14

Introduction

1.1 Language change

Language change is the phenomenon of variation of a language over

time whether on phonological, morphological, semantic, syntactic, or on other

features of language. In such a change new words, new pronunciations, new

meanings or even new grammatical forms can be derived or borrowed whereas,

old forms and meanings happen to be dropping out of use. Linguistic change

can also be said to have taken place when a new linguistic element, used by a

few speakers within a speech community is adopted by other members of that

community and accepted as the norm (Jennifer, 1993; Nettle, 1999a;

Thomason, 2010).

That language is a living entity in the process of constant change is a

universally accepted fact. Change is one of the inevitable facts in the life of any

language. Human languages which are actively being in used experience

change over time. And the language that deviates from this norm is a dead

language. There can never be a moment of true standstill in language, just as

little as in the ceaselessly flaming thought of men; by nature it is a continuous

process of development (Wilhelm von Humboldt, 1863 in Aitchison, 2001).

Some important statements given on the language change are rendered here.

"Language moves down time in a current of its own making.

Nothing is perfectly static. Every word, every grammatical element,

every locution, every sound and accent is a slowly changing

configuration moulded by the invisible and impersonal drift that is

the life of language." - Sapir (1921)

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“Time changes all things: there is no reason why language

should escape this universal law.” -Ferdinand de Saussure (in, Jean

Aitchison, 2001)

“Language, then, like everything else, gradually transforms

itself over the centuries. There is nothing surprising in this. In a

world where humans grow old, tadpoles change into frogs, and milk

turns into cheese, it would be strange if language alone remained

unaltered.”- Jean Aitchison (2001)

“Indeed changes seem to be inherent in the nature of language:

there is no such thing as a perfectly stable human language” –

Milroy (1992)

One of the fundamental facts about language is that it keeps changing in

time, although it is a slow process. It is slow enough that the replacement of

forms and rules is not overt and hardly noticeable within a generation.

However, we are often aware that the generations before and after us use

different forms and rules. Language change is constant and pervasive affecting

the lexicon, meaning, sound and all aspects of the grammar of a particular

language. The speed of change also varies from language to language due to the

differences of the social networks of the speakers that determine the dynamic

and outcome of language change. For many years, sociolinguists have tried to
study language change by examining the social contexts of the speech

communities. It is now known that variability is a prerequisite for a change in

language; hence, by extrapolating from the patterns of variation we find today

we can make some predictions about the directions change is moving in,

(Romaine, 2000:144) and one may explain past by using the present.
 16

The truth about language change may be different from the popular

conception that change begins with the upper class (modelling language for

other social groups to follow). For example, Nettle (1999a) claims language

change requires the existence of super-influential agents to ensure the diffusion

of an innovation. Labov (2001) in his study ‘changes from bellow’ explains that

there are a lot of changes in which innovations diffuse, not from the highest

social class, but from the upper working class or lower middle class, who are

considered as having less social impact. His study on the change in

pronunciation in a relatively short period in the American resort of Martha’s

Vineyard showed how the change resulted from social tensions and processes.

It is also observed that there are intricate interdependent relationships between

language and culture as well as language and social structure.

1.2 Reasons of language change:

Language changes for a variety of reasons. Language reflects the

lifestyle of its speakers. And language changes as the lifestyles change over

time. The needs to refer to the terms associated with new technologies,

industries, products and experiences drive language change. For example, the

words such as computer, fax, Xerox, mobile phone etc did not exist in the time
of Shakespeare. And these new terms have become the necessity of modern

lifestyle. By using such emerging terms, all of us enhance language change.

Early researchers, such as Saussure (1922), Bloomfield (1933)

considered that the causes of linguistic change cannot be established despite

numerous attempts at feasible explanations (cited in Wardhaugh, 1990:187).

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The majority of the early researchers have also maintained that the actual

processes of change cannot be observed and that what one can observe and

perhaps analyses are the consequences of change. For example, Lass (1980)

mentioned that the components “of language change are so complex that they

will perhaps never be understood (well enough) to state precisely why a

specific change occurred… or to predict when one will occur … and what it

will be”. The seminal paper by Labov and Herzog (1968) argued that in order

to understand the problem of actuation (that is, to explain why certain changes
occur in certain languages at certain times and not in other languages or the

same language at other times), the social location of the linguistic change is

needed to examine. One can nonetheless offer explanations for why certain

changes might have taken place or why marked elements might be retained.

Although the reasons for an aspect of a language change at a particular

point in time still remain unclear, a number of theories have been proposed,

depending on the orientation of individual researchers. For example, Aitchison

(2001), focusing on language change as a manifestation of a social phenomenon

of a speech community, proposes three socio-linguistic causes: "fashion,

foreign influence and social need”. On the functional view of language change,

he had rightly said that "language alters as the needs of its users alter".

As a language is not used in exactly the same way, the unique way that

we speak also fuels language change. The vocabulary and phrases we use
depend on where we live, our age, level of education, social status and so on.

Younger generations, for example, often use different words and phrases from
 18

older generations. Some of these innovations in the speech spread through the

population and slowly accepted by other members of the community which, in

fact, has become a reason of language change.

Most often, it is thought that language also changes due to laziness of the

speakers for example the shorten forms of English such as ‘isn’t, won’t’ etc.

The study of Hiroynki Yokose (1997) shows the usage of shortcut words as one

of the aspects of language change in Australian English. Deliberate decision by

speech communities is also a cause of linguistic change and the most familiar

of deliberate changes are lexical such as teenage slang (Thomason, 2008).

Language change also takes place through language acquisition (Croft

2000). The variations that come from the process of language acquisition are

internalized and propagated by the new generation and hence a change may be

invited in the language. Common assumptions on language change are

proposed mostly in the area of the contact induced language change. The

effects of language contact are many and varied and can be quite dramatic.

However, this perception cannot be generalized to all languages as there are

well documented cases of bilingual speech communities whose members do not

engage in lexical borrowing. For example, Montana Salish does not in general

borrow words from English and it has acquired no structural features from

English (or French) either (Thomason, 1997). So, it is very hard to establish

predictions of linguistic change since there are always exceptions to

generalizations. “Historical linguists know that any search for deterministic

predictions of language change is bound to fail, whether the focus is on

internally-motivated change or on contact induced change” (ibid).

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1.3 Internal and external motives of language change:

Language change can basically be assigned to one of the two factors:

either the change is caused by a structural aspect of the language (internal

factor) or the change is caused by the social factor of the speakers (external

factor). Internal factors solely focus upon structural or psychological

motivations that claim linguistic change being motivated by an inherent drive

for structural regularity, the removal of marked elements and the analogical
spread of regular forms, functional economy or naturalness. Internally

motivated change is supported by Martinet (1952a); he argues that a functional

view of sound change such as phonological drive for symmetry plays a crucial

role in language change. Cohen (1975) wrote on the internally motivated force

as: "Internal evolution [...] is the passing from one system to another. [...]

