Kokborok

Kokborok is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Its name comes from kók meaning "verbal" or "language" and borok meaning "people" or "human". It is one of the ancient languages of Northeast India.

Kok Borok–speaking tribes

Kok Borok, the native language of the Tripuri people, is spoken by nine principal tribes of Tripura: Debbarma , Reang , Jamatia, Tripura, Noatia, Kalai, Murasing, Rupini, and Uchoi . Although each group exhibits its own dialectal and tonal variations, all share a common linguistic ancestry within the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan family.
The Debbarma are the largest Kok Borok–speaking tribe and use the Puratan dialect, which forms the standard base of Kok Borok. Within the Debbarma, there are three dialectal sub-groups—Dona, Daspa, and Beri—sometimes considered sub-tribes. They are found throughout Tripura but are most densely concentrated in the West Tripura, Sepahijala, Khowai, and Gomati districts.
The Reang are the second-largest group. Their speech, Kaubru, has its roots in Kok Borok but differs phonetically and tonally; tones vary from region to region. They are concentrated in Dhalai and North Tripura districts, with sparse presence elsewhere.
Jamatia people, culturally and linguistically close to the Debbarma, speak a dialect similar to the standard Kok Borok but with slight tonal variation. They mainly inhabit Gomati and Khowai districts, with smaller populations in West Tripura, Sepahijala, Unakoti, and North Tripura.
The Tripura tribe—sometimes incorrectly grouped with Debbarma under the single name “Tripuri” in government records—is distinct. They are also native to the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, where a majority reside, while about 35% live in Tripura. The tribe comprises more than twenty-five clans, each with unique dialects and attire; notable clans include Naitong, Anok, Dengdak, Khaklu, and Garjan. They are prominent in Dhalai, North Tripura, South Tripura, and Khowai districts.
The Noatia, linguistically and culturally close to the Tripura tribe, share similar speech patterns with Tripura clans such as Naitong and Dengdak. They are mainly concentrated in Western Sepahijala, Gomati, and South Tripura districts.
Kalai, a Kok Borok–speaking tribe of Kuki–Chin origin under the broader Halam grouping, historically spoke a Halam-related language but gradually adopted Kok Borok. They live primarily in Khowai and Dhalai districts.
The Murasing tribe, sometimes misclassified by official records as a Noatia subgroup, is in fact linguistically distinct. Their population is concentrated in Sepahijala, with smaller numbers in Gomati.
Rupini, another group of Kuki–Chin origin, followed a similar linguistic shift, replacing their original language with Kok Borok. They are found mainly in West Tripura and Dhalai districts.
Finally, the Uchoi people speak Kau-brung, a dialect closely related to Kaubru of the Reang but more divergent from mainstream Kok Borok. They inhabit border areas adjoining the Khagrachari district of Bangladesh, notably in Gomati, Dhalai, and South Tripura.
Additionally, several other tribes such as the Halam, Chaimal, Darlong, Mog, Mizo, Chakma, Garo, Khasi, and Kuki communities often use Kok Borok as a second or third language due to cultural interaction and inter-tribal communication.

History

Kokborok was formerly known as Tripuri and Tipra kok, with its name being changed in the 20th century. The names also refer to the inhabitants of the former Twipra kingdom, as well as the ethnicity of its speakers.
According to an oral history, Kókborok has been attested since at least the 1st century AD, when the historical record of Tripuri kings began to be written down in a book called the Rajratnakar or Rajmala, using a script for Kókborok called "Koloma", by the scholar and priest Durlabendra Chantai. In the early 15th century, under the reign of Dharma Manikya I, two Brahmins, Sukreswar and Vaneswar, compiled a Rajmala, translating it into Sanskrit and into Bengali. However, post-independence, the Kokborok records were outlawed and subsequently lost; the main sources for Tripura history are the Sanskrit and Bengali manuscripts.
Kokborok was relegated to a common people's dialect during the rule of the Tripuri kings in the Kingdom of Tipra from the 19th century till the 20th century. Kokborok was declared an official language of the state of Tripura, India by the state government in the year 1979. Consequently, the language has been taught in schools of Tripura from the primary level to the higher secondary stage since the 1980s. A certificate course in Kokborok started from 1994 at Tripura University and a post graduate diploma in Kokborok was started in 2001 by the Tripura University. Kokborok was introduced in the Bachelor of Arts degree in the colleges affiliated to the Tripura University from the year 2012, and a Master of Arts degree in Kokborok was started by Tripura University from the year 2015.
There is currently a demand for giving the language recognition as one of the recognized official languages of India as per the 8th schedule of the Constitution. The official form is the dialect spoken in Agartala, the state capital of Tripura.

