Dimasa | |
---|---|
Grao-Dima গ্ৰাউ-ডিমা | |
Native to | India |
Region | Assam, Nagaland |
Ethnicity | Dimasa |
Native speakers | 137,184 (2011 census)[1] |
Latin script, Bengali-Assamese script | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | dis |
Glottolog | dima1251 |
ELP | Dimasa |
The Dimasa language is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Dimasa people of the Northeastern Indian states of Assam and Nagaland. The Dimasa language is known to Dimasas as "Grao-Dima" and it is similar to Boro, Kokborok and Garo languages.
The Dimasa language is one of the oldest languages spoken in North East India, particularly in Assam, Nagaland. The word Dimasa etymologically translates to "Son of the big river" (Dima-river, sa-sons), the river being the mighty Brahmaputra. The Dimasa word "Di" meaning water, forms the root of the names of many of the major rivers of Assam and of North East India in general, such as Dibang which means plenty of water, Diyung which means huge river, Dikrang, which means green river, Dikhow, which means fetched water, and many others. The mighty river Brahmaputra is known as Dilao (long river) among the Dimasas even now. Many of the important towns and cities in Assam and Nagaland received their names from Dimasa words such as Diphu, Dimapur (a capital of the Dimasa Kingdom), Hojai, Khaspur, etc. In fact, the Dimasa language is one of the last languages of North East India to retain its original vocabulary without being compromised by foreign languages.[2]
Dimasa is spoken in:
There are six vowels in Dimasa language.
Front | Central | Back | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IPA | ROM | Script | IPA | ROM | Script | IPA | ROM | Script | |
Close | i | i | u | u | |||||
Close-mid | e | e | o | o | |||||
Mid | ə | ə | |||||||
Open | a | a |
i | e | o | u | |
---|---|---|---|---|
i | iu | |||
e | ei | eo | ||
a | ai | ao | ||
o | oi | |||
u | ui | |||
ə | əo |
There are sixteen consonants in the Dimasa language.
Labial | Alveolar | Dorsal | Glottal | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IPA | ROM | Script | IPA | ROM | Script | IPA | ROM | Script | IPA | ROM | Script | ||
Nasal | m | m | n | n | ŋ | ng | |||||||
Stop | aspirated | pʰ | ph | tʰ | th | kʰ | kh | ||||||
voiced | b | b | d | d | ɡ | g | |||||||
Fricative | voiceless | s | s | ||||||||||
voiced | z | z | ɦ | h | |||||||||
Trill/Flap | r ~ ɾ | r | |||||||||||
Approximant | voiced | w | w | j | y | ||||||||
lateral | l | l |
Dimasa language is an inflectional language. The verbs are inflected for number, tense, case, voice, aspect, mood but not for gender and person.
The nouns can be proper, common, abstract, collective etc.
Deringdao (Dimasa male name), Lairingdi (Dimasa female name)
Miya/Mia/Mya (Dimasa) (boy), Me.a or Me.asa (Garo) (boy)
Masainjik (girl) (Dimasa) Me.chik (Garo)
Khajama (happiness), Dukhu (sadness)
Ang (1st person singular)
Jing (1st person plural)
Ning (2nd person singular)
Nisi (2nd person plural)
Bo (3rd person singular)
Bunsi (3rd person plural)
Guju- Tall, Gedé- big
Usually it is of S+O+V type. For example:
Ang (S) makham (O) jidu (V).
That means I am having food.
Another one,
Bo (S) makham jidu.
That means - He/she is having food.
Thus, the verb is rarely inflected for person and gender.
It can also be of the type O+ V+ S.
For example:
Makham (O) jidu (V) ang(S).
That also means - I am having food.
Dimasa is written using Latin script, which has been introduced in the lower primary education system in Dima Hasao District. The main guiding force behind it is the Dimasa Lairidim Hosom, a literary apex body of the Dimasa community.[3]
The Bengali-Assamese script is used in Cachar, where the Bengali people live alongside Dimasas.[4]