Internal evolution proceeds progressively, by modification and substitution of

details. It is the sum of these details which, at the end of a certain period of

time, constitutes a total change." Hawkin’s (1976) work on the sound shift in

the New Zealand English short vowels is a relevant example of purely

internally based explanation of sound change. Welmers (1970) seems to put

more weight on internal factors regarding the influences on phonology and

morphosyntax when he states: “… all we know about language history and

language change demand that […] we seek explanations first on the basis of

recognized processes of internal change”. Lass has claimed that the reference to

social and historical factors in explaining language change have been

‘superficial and otiose’. John Ohala (1974:268), in explaining sound change

wrote: “One should first try all the phonetic explanations […]. Only if they
 20

don’t work [should one] seek an explanation in terms of social, psychological,

or historical facts”.

In contrast to the internal factor of language change, proponents of the

externally motivated language change claims that the historical and social

factors of the speech community are the sole reason for language change.

Meillet (1921 in Labov 1994: 24)) supports the external factors of language as

he wrote: "the only variable to which we can turn to account for linguistic

change is social change." Further, he adds that in order to explain linguistic

change, one "must determine which social structure corresponds to a given

linguistic structure, and how, in a general manner, changes in social structure

are translated into changes in linguistic structure".

The seminal work of Labov (1972) in the area of social factor of

language change (external factor) was the analysis on variation and change on

Martha's Vineyard. He found that patterns of centralization in the diphthongs ay

and aw could only be explained by examining the social context and

particularly by making reference to the social characteristics of the speakers

(their attitudes, affections, and aspirations) involved in the change.

The observation made by Woods (1997) in relation to English use in

New Zealand illustrates different patterns of change within different social

groups of speakers, for example, the shift in the front short vowels and the
gender-based pattern of variation in which women lead men by up to a

generation. Such a pattern of social distribution indicates that system-external

forces have conditioned the development of the shift in the New Zealand
English short front vowels in spite of the internal constraints observed by

Hawkins (1976). The external causation of language observed by Campbell and

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Muntzel (1989) is worth to mention: the contact situation between speakers of

Xinca and Spanish in Guatemala brought about the heavy use of glottalization.

However, some scholars focus on internal motivations of a language to

explain language change. Dorian (1993) for instance, in her analysis of East

Sutherland Gaelic, claims that although this variety has been in close contact

with English, it is not necessarily the case that changes in Gaelic have an

external (contact-induced) rather than internal cause. She suggests that internal

pressures may result in a ‘line-up’ of potential shifts, and that these may

combine with external factors to produce the change. Dorian also warns against

the danger of misconstruction as the consequences of contact on linguistic

systems. For example, her analysis reveals that while contact with English has

weakened pronoun replacement as a gender signal in East Sutherland Gaelic, it

is not the case that contact with English has weakened nominal gender

assignment overall. Rather, Dorian finds that gender assignment in diminutive

formation has remained strong, and that this can be explained by examining the

nature of the dialects that came into contact with East Sutherland Gaelic.

Lass and Wright (1986) highlight the dangers involved in viewing

change as a result of external factors simply because a sound in a language

changes toward another sound that has a characteristic of the language in

contact. They state that such an oversimplification has occurred in explanations

offered to account for the position of the short front vowels of South African
English. They reject the claim of Lanham and Macdonald (1979) that the

centralization of the vowel in ‘kit’ is due to the influence of Afrikaans. Rather,

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they suggest that centralized vowel in ‘kit’ is due to features of the input

dialects together with a chain shift internal to the South African English

phonological system: “it is reasonable to assume that what triggered it was

essentially a ‘stabilisation’ of a set of language-specific optimal vowel-

spacings”. They warn against assuming that changes are externally motivated

when, in fact, they may have an internal cause. Lass and Wright do not seem to

consider the possibility of the two dimensions being intersected within a single

phonological change. Thomason and Kaufman (1988) claim that the primary
object of study in examining linguistic change is the sociolinguistic history of

speakers and not the structure of language. They also state that the social

factors override internal trends in linguistic developments.

Bailey (1973) claims that language contact leads to ‘linguistic

complication’, while internally based language change involves ‘linguistic

simplification’. However, scholars such as Trudgill (1989) are against such a

claim. They argue that it is contact that leads to simplification, while the

languages of isolated communities in which linguistic change is most likely to

be due to internal factors tend to become more complicated. Milroy (1992,

1993) has argued that an adequate theory of linguistic developments must

distinguish between innovation and change: innovation is invariably speaker-

based, and thus the motivation for change is always external to the system;

change is the result of innovation once it is manifest in linguistic structure. The

argument between the two factors (internal and external), as noted by Labov

(1972) is primarily to the question of whether social factors are involved in the

most ‘systematic’ process of language change. Silva-Corvalan (1994) argues

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that changes which came about system-internally are spread by external means.

However, scholars such as Milroy (1980) claims that an innovation of a speaker

is located externally in that individual and it is only after the speaker’s initiation

that a change may occur in the internal structural system. Aikhenvald (2002)

states that contact-induced change cannot be regarded as isolated from more

internal mechanisms of change, but that language contact must be seen as

interplaying with internal tendencies of change in various ways.

It, therefore, seems difficult to separate out internal and external factors
in terms of their results. Welmers’s (1970) quotation is a good example of this

point: “some of the changes that have taken place in each [language] are

internal […]. Some of the changes, on the other hand, may be, and usually are,

the result of external influence”. However, it has been recognized that it is

necessary to make reference to both language-internal and language-external

dimensions in order to explain language change. Language change takes place

at various components of the language is a known phenomenon. To facilitate

the study on ‘language change in Meiteiron’ a rough sketch is given here on the

aspects of language change.

1.4 Aspects of language change

1.4.1 Sound change:

Sound change has been an integral part of language change. It is often

impossible to understand language change without studying sound change.

Because, sound change does not affect just the system of sounds but may also
affect a language's morphology. The concept of sound change covers both

phonetic and phonological development. A phonological change arises when a

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sound once occurred in a word is no more present or an alternative

pronunciation exists alongside. For example, silence of t in English words like

‘fasten’, ‘bristle’, ‘castle’ etc (Trask, 1996: 71). And phonetic change affects

only the pronunciation of words. It refers to a change in pronunciation of

allophones and does not effect on the phonemic system of the language. Sound

change can be discussed under: assimilation, dissimilation, deletion, insertion,

monophthongization, diphthongization, metatheses, raising and lowering,

backing and fronting.

The findings from the study of William Labov (1994, 2001) in the

American resort of Martha’s Vineyard is a well known example in the area of

sound change. He had observed how the sound change resulted from social

processes. He had found that a change began from a small part of a population

has started to become a signal for social and cultural identity at a later point of

time. During the so-called ‘Great Vowel Shift’, English had modified the

pronunciation of its vowel dramatically that had resulted the drastic difference

in the pronunciations between Middle English and Modern English. Some of

the Old English pronunciations appear to have continued to Middle English for

example, hu:s for ‘house’; in Middle English, words which had diphthong au in

words such as ‘mouse’, ‘house’, ‘south’ and ‘out’ in Modern English were

generally pronounced as u: (Fromkin et. al., 2003).