Classification and related languages

Kokborok is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Bodo–Garo branch.
It is related to the Bodo and Dimasa languages of neighboring Assam. The Garo language is also a related language spoken in the state of Meghalaya and neighboring Bangladesh.
Kókborok consists of several dialects spoken in Tripura. Ethnologue lists Usoi, Riang, and Khagrachari as separate languages; Mukchak, though not listed, is also distinct, and the language of many Tripuri clans has not been investigated. The greatest variety is within Khagrachari, though speakers of different Khagrachari varieties can "often" understand each other. Khagrachari literature is being produced in the Naitong and Dendak varieties.

Phonology

Kókborok has the phonology of a typical Sino-Tibetan language.

Vowels

Kokborok has six vowel phonemes:. Orthography differing from the phonetic transcription is indicated using angle brackets:

	Front	Central	Back
Close
Mid
Open

Early scholars of Kokborok decided to use the letter w as a symbol for a vowel that does not exist in English. In some localities, it is pronounced closer to, and in others, it is pronounced closer to.

Consonants

Orthography differing from the phonetic transcription is indicated using angle brackets:

Diphthongs

A diphthong is a group of two vowels. The wi diphthong is pronounced ui after and. Two examples are chumui and thampui. The ui diphthong is a variation of the wi diphthong. Other less frequent diphthongs, such as oi and ai, are closing diphthongs. In Kokborok spelling, u is used for the sound in the diphthongs and . It is also used for the diphthong after m and p.

Syllables

Most words are formed by combining the root with an affix:

kuchuk is formed from the root chuk, with the prefix, ku.
phaidi is formed from the root phai, with the suffix di.

There are no Kókborok words beginning with ng. At the end of a syllable, any vowel except w can be found, along with a limited number of consonants: p, k, m, n, ng, r and l. is found only in closing diphthongs like ai and wi.

Clusters

"Clusters" are a group of consonants at the beginning of a syllable, like phl, ph + l, in phlat phlat, or sl in kungsluk kungsluk. Clusters are quite impossible at the end of a syllable. There are some "false clusters" such as phran which is actually phw-ran. These are very common in echo words: phlat phlat, phre phre, prai prai, prom prom, etc.

Tone

There are two tones in Kókborok: high tone and low tone. To mark the high tone, the letter h is written after the vowel with the high tone. These examples have low tone preceding high tone to show that tone changes the meaning:

lai easy laih crossed
bor senseless bohr to plant
cha correct chah to eat
nukhung family nukhuhng roof
Grammar

There is a clear-cut difference between nouns and verbs. All true verbs are made with a verbal root followed by a number of suffixes, which are placed not randomly but according to definite rules.

Morphology

Morphologically Kókborok words can be divided into five categories. They are the following.

Original words: thang – go; phai – come; borok – nation; bororok – men ''kotor – big; kuchuk – high; kwrwi – not; etc.
Compound words, that is, words made of more than one original words: nai – see; thok – tasty; naithok – beautiful; mwtai – God; nok – house; tongthar – religion; bwkha – heart; bwkhakotor – brave; etc.
Words with suffixes: swrwng – learn; swrwngnai – learner; nukjak – seen; kaham – good; hamya – bad; etc.
Naturalized loan words: gerogo – to roll; gwdna – neck; tebil – table; poitu – faith; etc.
Loan words: kiching'' – friend; etc.