LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 7 : 12 December 2007
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         K. Karunakaran, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.

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Copyright © 2007
M. S. Thirumalai
 
Web www.languageinindia.com

MEITHEI PERSONAL NAMES

Nongthombam Russell, Ph.D. Candidate

1 INTRODUCTION

Meitei is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the northeast Indian state of Manipur, Assam, and Tripura. It is also spoken in Burma and Bangladesh. The knowledge of Meitei names gives insight into Meitei culture, philosophy, thought, environment, religion, language and social changes. Despite this, the study of personal names in Meitei has not received adequate attention so far. In this paper, an attempt is made to study Meitei personal names of Manipur. It looks at the Meitei names within the purview of Anthropological linguistics. It considers Meitei names as not arbitrary labels but socio-cultural tags that have socio-cultural meaning and functions. It discusses:

1. Concept of name.
2. Meitei concept of name.
3. Development of Meitei naming system.
4. Typology of Meitei given names: flora and fauna names, circumstantial names, names associated with certain features.
5. Indic and western names.
6. Changes in Meitei personal names.
7. Given names and gender, and
8. Closing remarks.

The topic of names is a multidisciplinary field that has occupied the attention of philosophers of language anthropologists, linguists, sociologists, economists, religious person and ordinary people. We will see this as we progress in this paper. Considering Meitei personal names as an aspect of linguistic relativity, that is language is too intricately linked to its own culture so that it is impossible to fully understand the message (or thoughts) through a different language, and being a native speaker of Meitei I have looked on the data both on the etic and emic view points.

This is only an introduction to this artilce. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN A PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Meithei Personal Names | The Status and Teaching of English in Pakistan | ELT in Higher Education in Iran and India - A Critical Review | Demands for a Separate Linguistic State - The Question of Identity and Territorializing Bundelkhand in India | Case Marking in Gojri | Religion and Fiction | Writing Across the Curriculum -
Deaf Education English Class | HOME PAGE OF DECEMBER 2007 ISSUE | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR

Nongthombam Russell, Ph.D candidate
Manipur University
Canchipur
Imphal-795 003
Manipur, India
bamrussell@yahoo.co.in
 
Web www.languageinindia.com
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