1.4.2 Morphological change

Morphological change commonly occurs through affixation (Haja and

Shamimah, 2008); for example, the changes in grammatical categories such as

preposition ‘up’ to ‘ups’ as nouns; the affixation of morphemes such as un-,

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anti-, dis-, -ness, -ment, -ist. Additionally, a type of morphological change

called morphologization can turn independent words into bound morphemes,

which is perhaps the origin of all bound morphemes (Trask 1996). For example,

the Modern English suffix -ly derived from the Old English noun lic ‘body’.

The word lic compounded with nouns to indicate ‘resemblance’, as in manlic

‘man-like’, ‘manly’, and eventually reduced to a suffix. A recent example from

American English is the phonetic reduction of ‘to’ such as ‘gonna’ and ‘wanna’

instead of their actual forms ‘going to’ and ‘want to’ respectively. This kind of
reduction may serve as a mark of fashion to many speakers or it may indicate

the easy-going attitude of the speakers.

1.4.3 Syntactic change

Syntactic change may occur in a language. It is a by-product of syntactic

variation which either is due to syntax-external factors (interface pressures with

morphology, dialect interference and language contact), or can occur

spontaneously (Chris, 2009). Syntactic variation is the co-existence of different

word orders to express the same content. The word order of a language may

change as a result of language contact; for example, the contact with Germanic

and Slavic languages, having SVO order, is claimed to have been a strong

contributing factor in the shift of the Western Finnic and Hungarian languages
from SOV to SVO word order (Thomason and Kaufman, 1988)
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1.4.4 Lexical change

Lexical change takes place on various reasons. One such reason involves

changes in the semantic structure; this area is traditionally known as semantic

change. Lexical change includes the loss of lexical items with the passage of

time and it also includes the addition of new words into the lexicon of a

language. Other than these, one can mention the processes such as making

acronym e.g. ‘Aids’ from ‘Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome’; the

process of clipping e.g. ‘doc.’ for ‘doctor’ and ‘fan’ for ‘fanatic’; the process of
making portmanteau e.g. ‘motel’ from ‘motor and hotel’; eponyms e.g.

sandwich (the word sandwich owes its existence to a British royal, the fourth

Earl o Sandwich who sometimes ate his food between two slices of bread

(Fromkin et. al., 2003)). Some of the reasons of lexical change, mentioned

above, are explained here.

1.4.4.1 Semantic changes

The meaning of words in a language may change with time. There are

different opinions among scholars on the classification and terminology of

semantic change. There are different opinions among scholars on the

classification and terminology of semantic change. On the basis of the

classification developed by Paul (1880 in Borkowska and Kleparski, 2007) one

may talk about widening of meaning, narrowing of meaning and transfer of

meaning. Meillet (1974, in Borkowska and Kleparski, 2007) classified semantic

change on the basis of the ultimate causes – changes due to linguistic reasons,

changes due to historical reasons and changes due to social stratification. A

more comprehensive classification has been given by Stephen Ullman (1957),

in which he tries to fuse the logico-rhetorical, generic, casual, empirical and

 27

functional approaches in a broad manner. According to him, semantic change

may be broadly divided into two types –changes due to ‘linguistic

conservatism’ and changes due to ‘linguistic innovation’. However, the most

acceptable classification of semantic change has been made by Lehmann

(1992). According to him, semantic change occurs due to: reduction in context,

expansion in context, and alteration in context.

Ginzburg (1979) claims that the factors accounting for semantic change
may be roughly subdivided into two groups: a) extra-linguistic and b) linguistic

causes. By extra-linguistic causes he means various changes in the life of the

speech community, changes in economic and social structure, changes in ideas,

scientific concepts, way of life and other spheres of human activities. For

example, the English word ‘car’ goes back through Latin word ‘carrus’ to a

Celtic word for a four-wheeled wagon. It now denotes a very different sort of

vehicle. Some changes in the meaning of words are caused by their habitual use

in particular contexts; this is what may be described as purely linguistic causes,

(factors acting within the language system). The commonest form, which this

influence takes, is the so-called ellipsis1; the verb to starve, e.g., in Old English

(OE. Steorfan) had the meaning ‘to die’ and was habitually used in collocation

with the word hunger (ME. Sterven of hunger) (ibid, page 29).

Ginzburg (1979) further claims that there are two kinds of association

involved as a rule in various semantic changes: a) similarity of meanings

(‘hand’ as a part of body and ‘hand’ as a clock pointer); and b) contiguity of

1
In a phrase made up of two words one of these is omitted and its meaning is
transferred to its partner.
 28

meanings (one of which makes part of other or closely connected, e.g. ‘tongue’-

an organ or a language as in ‘mother tongue’).

1.4.4.2 Addition of new words

New words are emerging day by day as the need of the speakers

increases. New scientific and technological progress, development of industries

and experiences simply require new words. For example, the words such as

plastic, cell phones and internet didn’t exist in early days. The concept of
globalization has also created a pressing need in a language for getting new

words. By assimilating new terms, we all drive language change. English has

now served as a good donor language to most of the languages of the world.

There are many ways to get new words such as acronym ‘Aids’ from ‘Acquired

Immune Deficiency Syndrome’, clipping words like ‘doc.’ For ‘doctor’ and

‘fan’ for ‘fanatic’, blended form ‘motel’ from ‘motor and hotel’ etc.. However,

they are all new forms of old meaningsconcepts. New words in a language can

come from either one of the two sources: internal (by utilizing the indigenous

resources that the language already has, i.e. coinage) and external (by utilizing

the sources from another language i.e. borrowing).

Borrowing takes place when a language has a semantic ‘gap’ in its

lexicon i.e. there is no existing word in the language with the same meaning as
the loan; ultimately, there comes the need to borrow a term to express the

necessary idea or concept (Haugen, 1953; Trask, 1996). A borrower might have

borrowed a foreign word only to use it for an occasion, while the listener found
it useful and repeat it for the same; this repetition of the foreign word becomes

familiar in the recipient language and thus integrated into the language. Another
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important motive for borrowing is Prestige. Sociolinguistic reasons for

borrowing includes using foreign terms for euphemisms or, as is generally the

case of building a sense of speaker identity (Hill and Hill, 1986: 118-120;

Katamba, 1994:194-195; Trask, 1996:39). In the case of bilingual speakers,

words may also be borrowed if the speaker retrieves the words of second

language (language learned after the native language) faster than the native

language words (Haugen, 1953:375).

Many times, a language cannot just cope with the demands of new age
as well as all things people need to describe, so people often resort to word

coinage. Creation of new words helps a language to flourish in a world full of

new technologies. There are certain reasons for word coinage. The need to refer

to objects or concepts/ ideas that are newly invented in or introduced to a

speech community is the major reason for word coinage. Coinage can be

discussed under certain factors such as gender neutralism, new names, stylistic

and linguistic purism. The best way to coin a new word is to describe an object,

a concept or a phenomenon. Coined words cannot be completely new in form;

they have to conform to the phonological rules of the language, being made up

of phonemes of the language ordered in ways consistent with old words

(Hudson 2000: 246).

