Barman Thar (IPA: /bɔɾmɔn thaɾ/), where “thar” means language, is a highly endangered language. It is a Tibeto-Burman language that belongs to the Boro–Garo sub-group. The population of the Barman Kachari community is 24,237, according to a 2017 census. However, only a small part of this population speaks the language.A brief linguistic sketch of the Barman Thar (Language). Tezpur University.
History
The Barman Kacharis are an indigenous Assamese community of Northeast India. They are mainly found in the districts of Lower Assam and some parts of Arunachal Pradesh. Barman Kachari is one of the ancient ethnic groups of North-East India. Since the 2002 Amendment act, many Barman Kacharis in Assam are referred to as 'Barman'. They are mainly found in the districts of Udalguri, Baksa, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Darrang, Kamrup, Goalpara, Nagaon, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji
Demographics The Barman Kacharis number some 24,237 persons, according to a 2017 census. Out of this number, 12,555 are males and 11,503 are females. Their literacy rate is estimated at 4 percent. The level of literacy of males and females is 2.5% and 1.5%, respectively.
Documentation
The language of the Barman Kacharis had never been documented until 2019 when M.A. students in Linguistics and Language Technology (Batch 2018-2020) of Tezpur University carried out field work for the first time on this language.
Phonology The Barman Thar phonemic inventory consists of eight vowels, nine diphthongs, and twenty consonants (including two semivowels).
Consonants In Barman Thar, there are twenty consonants. BilabialLabio-velarAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalPlosivepbtdckɡAspirated plosivephthkhNasalmnŋFlapɾFricativeszhApproximantwjLateral approximantl pʰ and z have idiolectal variations. They are, by some people, sometimes pronounced as ɸ and d͡z respectively. For example, the word pʰa (meaning “father”) is sometimes pronounced as ɸa and nɐmza (meaning “bad”) is sometimes pronounced as nɐmd͡za.
Gemination Gemination, which is the twinning of two consonants, is also found in the Barman language. PhonemesExample (Barman)English glossp+ptʰɐppɐɾa“ash”t+tʰmɐttʰai“big”d+dɡɛddɛl“new”c+cbicci“egg”k+knukkuruŋ“eye”k+kʰbɛkkʰuma“dull”m+mdummua“fever”n+ncunna“cloth”l+lmulluk“earth”
Consonant clusters In the study of Barman Thar, carried out by the students of Tezpur University, they found only one word, i.e. bɾui, with a consonant cluster. It is a cluster of two consonants, b and ɾ. And they found no final cluster in any word.
Vowels In Barman Thar, there are eight vowels and nine diphthongs.
Monophthongs FrontCentralBackHighiuClose-mideoOpen-midɛɔNear-openɐOpena
Diphthongs iuaiiaooiouɐɐieeiuuiuaaaiau
Morphology and grammar Case: CaseMarkerExamples1.(a) Nominative
(b) Ergative(a) ∅
(b) a2.Accusativekɔ3.(a) Instrumental
(b) Comitativeca
nɛ nɔɡɛ Genitivenɛ Locativeou6.(a) Intentive dative
(b) Destinational dativenɛ nɛɡa
ca7. Ablativenɛ tukki
Tense and aspect Three of the tenses are morphologically marked in Barman Thar. Present: Past: Future:
In Barman Thar, the present tense is marked with the suffix “-a”, the past tense, with “-ja” and the future tense, with “-ɡɐn”. And the following are the four aspects: Present perfect: Present continuous: Past perfect: Future continuous:
+ Pronouns Singular Plural 1st ɐŋa ciŋa 2nd nɐŋ nɐtɐŋ nɐtɐŋ nɐŋɐtɐŋ 3rd owa otɐŋ otɐŋ
Negation In Barman Thar, verbs are negated by suffixing “-za” and “-zia” for present and past tense respectively.
For example, the root word for the verb “eat” in Barman Thar is “ca”. The negative form of the word in the present tense is caza (ca+za), meaning “do/does not eat” and that in the past tense is cazia (ca+zia), meaning “did not eat”.
Again, in case of imperative sentences, the suffix -nɔŋ is use.
For example, mei canɔŋ means “Don't eat rice.” [mei means “rice”, and canɔŋ is bi-morphemic, formed by the root word for “eat”, i.e. ca, and the imperative negative marker -nɔŋ.]
Classifiers In Barman Thar, there is one classifier, i.e. -ja.
Allomorphs Another feature of this language that needs to be mentioned is the presence of allomorphs.
Allomorphs of the past tense marker:
-ja is the past tense marker. But when this morpheme is suffixed to a verb ending in [m], it becomes -maja. For example, cum + -ja = cummaja. When it is suffixed to a verb ending in [n], it becomes -naja as in dɛn + -ja = dɛnnaja. When it is affixed to a verb ending in [ŋ], it becomes -aja, as in hiŋaja (hiŋ + -ja).
Therefore, it can be said that -maja, -naja and -aja are allomorphs of the morpheme -ja.
Allomorphs of the ergative case marker:
-a is the ergative case marker in Barman Thar. However, when it is affixed to a noun ending in a vowel, it becomes -ja. For example, sita + -ja = sitaja.
So, -ja is an allomorph of the ergative case marker -a.
References
Bibliography
Joseph, U. V., and Burling, Robbins. 2006. Comparative phonology of the Boro Garo languages. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages Publication.