| Also Known As: Cossyah,Kyi,Khasiyas,Kahasi,Khashi,Kassi,Khasa,Khuchia,Khassee,Khasie,Khasi
Description:
Khasi is an Austro-Asiatic language spoken primarily in Meghalaya state in India. Khasi is part of the Khasi-Khmuic group of languages, and is distantly related to the Munda branch of the Austroasiatic family, which is found in east-central India.
Although most of the 865,000 Khasi speakers are found in Meghalaya state, the language is also spoken by a number of people in the hill districts of Assam bordering with Meghalaya and by a sizable population of people living in Bangladesh, close to the Indian border.
Khasi is rich in folklore and folktale, and behind most of the names of hills, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, birds, flowers, and animals there is a story.
In the past, the Khasi language had no script of its own. William Carey attempted to write the language with the Eastern Nagari script between 1813 and 1838. A large number of Khasi books were written in the Eastern Nagari script, including the famous book Ka Niyiom Jong Ka Khasi or The Rule of the Khasis, which is an important manuscript of the Seng Khasi religion. The Welsh missionary, Thomas Jones, in 1841 wrote the language in the Roman script. As a result, the orthography of the language in Roman script is quite..... full article at Wikipedia |