1.4.4.3 Obsolescence

Just as words can be added to a language, words can also be obsolete

from a language due to being old-fashioned or their less frequency of

occurrence/usage. For example, the pronouns of Middle English thou, thee, thy

are highly restricted their usage nowadays in modern English. The word
 30

‘intercourse’ in the sense of having “an exchange of ideas, feelings etc. which

make people or groups understand each other better” (Longman, 2003: 848) has

been overtaken by ‘discourse’ because of its other meaning concerning sexual

activity (Haja, 2008). Switching to loanwords excessively instead of native

equivalent words may cause many native terms of a language being discarded

from usage and consequently, they may become partially or fully obsolete.

1.4.4.4 Change in lexical category

A word may change its word level. For example, the use of English

preposition ‘up’ as noun ‘ups’. Here, the word ‘ups’ has changed its lexical

level from preposition to noun. A recent example is the word ‘xerox’ (noun)

which is a newly coined term for referring to a new device. However, the need

of the speakers for the equipment and frequent use of the word has brought it a

good currency that this word is even found to be use as a verb. For example,

one may find a context such as– ‘Did you
ail the papers?’

1.5 Method and Data collection:

The data for this study largely come from both primary and secondary

sources. The primary sources include the actual speech, Meiteiron programmes

in radio and TV while secondary sources include written materials of Meiteiron

such as early literary texts, newspapers, journals, novels and royal chronicles.

The mode of collection of data was partly participant observation. The data was

collected through observation with my daily encounters with my own people in

different social situations followed by unobtrusive note taking at every

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opportunity to record the expressions, loanwords and coined words in different

situations. The information so obtained was supplemented by my own

introspection as a native speaker of Meiteiron.

As we know the study of language change has an appeal of its own. We

have included words which have been recorded in the early written literature

which may no longer be current in modern Meiteiron. While the study is

primarily focussed on borrowing and its impact on Meiteiron, within the limits

imposed on us, we have tried to include as many as possible of the words

whose origins are more obscure to the modern readers.

To understand the practical problems of examination and analysis of

language change it may be helpful to state some general points about the nature

of this study. Beginning from the assumed loan word in Meiteiron, we have

sought to identify the loanword which is most likely to have given the resultant

loanword in Meiteiron. As the research of the kind, we have taken into

consideration any established sound-changes and any relevant non-

linguistic(education, religion, cult etc) considerations which could throw light

on the possibilities and likelihood of loan having occurred in Meiteiron. A

cardinal point that we have tried to identify is that as Bengali influence in the

18th century was immense and mode of identification is through the

pronunciation of Bengali words. Similarly we also find many words which we

recognize as Hindi are shown as being loan words from Hindi in the study. As

we are going to deal with loanwords from Bengal, Hindi and Assamese (to a
 32

much lesser extent) which belong to Indo-Aryan language family, we will be

using the shortened form IA( henceforth )for Indo-Aryan languages whenever

any reference is to be made to this group of language for the following reasons.

However, whenever any necessity arises to mention of a particular language,

we will be doing it so. The reason why we prefer using ‘IA’ terminology in

place of Bengali, Hindi and Assamese (though in the beginning the borrowing

was largely from Bengali) is because, the data suggest that in modern time the

borrowing seems to be effected more by Hindi language through education and

contact with Hindi speaking community. And also in some cases, it is difficult

to decide which of the two languages the words came from.

1.6 Language change in Meiteiron

1.6.1 Historical background on Land, language and people

To facilitate our discussion on language change in Meiteiron, it would be

proper to discuss briefly the historical background, the language and people of

Manipur. Manipur, literally means ‘the land of jewel gems’, is geographically

bounded by Nagaland in the North, Mizoram in the South, Cachar district of

Assam in the West and bordering Burma in the East. The land surface of
Manipur is 22,347 sq. Kms. And about 90% of the land is mountainous.

Manipur is inhibited by about one and half million in Manipur, according to

1981 census report. Different ethnic groups of people are living together for

centuries with peace and harmony. Majority people of the State are the Meiteis

(including Meitei Brahmins) and Pangans (Meitei Muslims) who settled mostly
 33

in the valley, and the remaining are hill tribes, namely, Tangkhul, Thadou,

Zeliangrong (Zemai, Laingmai, Roungmai – Kabuis), Mao, Maram, Poumai,

Paite, Hmar, Maring, Anal, Aimol, Angami, Chiru, Chothe, Gangte, Monsang,

Moyon, Kom, Purum, Ralte, Sema, Simte, Salte, Vaiphei, Lamgang, Zhou, etc.

Each group has its own language, tradition and culture. These are the people

whose folklore, myths and legends, dances, indigenous games and martial arts,

exotic handlooms and handicrafts are infested with the aura of nature. Different

ethnic groups migrated to Manipur in search of land, resources, fame and glory.

There are different names commonly used in discussing Manipur by

different neighbouring people. To quote W. McCulloch in, Yumjao, 1985, “The

country inhabited by the Muneepoorees is by the inhabitants of Cachar it is

named Moglei ; by those of Assam Mekhlee and by the Shans or those who

inhabit the country east of Ningthee or Khyendwen river it is known as Cassay

of which term the Burmese word Kathe is a corruption.” Little is known about

the history of Manipur before the Christian era except bits of information

collected from folklore or other references made in the chronicles of the

adjoining kingdoms.

In the course of its history of Manipur, there have been several invasions

from Myanmar (Burma), Cachar and Tripura. Several battles were fought to

extend the boundaries of Manipur. Muslims began to settle in Manipur and

married Meitei ladies since 1606 while lands were provided to them under the

royal directive of king Khagemba (Jhalajit, 1965). Manipur was under the rule

of Ava (Myanmar) for the seven years between the years 1819-26 which is
 34

known as Chahi Taret Khuntakpa ‘seven years of devastation’ (ibid). Manipur

was a princely state under British rule from 1891 to 1947; it was declared

independent in 1947; however, the then king of Manipur- Budhachandra agreed

to the proposal of Sardar Vallavbhai Patel (the then Home minister of India) on

15th October 1949 under which the state became a part of the Indian Dominion

(Jyotirmoy, 1958). This invites a new political set up in Manipur.

