| 2.
Among these groups, Adi, Aka, Dafla and Missing have striking similarities.
According to Grierson, "Abor Miris and Daflas speak dialects
which are so closely related that they can justly be considered as
one and the same form of speech". In turn, the Dafla and the
Adi groups have striking similarities. The Mishmi group differs from
the Dafla and the Adi groups in many respects, yet it is not difficult
to arrive at their immediate common source by applying the comparative
method. The following correspondences of cognate forms are sufficient
to prove it.* |
|
Digaru
|
Dafla
|
Mising
|
|
|
m-pu
|
óp
|
uepśk
|
‘arrow’
|
|
dhoN
|
dłm
|
dumit
|
‘hair’
|
|
me
|
ami
|
ami
|
‘man’
|
tab
|
tab
|
tabi
|
‘snake’
|
|
mai
|
ei
|
asi
|
‘water’
|
|
|
| 2.1.
At the morphological level too, there are striking similarities. In
Mishmi, the plural marker is /-loN/ which is similar to Mising pronoun
plural marker /-lu/. Gender is natural in all these languages. Words
for male and female are suffixed to distinguish gender, viz., in Aka,
/-an/ and /-ani/ are suffixed to denote masculine and feminine respectively
whereas in Mising /-ab¨/ denotes masculine and /-ane/ denotes feminine
gender. |
| There
are a few instances which prove the exigecy to consider that these
languages must have branched off from a common parent speech. |
| 3.
Mising has eight dialects, categorized into three groups on the basis
of linguistic similarities. |
| (a)
Oyan, Pagro and Delu |
| (b)
Sayang, Dambug, Somuwa and Moying |
| (c)
Samuguria |
| 4.
These different dialects are named after the different clans in the
Mising society. Dialectal variations are noticeable at the phonological
and, to some extent, at the morphological level; but the speaker of
one dialect easily understands the speech of the speaker of another
dialect. Only Samuguria dialect differs from the rest of the dialects.
It is heavily influenced by Assamese at the phonological, the morphological
and the syntactic levels. A few examples given below will clear the
point : |
| (a)
At the phonological level, Samuguria has developed voiced aspirate
sounds: |
|
Samuguria
|
Sayang
|
|
|
gakhir
|
gakir
|
‘milk’
|
|
dekh
|
de
|
‘country’
|
|
aphut
|
apūt
|
‘foam’
|
|
sipary
|
mensaru
|
‘fox’
|
|
mekhola
|
mekola
|
‘petticoat’
|
|
bilahi
|
bilai
|
‘tomato’
|
|
|
| (b)
At the morphological level, the Samuguria dialect speakers freely
use Assamese words. It won’t be pungent to say that even in their
houses they use Assamese in their daily discourse, although they follow
all the Mising codes and conducts. |
|
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
|
mekuri
|
mekuri-bilak
|
mekuri
|
mekuri-kirede
|
|
‘cat’
|
‘cats’
|
‘cat’
|
‘cats’
|
|
manuh
|
manuh-bilak
|
ami
|
ami-kiride
|
|
‘man’
|
‘men’
|
‘man’
|
‘men’
|
|
|
| (c)
At the syntactic level also Assamese influence on Samuguria is evident.
|
|
Samuguria
|
Sayang
|
Assamese
|
|
nan
apin de
|
nane
apin bitoka
|
ma
bhat de
|
|
mother
rice give
|
mother
rice give
|
mother
rice give
|
|
makbhai
gļse
|
nokke
birogidun
|
marbhai
jaye
|
|
‘My
brother is going’
|
|
|
|
|
