According to Dr Padmeswar Gogoi the Khamyangs entered Assam in the early
part of eighteenth century, Dr Lila Gogois view is, it was in the middle of Eighteenth century.
But Tarwell said it was in the early part of nineteenth century.
Before crossed the Patkai they lived in Moung kong. (Gogoi, 17). According to Tai
Khamyang history, The Khamyangs came from Khamjang (Kham means gold and yang means
place, thus, the Khamjang means the place of gold) nearby Maung Mit and Maung Kong and
send by king Sau Khan Pha, to find his brother Sukapha. In Tai language, the y is
pronounced as j and thus, the word Khamyang are pronounced as Khamjang (Ibid, p.30).
Sukapha, the king of Ahoms spent a little time in Khamjang before he crossed the Patkai hills.
That is why the king of Moung Mit decided to send the Khamyangs to search Sukapha.
The Khamyang came with their family and inhabited in Khew Nong Nok jang near to
Patkai. Nong means lake and khew means blue. The meaning of Nong Khew is blue water bill.
The another word Nok Jang means Paddy bird. The Khamyngs established two new villages
Man-Nam (Man means village and Nam means water) and Man Noi (Man= village and Noy=
hill) respectively and spent almost 200 years in that place. Due to attack of Singphows rapidly
the Khamyangs were decided to leave the place and crossed the Patkai hills and spent some
years in Khamjang Nat (Khamyang field) in Sanglang district of Arunachal Pradesh.
Again, the fear of attack from Singphows, the Khamyangs decided to came near to the
Khamtis. Nam Sum (Tengapani) and Moung Teola (Sadia) were the place, where the Khamtis
dwelt in. During the period, the Khamtis and Khamyangs rebelled and fought against the Ahom.
But Ahoms defeted them and most of the Khamyangs were arrested in the war. The Ahoms
brings them to Titabor. One of the Khamyangs group came to Sarupather of Golaghat district
and inhabited near the Turungs (one of the Tai group of Assam). Again, later in the British
period, the Khamyangs and Khamtis jointly rebelled against the British and the result was
khamyang had displaced from Sadia to Sivasagar district.
According to Tai Khamyang Buranji, one of the Tai groups called Man Noi came to
Rangpur, the capital city of Ahoms, in 1874. It has been mentioned earlier that the Man Noi
groups of Khamyangs were already arrested by Ahoms during the war. Later, Purnananda
Burgohain, the chief of the cabinet released them and the Man Noi group of Khamyangs
inhabited in Dhali with the other group Khanyangs Man Nam.
The Khamyangs are mentioned as Nora in Buranji. Many people said them as Pani Nora
too. According to Tai Khamyang Buranji, Most of the year, a big part of the Moung Kong were
logged with water, spread from the lake Nong Khew and Nong Jang. People called them as Na
la. Na means field and la means damp. Later, the word na la becomes nora. For that reason the
people of Moung Kong were called na la or nora and thats way the kingdoms was called na la
or nora rajya.
U N Gohain mentioned that the Kahmyangs were the care-taker of Patkai mountain pass.
Those, who inspected the hill area of Patkai were called Man noi (Bam nora) and the same, those
who inspected the wetland of Patkai were called Man Nam (Pani nora).
Greirson mentioned the area where the Kahmyangs were inhabitant and number of the
people who speaks their language. The location and numbers are as follows-

Khamti: Lakshimpur- 2930
Phakial: Lakishimpur- 625
Nora: Sivasagar- 300
Turung: Sivasagar- 150
Aiton: Sivasagar and Naga Hill- 200



Following is a phonological and a grammatical sketch of the
Khamyang Language:

3.1.Phononology:
3.1.1. Consonant Phonemes:
There are 16 consonants in the Khamyang language. One of the main characteristics
of the consonant system is the existence of a glottal stop. Another major characteristic is that
each letter of the Khamyang is pronounced with A sound inherently attached.








Biabial dental/
Alveolar
palatal velar glottal
Voiceless

unaspirated
stops
p

t c k ?
Voiceless
aspirated
stops
ph

th kh
Voiced
stops
b
Nasals m n N
Voiceless
fricative

s h
Lateral l
Semi-
vowel

y



3.1.2. Vowel Phonemes :



front mid back

Close i

u
Close mid e F

o
Open mid

E
Open

, A







These vowel phonemes cannot be used as vowel letters. Indeed, these are
symbols. To write the vowel letter, the vowel symbol must be fixed with the consonant
letter to make a word. (Gohain, Aimyakhang : Elementary Tai Primer with Grammar.-
04)
Khamyang is a monosyllabic language. One of the main characteristics of the
language is that each word has several tones. Different tones make different meanings.
There are six tones (Morey, Stephen: The Tai Language of Assam- A Grammar
and texts-161) in the Khamyang language. The tones are
1. mid level with slight fall
2. high level then falling
3. low, falling and glottalized
4. high level then falling with glottal ending
5. low falling
6. level, with possible rise at the end.
For example, the syllable mA, shows five of these tones.
mA1 shoulder
mA2 come
mA3 crazy
mA4 horse
mA6 dog