The contact with the IA speakers who follow Hinduism can be dated

back to 15th century, though Hinduism was adopted as a state religion in 18th

century. In the reign of Khagemba (15th century) Shri Vishnu was worshiped in

Manipur (Jhalajit, 1965, Kirti, 1980). The mid fifteen century period was not
only important for Manipur but also for entire nation. Saint Shankardev in

Assam (1449), Lord Chaitanya in Bengal (1485) and Guru Nanak (1496) at

Lahore contributed mainly to the growth of Vaishnavism in India (Dilip

Sharma et. al., 2003). Introduction of the Vaishnavism school of Hinduism

brought about significant changes in the history of the state. Since the end of

the 17th century, great force of the Neo-Vaisnavism came and spread in this

land. In the year 1704, King Charairongba was initiated into Hinduism with the

result that Hinduism has become state religion (Jhaljit, 1965). After him, in the

middle of the 18th century, Hinduism was at its zenith in the reign of the king

Garibniwaj (also called Pamheiba). At the instigation of a priest called Santidas

Gosai (an Indo-Aryan), Meitei Puya ‘holy books’ were consigned to the flames

in 1729 during the reign of the king Garibaniwaz (1709- 1748); between 1717

and 1737, the Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata and Ramayana were translated

into Meiteiron (Kirti, 1980).

 35

Meiteiron is the principal language in the state of Manipur. It is the

mother tongue of more than one million people out of the total population of

about one and half million in Manipur, according to 1981 census report. The

speakers of Meiteiron in Manipur are concentrated in the valley. It also serves

as a lingua-franca of various tribes who speak different languages of the same

family in this State. Meiteiron belongs to the Kuki-chin group within the

Tibeto-Burman sub-family of languages. Manipur is a rich state in linguistic

and cultural diversity. Though small in size, there are thirty seven distinct TB
languages besides Meiteiron spreading over the entire geographical area of

Manipur. Meiteiron has been included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian

Constitution by the 71st amendment; it is the first Tibeto-Burman languages to

have been included and among the Tibeto-Burman sub-family of language

spoken in India, Meiteiron is the only language which has script developed of

its own (Pramodini, 2011). It is also spoken in some parts of the neighbouring

states namely, Assam, Tripura and also in neighbouring countries, namely

Burma and Bangladesh by the Meitei inhabitants of these places.

On the periodisation of Meiteiron literature, Khelchandra (1969)

considered the time before 1709 AD (the year when King Garib Niwaz

ascended the throne of Manipur) the old period; from 1709 to 1891 (when the

British conquered Manipur) as the medieval period of Manipuri literature and

from 1891 to present day as modern period. On the other hand, Jhalajit (1976)

assigns the period from the 8th century to 1074 AD as the old period, 1074 to

1709 AD as the early medieval and 1709 to 1891 as the late medieval period of

Manipuri literature and after 1891 to present day as modern Meiteiron. All the
 36

early Meiteiron literatures were written in Meitei Mayek (Meitei script). The

Linguistic Survey of India included a specimen of the script in Volume III Part

III. However, the new era began with the adoption of Hinduism in Manipur.

Meiteis experienced a radical change in its life philosophy. This change was

generated by newly acquired set of food habits, life styles etc. in line with

Bengalis. This has resulted a qualitatively different lifestyle among the Meiteis.

Some of these changes had their own disadvantages and ill-effects, but on the

whole, contact with Bengali culture significantly moulded the life style of
Meiteis. Apart from the process of change, the early phase of adoption of

Bengali culture by Meiteis was marked by another significant event which had

far reaching effects on the Manipuri psyche. This event was the incident of

‘Puya Meithaba’ (1729) meaning ‘the burning of Meitei holy scriptures’ during

the reign of king Garibniwaz (1709- 1748). Apparently as a consequence of

this, the indigenous Meitei script has been replaced by Bengali script. By the

19th century, Bengali script gradually supplanted the Meitei script thereby

discarding the native script (L. Ibungohal 1969:59, Jhalajit 1976, L. Krit

1980:130). This has naturally resulted in the banishment of Meitei script which

is known as ‘Meitei Mayek Meetei Mayek’ in the local vernacular, from the

then education system. Bengali language and culture became a sort of status

symbol for Meiteis. This process continued almost three centuries. It is worth

noting that it is a fact of history that the leading people of Meiteiron did not

show any respect and sympathy towards indigenous script. Since Meitei script

has been completely replaced by Bengali script, Meitei script became almost
obsolete. It is worth to note that Naoria Phulo (1888-1941) was the prominent

Meitei crusader who fought for the reintroduction of indigenous Meitei script.
 37

More recently however, people have become conscious of their native script.

Along with revival of old religion and culture, the native Meitei script has also

been revived. It has also been introduced in schools. Nowadays, newspapers

published in Bengali script provide some space for columns to be written in

Meitei script.

The history of Meiteiron is interesting for many reasons, including its

flexibility in borrowing from other languages namely, Bengali, Hindi,

Assamese and English at various times in history. In studying borrowing, it is

possible to see layers of influences from these languages. This as a result, has

enriched its vocabularies over centuries. The first major influence on Meiteiron

is from Bengali with the advent of Hinduism in the 18th century through

Bengali speaking religious leaders. The most observable intercultural contact

between Meitei and Bengali cultures is the set of loanwords imported into the

vocabulary of Meiteiron. It had a great impact from 18th century onwards and to

a lesser degree its sister language Hindi has been a continuous source of

loanwords. The most obvious domain to see Bengali borrowing used in

Meiteiron is in religious and ritual aspects.

Major assimilation of loanwords in Meiteiron began only after 18th century

(the time that marked a series of Bengali speaking Hindus came to Manipur).

As Meiteis adopted Hinduism, it is quite natural that the Bengali language, the

custom and culture soon provided the basis for a thorough Hinduization of

Meiteis. The Bengali influence through Hinduization on Meiteiron went on a

good deal farther than religious terminology. It also spreads to other aspects of
Meiteiron relating to education, literature, administration and communication

etc. Although the Bengali and Meiteiron were genetically different from each
 38

other, some knowledge of Bengali language and culture was considered a sign

of education and status. Over the three centuries, a sizeable number of Bengali

words entered into Meiteiron. When the words were borrowed, they acquired

Bengali pronunciation. Some of these words have their etymology to other

languages such as Hindi and Sanskrit. It is important to remember that many

Sanskrit terms were introduced to Meiteiron largely through the medium of

Bengali. It was the cultural and religious interaction with Bengali that primarily

brought about a noticeable influence of Bengali on Meiteiron. The early

loanwords were so well assimilated into Meiteiron that they were soon felt as

not in any way foreign. This probably made it easier for the language to accept

later Hindi loanwords. Indeed, one of the results of the influx of Indo-Aryan

loans was probably to make Meiteiron more hospitable to IA words and less

prone to use its own resources for word creation in the last three hundred years

or so.

While the doctrines of the Hindu religious faith were eventually accepted by

the speakers, Sanskrit was voluntarily embraced as a language of religion. The

language and culture of Bengali influenced heavily on Meiteiron. This is

evident from the fact that Bengali language was the medium of education

instruction in Bengali school established in Manipur. While one might like to

argue that Hinduism is not held in the same reverence and awe as it once
enjoyed, there is still a tangible force among Meiteiron speakers to this day.

Deeply held cultural values make themselves present in the lexicon whether

they would like it or not; this is evident in the kinship terms of this language,
for example, bə.ba ‘father’, də.da ‘brother’, kə.ka ‘uncle’, k
u.ra ‘uncle’,

ma.m ‘uncle’ etc. (Pramodini, 2011).

