Khasi
Facts
- Language: Khasi
- Alternate names: Kahasi, Kassi, Khasa, Khashi, Khasiyas, Khuchia
- Language code: kha
- Language family: Austroasiatic, Khasi-Palaung, Khasian, Khasi-Pnar-Lyngngam, Khasi-Pnar
- Number of speakers: 843,000 in India (2001 census).
- Script: Bengali script, no longer in use. Latin script, used since about 1842.
More information:
Introduction
Khasi is an Austroasiatic language spoken primarily in Meghalaya state in India by the Khasi people. It is also spoken by a sizeable population in Assam and Bangladesh. Khasi is part of the Austroasiatic language family, and is related to Khmer, Palaung, Vietnamese and Mon languages of Southeast Asia, and the Munda and Nicobarese branches of that family, which are spoken in east–central India and in the Nicobar Islands, respectively.
The Khasi Verb
- Verbs agree with 3rd person subjects in gender, but there is no agreement for non-3rd persons
- Tense is shown through a set of particles that appear after the agreement markers but before the verb. Past is a particle /la/ and future is /yn/ (contracted to 'n after a vowel)
Person (Agreement) Markers
- Sg. 1: nga
- Sg. 2m: me
- Sg. 2f: pha
- Sg. 3m: u
- Sg. 3f ka
- Pl. 1: ngi
- Pl. 2: phi
- Pl. 3 ki
Tense Markers
- Ø: present
- Ø: past
- la: perfect
- (y)n: future
Verblist
- kha
- kren
- kñia
- phalang
- pynmih
- pynïap
- san
- shong
- siew
- siewspah
- slieng
- tip
- wanrah
- ïakren
- ïap
- ïeid