A Typological Grammar of Rabha Language

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A Typological Grammar of Rabha Language by K. V. Subbarao, Manashi Gogoi Dutta and Upen Rabha Hakacham attempts to cover the various grammatical aspects of Rabha with a view to give the reader a comprehensive view of the structure of the language. It is a grammar meant for learners, and our endeavor has been to present the material in a simple style trying to avoid any difficult technical terminology while providing explanations of the grammatical aspects of the Rabha language. While our presentation is comprehensive, the organisation of the content is different from the traditional grammar books that are normally written for a language. The reader herself/himself would realise it and hopefully would appreciate our efforts. Since most of the speakers of Rabha speak Assamese language, to enable the reader to understand and appreciate the intricacies of the Rabha language we have provided not only some Assamese examples but also examples from some other Indian languages such as Hindi (Indo-Aryan), Telugu (Dravidian) and Hmar (Tibeto-Burman). The grammatical portions of the text were written by the first author. The second author initiated the project of writing the grammar and made sure that everything went smoothly until the end. The third author provided the Rabha data, checked the data with his fellow Rabha speakers and prepared the Appendixes.

The purpose of this grammatical sketch is to provide a brief description of the Rabha language focusing on the typological characteristics of the language. As a verb-final language, Rabha shares several grammatical features with other verb-final languages such as Hindi, Punjabi, Assamese, Telugu, Tamil, Korean, Japanese and many American Indian languages spoken in North America. While providing the grammatical sketch, we are making statements to show how this language is similar to or different from some of the selected verb-final languages. The structure of the Rabha language is discussed keeping mostly the typology of the Tibeto-Burman languages in view. A brief description of the Rabha language is provided concerning the number of speakers, area where it is spoken, whether used as a medium of instruction in school or not, etc.

Rabha, according to Josef (2007) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken mainly in 'lower Assam area of the state of Assam in India, in Jalpaiguri of northern part of West Bengal, Nagaland (Ethnologue, 2016) and east and west Garo hills of the state of Meghalaya. According to Grierson (1903), Rabha belongs to the Bodo subgroup of Assam Burmese section of the Tibeto-Burman language family. Burling (2003:175) includes Rabha in Bodo-Koch group and Rabha along with Atong, Ruga and Koch is a member of the Koch group. "According to Burling, the languages of Van Driem's Brahmaputran and Kachinic groups together constitute the most extensive recognizable subgroup of any that is based primarily in Northeastern India." (Genetti, under review). There are three main dialects of Rabha, which are Róngdani or Rongdaniya, Maitori or Maituriya and Kocha.

According to 2001 census report of India, there were 1,64,770 speakers of Rabha language comprising 0.016% of the total population. Over a decade, in 2011, the Rabhas recorded a sharp decline of 15.04% from 1,64,770 speakers to 1,39,085 speakers. The speakers of certain groups of Rabha do not use Rabha in their day-to-day transactions. These groups include Pati, Dahori, Totola, Hana and Bitolia. They use a type of Assamese creole, which is heavily influenced by Rabha. This creole is called Rabhamese. Most of the speakers of Rabha are bilingual. The number of bilinguals is on the rise. Due to the emergence of language identity and cultural consciousness amongst the Rabha speakers, the number of Rabha speakers showed a marked increase in the 1991 census. Though Rabha has been introduced in the primary level of education curriculum as a language in the Rabha speaking areas of Assam in 1988, the implementation of the teaching of the language is not adequately done as there is a dearth of teaching materials of the Rabha language and there are not many trained teachers who could teach the language and other subjects in Rabha. The Rabha Basha Parishad (The Rabha Language Academy) conducts proficiency examinations for Rabha and non-Rabha speakers. Examinations are conducted at five levels of language proficiency. The Academy has been actively engaged in the preparation of materials on Rabha language through the medium of Assamese.