 39

The study of borrowed words points to at least two important facts. One is

a historical background which is found in the study of religious terms of

linguistic origins. This reveals a wide variety of influence from an entirely

different language. As said earlier, in addition to the native Bengali words,

there are a myriad of specialized religious words from Sanskrit such as sk.ti

‘power’, d
r.m ‘religion’, de.bi ‘goddess’. On the other hand, the usages of

the borrowed words may point to the fact that there was a strong intensity of

religious devotion. This has, then revealed the significance and importance of
Hinduism to Meiteis’ indigenous culture and belief so deep that the words

became intimate and integrated part of the lexicon of Meiteiron. This is clearly

visible when many speakers of Meiteiron were to show off their command of

the donor language (obviously a prestige factor) by spattering their speech and

writing with the words and phrases, they borrowed from Bengali in the past.

The role played by borrowed IA lexical items earlier are now being played by

the borrowed English vocabulary in a much larger scale. At the beginning of

the 21st century, the scope and scale of English in unprecedented as it is the

main language of books, science and technology, medicine, newspaper,

academic conferences to cite just a few examples (Crystal, 1987: 358). Because

of its great role impacting on communication and cultures around the world,

English can therefore be seen as ‘a globalizing medium in its own right’

(Spybey, 1996: 108).

 40

1.6.2 Review of literature on related topics on ‘language change in

Meiteiron’

It would perhaps be relevant to give a review of the works done related

to language change in Meiteiron so far before we dwell on the main theme. Not

much work has been done on the related topic of language change in Meiteiron.

There are two theses and a few articles on loanwords dealing with their

phonological as well as semantic adaptation and the etymology of the

loanwords. Momon (1994) provides information on IA loanwords, their

phonological and semantic nativizations into Meiteiron. She claims that the

phonological analysis of the loanwords shows that most of the Sanskrit, Hindi

or Urdu words have entered into Meiteiron lexicon through Bengali. And most

of the Persian and Urdu loanwords are from the sphere of court and legal terms.

Unfamiliar sounds of the Indo-Aryan languages are substituted by Meiteiron

phonemes for example, the retroflex sounds /, , / are substituted by Meiteiron

sounds /t, r, d/ respectively; the nasalized vowels such as /i, e, u/ are

denasalized as /i, e, u/ respectively etc. The reason for the semantic restriction

is the specific use of the loanwords, for example, the IA word ʤl ‘water’
which is nativized in Meiteiron as zol means ‘holy water’ since this word is

associated mostly in religious functions. She also claims that false etymology

and ironical use of the loanwords are the sole reason of semantic displacement

in Meiteiron. Similar kind of work is in Subadini (2004). She claims that the

loanwords produced phonetic changes in Meiteiron by giving birth to nine new

consonant phonemes /r, b, d, g, z, b
, d
, g
, z
/ which she called as ‘loan

phonemes’. Khan (1996) highlights the phonological nativization of IA

 41

loanwords in Meiteiron, for example, the voiced consonant plosives /b, d, g/ in

the final positions of the loanwords are substituted by voiced bilabial plosives

p, t, k respectively. He classified the nine phonemes /r, b, d, g, z, b
, d
, g
, z
/

as borrowed phonemes and the rest as indigenous. And these phonemes occur

in the initial positions only in the loanwords. Binodkumar (2006) provides the

etymologies of a sizable numbers of loanwords. He claims that the four

languages of Indo-Aryan family viz. Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and Assamese

while English from European family are sole responsible for import of all the
loanwords in Meiteiron. They are the sources for indirect borrowings from the

languages such as Arabic, Persian, Pashto, Turkey, Purtuguese, Chinese,

Malaysia, Japanese etc. He also claims that the sounds r, b, d, g, z, b
, d
, g
, z

came into existence in Meiteiron phonology as a result of borrowing of Indo-

Aryan loanwords in Meiteiron. And another study done by Imoba and Dolen

(2007) illustrates the changes in phonology after the development of the

consonants /r, b, d, g, z, b
, d
, g
, z
/ what they called ‘exotic phonemes’ in

Meiteiron.

1.6.3 What has changed in Meiteiron?

With the background of the brief review on the studies done on changes

in Meiteiron, we will try to see what has been changed in Meiteiron. It is

evident from the early literatures2 that Meiteiron has changed in vocabulary,

morphology, phonology and semantics. The most conspicuous changes in

Meiteiron are in the area of vocabulary and phonology. The extent to which
2 th
The mass of literatures which were written up to the close of 19 century are considered as ‘early
literature’.
 42

Meiteiron has changed in the last three hundred years can be seen by looking at

a few passages of old Meiteiron. A few lines from the popular literary works

representing the different stages of Meiteiron will give us some insight into the

changes that had been taking place over three hundred years. The following line

is taken from a book called ‘Panthoipi khongkul’ that is considered to be

written in the last decade of the 17th century (Jhalajit, 1987).

(An excerpt from ‘Panthoipi khongkul’) (page no. 84)–

ji.nu tek.a-o, n,na i.pu ca.nm.t
i oi.re. t.ra cak.su li.te

hai.je. ha.mi k
e.su pi.te. cak.mom k
am.pi mi.tal .ra.p.pu s.mu

k
ut.t lu.t.n pi.pa .si.pu ji.nu n.ti n.mom.pu k
m.nu s.wa tan

k
m.li .ja ce.o hai.p.ne

Modern Meiteiron-

i.nem tek.a, n.na i.bu nm.t
i.b cak (.pum.b) oi.na lu.re.

cak.su li.te hai.re. ha.mi k
e.su pi.de. mi.tal .ra.b lu.du.n i.gi

k
ut.t pi.b .si.bu i.nem n.di n.ca.bu si.r.s.nu hai.b.ni

English translation-

‘(My mother-in-law) Teknga, you have treated me as stinky (rotten) rice.

There is also no rice (as you have told me). You do not give me ‘Hamei khe’

either. And you put burning charcoal on my palm; mother-in-law, what you

wish me is to die.’

The equivalent modern forms of these lines illustrate the changes in

Meiteiron in terms of lexis and phonemes. It can be observed that the lines

taken from the old text are not entirely different from the present day Meiteiron.
 43

There are, however, a number of words which strike as old fashioned or

archaic. The details are illustrated in the following tables.

The difference in the vocabularies:

Old Modern Gloss

ji.nu i.ne ‘aunt’

ca.nm.t
i nm.t
i.b cak ‘stinky rice (rotten rice)’

cak.mom k
am.pi mi ‘fire’

s.mu (k
ut.t) i.gi (k
ut.t) ‘on my hand’

ji.nu i.nem ‘mother-in-law’

k
m.nu s.wa tan si.b ‘to die’

k
m.li .ja ce si.b ‘to die’

It is seen that part of the difficulty of the old text of Meiteiron is the

number of unfamiliar words. There are words that have died out from the

language. For example, the phrase k
m.li .ja ce ‘to die’ is completely

obsolete now in modern time whereas k
m.nu s.wa tan (another phrase in

the above lines for the same meaning ‘to die’) is partially obsolete and it occurs

only in the poetic forms.

The difference in the phonemes:

Old Modern

i.pu > i.bu ‘me’

pi.te > pi.de ‘(you) did not give’

k
am.pi > k
am.bi ‘fire’

.ra.p.pu > .ra.b.bu ‘burning (mostly burning charcoal)

lu.t.n > lu.d.n ‘by taking’

 44

pi.pa > pi.ba ‘to give’

.si.pu > .si.bu ‘this’

n.ti > n.di ‘you’

n.mom.pu > n.mom.bu ‘your daughter’

hai.p.ne > hai.b.ne ‘(that) means’

The words listed under ‘old’ and ‘modern’ in the above table are

different in phonemes. It is seen that, voiced consonants /b/, /d/ occur in the

intervocalic positions of the modern forms in place of the voiceless phonemes

/p/, /t/ respectively of old Meiteiron. For example, the word k
am.pi ‘fire’ is

pronounced in modern Meiteiron as k
am.bi. That is, the voiceless bilabial

plosive p of the old form changes to the voiced bilabial plosive b in modern

Meiteiron when the sound /p/ occurs in intervocalic position. Similar is in the

case of other remaining words. The details of this phoneme development in

Meiteiron are discussed under ‘Phonemic Innovation’, chapter III.

Similar kind of changes can also be seen in the literatures such as

‘Poireiton Khunthok’ and ‘Khongchom Nupi Nongkarol’. An excerpt from

Poireiton Khunthok is shown below.

Ji.sa.nu ci.k
o poi.ri.ton n.pu tai.p k
un.t
ok.lu.wo hai.n

pao.men.p.pu hoi.ta ji.sa.pi li.nu t
o.a.ren .hn.p.wo n.sa.nu i.ti

pa.ha nu.ce.woi k
a.ra t
m.ro woi.n pa.bo s.pai lon.tm.p lu.kum.n

ji.tom pa.soi nik.je. nu.ra ai.k
o sin.su luk.kum ji.pa ha.je. k
m.nu

nu.t.su p.k
ra woi, h.je tai.p pan.t.su p.k
ra woi.i.ne. tai.p

pau.nok cao.je. mai wa.kn.k
i.je.

Modern Meiteiron translation:
 45

i.sa.nu ci.k
o poi.ri.ton n.bu tai.b k
un.t
ok.lu.wo hai.n

hai.r.b.d, poi.ri.ton.n k
um.k
i, “hoi.d i.jam.b li.nu t
o.a.ren

.hn.b, n.nao i.di pa.kh oi.du.n k
.ra t
m.ro oi.n pa.bot kai.b

s.bai.gum i.pa ha.i, i.t
n.t.di pa.gl sol.li. ni.ol oi.b.gi sil.luk.n

m.pa li.t.b.gum i.pa ha.i. k
m.nu.d.su pa.k
 oi.re, h.je

tai.b.pan.d.su pa.k
 oi.ru.r.ni. tai.b mi.nok cao.wi. m.loi.”

Free translation
When Poireiton was told to settle at ‘Taibang’, he replies “yes brother

Leinung Thongaren Ahanba. But as I am a bachelor, I have no partner and may

be compared to the Silluk ‘a basket containing weaving implements’ and

Sangbai ‘a big basket which is used traditionally for measuring grains

particularly paddy’ that have no other pair. I am a bachelor in ‘Khamnung’

(name of a place) and I may be going to be a bachelor in ‘Taibang’ also. The

people of ‘Taibang’ are contemptuous. So, I cannot go.”

It has been discussed that there are differences in the vocabularies and

phonemes of old and modern Meiteiron. In this excerpt also, the phonemic and

lexical differences are clearly seen. They are illustrated below.

Differences in the vocabulary

Old Modern Gloss

pa.ha pa.k
 ‘bachelor’

pa.soi nik.je pa.gn son.b ‘weak, unable’

pau.nok mi.nok ‘contemptuous’

mai wa.kn.k
i.je m.loi hai.k
i.je ‘(it has been said that it)

could not be done.’

 46

The differences in the phonemes

Old Modern Gloss

ji.sa.nu i.sa.nu ‘my younger’

n.pu n.bu ‘you’

tai.p tai.b ‘a name of place, earth’

pao.men.p.pu pao.men.b.bu ‘convince conversation’

hoi.ta hoi.da ‘yes’

ji.sa.pi ji.sa.pi ‘my senior’

nu.t.su nu.d.su ‘also in also inside’

lu.kum.n lu.gum.n ‘like paddy field’

The differences in the phonemes between the old and modern forms are

shown in the table above. It is seen that the sound i of modern Meiteiron is

consistently written as ji in old Meiteiron. It may be possible that the sound i in

the initial positions of Meiteiron words are perhaps pronounced as ji in the

early Meiteiron or else the scribes use ji to transcribe the sound i though they

do not pronounce as ji. Other examples provided in the table above show the

changes of the sounds p, k, t to their voiced counterparts in the environment of

voiced sounds. For example, the word lu.kum.n, in the last example, is

pronounced as lu.gum.n in modern Meiteiron. That means the sound p

changes to b in the modern form.

An interesting example that has been found in this excerpt is the word

pa.ha ‘bachelor’. This compound word seems to be formed by the

combination of the two roots pa- ‘pair’ and ha- ‘empty’. In modern

Meiteiron, the word for ‘bachelor’ is pa.k
. So, it seems the word pa.k

 47

might have derived from the old form pa.ha. Another interesting example in

the above excerpt is the morpheme –su ‘also’ while it is –su in modern

Meiteiron, that means the sound  is deleted.

An excerpt from ‘Khongchom Nupi Nongkarol’

k
oi.nu n.ta t.ruk.pu ku.p ja.rek.lm-wo hai.n.ti

pao.t
em.p.pu nu.pal c.nu k
oi.nu m.ta t.ruk.m.n pao.k
um.je.

hao.ku pa.k
.p a.tam ji.tm soi.lu.p t.ruk.mk-wo ji.k
oi t.ruk.m.ti

ku.p ja.rek.p.pu m.loi.je. ji.pl nu.pal .an.p ji.tu lu.wa

.rem.p.n wa.ta t
i.r.i.ne.

Modern Meiteiron explanation

n.ta ca.n.bi t.ruk.mk .hi ja.rek.k
ro hai.n t
em.b.d, lu.wa

c.nu t.ruk.mk.n k
um.k
i, “Hao.ku pa.k
, .t
ap.p i.rm.da a

p
a.b t.ruk.mk-o, i.k
oi i.ta t.ruk.ti .hi ja.rek.p m.loi. m.tik-

m.al cao.b lu.wa-gi ipa-i.pu, lem.z.b.gi m.sk oi.ri.b lu.wa-gi

i.bu-i.pwa.si.n ci.bi.g.ni.

Free translation

“When being asked to stay the night there, the six ladies replied, “Oh six
Haoku bachelors, who fish at far place, we six ladies cannot stay overnight

here. Our respected father and brothers will scold us.”

As discussed in the two excerpts given above taken from ‘Panthoipi

Khongkul’ and ‘Poireiton Khunthok’, the excerpt from ‘Khongchom Nupi

 48

Nongkarol’ also has the similar differences or changes. For example, the old

form .an.p ‘bright’, in the last sentence of the excerpt, is pronounced in

modern Meiteiron as .an.b. That is the sound /p/ changes to /b/. However,

the changes from the voiceless consonants /p, t, k/ to their voiced counterparts

are not regular. For example, in the above excerpt, the words such as n.ta

‘your friend (female) and ji.pl ‘my father’ do not change the sounds /t, p/ to

the voiced sounds /d, b/ respectively in modern Meiteiron. There are many

other examples in modern Meiteiron where such kinds of changes are found to
be very irregular. For example, the words such as k
o.pak ‘foot’, u.ton ‘top

of a tree’, li.kon ‘garden’, hi.ca.b ‘demon’ do not change the sounds /p, t, k,

c/ to the voiced sounds /b, d, g, z/ though they occur in the intervocalic

positions. We do not find any rule that can explain this phenomenon.

On the other hand, the semantic representation of a word may also

change over time. The changes in the society are reflected in the language of

the speakers of that society is a known process. Thus, a word may change its

meaning with the evolution of language. The meaning of a word may be

extended, restricted or may be even shifted to another meaning. The Meiteiron

words such as wai.k
u ‘crab’ has extended its meaning to ‘lock (of a key)’.

This word may perhaps be started to refer to ‘lock’ from the appearance of the

object. The locks that were generally in use in Manipur had the similar
appearance of ‘crab’. The Meiteiron word Naharol ‘youth’ has extended its

meaning to ‘(underground) revolutionaries’ though many old persons may

involve in the category so called Naharol ‘youth’. Similarly, Mei (mi) ‘fire’
and Nongmei (no.mi) ‘thunderbolt’ have extended their meanings to refer to

‘electricity’ and ‘gun’ respectively.

 49

Many of the Meiteiron words have also restricted their meanings. For

example, the Meiteiron words such as km.b means ‘finish, tasteless/

something that got expired, to kill, to chop off head’. However, this word is

now used for referring ‘finish and tasteless something that got expired’. And

the other meanings ‘to kill or to chop off head’ are no more used in any context

today.

1.6.4 Internally and externally induced language change in Meiteiron

Language change in Meiteiron can be discussed under two motives:

externally motivated change and internally motivated change. The external

factors initiated by the cultural and religious contacts with IA speakers (mostly

Bengali speakers) with Meiteiron as well as the British colonization of Manipur

have brought about significant changes in Meiteiron. The contact with IA

speakers can be date back till 15th century AD. The speakers of Meiteiron

adopted Hinduism in 18th century while the British colonization has taken place

in the late 19th century. The direct contact with IA speakers increased

apparently when many of Meiteiron speakers got exposure to the environment

of outside states on religious and educational purpose or for a job. IA speakers

from other parts of India that have come into contact with Meiteiron speakers

regarding the bureaucracy, business, small labour workers etc. have also

provided the situation for direct contact with IA speakers and Meiteiron. The

considerable increase in the number of private schools providing English

medium instruction is a good source for English loanwords in Meiteiron. It is a

social demand that compels the schools to start teaching English in early
grades. These kinds of social changes have given a significant impact on the
 50

language as well as the lifestyle of Meiteiron speakers. This is discussed in the

chapter II.

On the other hand, the internal structure of the language itself provokes

language change. This includes the removal of marked elements, regularization

etc. Here, in case of Meiteiron for example, voiced consonant plosives /b, d, g/

are found being developed in the environment of voiced sounds in place of

voiceless consonant plosives /p, t, k/ for example, k
o.kul > k
o.gul

‘footprint’. It may be considered as internally induced change since, the

presence of voiced sound respectively is likely to be preferable in an

environment of voiced while the absence of voiced is a marked property in this

context. The details are discussed in the chapter III (Phonemic Innovation).

1.7 Organization of chapters

The thesis ‘Language Change in Meiteiron’ deals with the changes

initiated by both external and internal factors. It has five chapters: Introduction,

Borrowing, Phonemic Innovation, Coinage and Conclusion.

The first chapter starts with the general background on language change.

The historical background of language contact of Meiteiron with IA languages

(especially Bengali and Hindi) and English are given in this chapter. It also

shows briefly about the changes that have taken place in Meiteiron. The

changes in Meiteiron in vocabulary, phonology and semantics are shown in this

chapter. The most conspicuous changes in Meiteiron are in the area of

vocabulary and phonology.

The second chapter is on ‘Borrowing’. This chapter gives an analysis on

assimilation of loanwords into Meiteiron. It deals with the factors of borrowing

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such as filling a semantic gap, prestige motive; the functions of loanwords in

Meiteiron such as euphemism; identification of loanwords for example, the

words starting with and ending with the sounds /r, z, b, d, g, b
, d
, g
, z
/ are

definitely loanwords. This chapter also focuses on the code mixing in media;

sources of loanwords in Meiteiron; phonological adaptation of loanwords e.g.

the English sound v at the final position is nativized as /p/ (< b < b
< v);

hybridization e.g. the IA honorific marker -ʤi, nativized as –si in Meiteiron

forms hybrid words with Meiteiron kinship terms; the semantic analysis of
borrowed words e.g. ‘aluminium’ is generally known by the English word

sil.b
r ‘silver’.

The third chapter discusses on the ‘Phonemic Innovation’ in Meiteiron.

This chapter is studied from a diachronic perspective beginning approximately

from 15th century, that is, since the contact with IA speakers, till the present

time. The particular period is considered for our study because Meiteiron has
assimilated a large number of IA loanwords in its lexicon due to the language

contact with IA speakers and this contact with IA speakers can be dated back

till 15th century. This chapter intended to study the historical development of

Meiteiron phonology. It attempts to show why the pronunciation of modern

Meiteiron is different from old Meiteiron.

The fourth chapter of the thesis focuses on ‘Coinage’ in Meiteiron. This

chapter shows the keen interest among Meiteiron scholars in giving equivalent

words of those commonly used borrowed words in favour of linguistic purism

as well as the revival of old culture and religion. The process of word coinage is

shown in this chapter for example, k
o.ri.roi ‘writer’ is coined following the

analogical paradigm of already existing Meiteiron words such as k
o.loi

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‘journey partner’. This chapter also deals on the criteria of coined words in

Meiteiron such as based on a new concept or a new object, based on the

function of an object etc. For example, the word kʰaŋ tupi (kʰaŋ ‘frying pan’

and tupi ‘cap’) is coined to refer to a new object ‘helmet’ that was introduced

to Meiteiron speakers.

The fifth chapter gives the overall summery of the work undertaken.