LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 24:3 March 2024
ISSN 1930-2940

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         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
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         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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Poetic Mongsen: History, Culture and Language

Wapanginla Aier, M.A. and Anish Koshy, Ph.D.

1. Introduction

The Ao language group is formed of three spoken languages: Mongsen, Chungli, and Changki. They are spoken by the Ao people, who mostly reside in the Mokokchung district of Nagaland in northeastern India. They belong to the Tibeto-Burman language subgroup within the Sino-Tibetan family. They are classified under the northern Naga sub-group, together with other Naga languages like Lotha, Sangtam, Chang and Yimchunger (Benedict, 1972). Within the Ao language group, the majority speak either Chungli or Mongsen. Changki is spoken primarily in the Changkikong range in Mokokchung district. All these languages follow an SOV word order and are almost mutually unintelligible.

This paper will focus primarily on a language that we have termed Poetic Mongsen, which is not a spoken but a sung language. It should, however, be noted that culturally, the Ao people refer to the ‘song language’ as just Mongsen and do not make a distinction between Mongsen and Poetic Mongsen. However, since this ongoing research aims to document the ‘song language’ and also to determine the differences between the spoken and the sung variants, the term Poetic Mongsen is a useful adaptation for this study. This is to make a clear distinction between the two.

It is still unclear if Poetic Mongsen is an archaic form of Mongsen or a language that existed parallelly with the current spoken forms. It was used by speakers of all three spoken languages to sing their traditional songs, ballads, and folk narratives. However, Poetic Mongsen fell into disuse over the last two to three generations. As such, the present generation of native speakers of Mongsen, Chungli, or Changki can no longer comprehend most of the language or its complexities. Though called Mongsen traditionally, Poetic Mongsen has also been influenced by Chungli over centuries. This is due to the adoption of Poetic Mongsen by Chungli speakers for their own oral traditions. At present, only a handful of people from the older generations still possess knowledge of these songs and their underlying meanings. Therefore, this language is clearly moribund and near extinction.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Wapanginla Aier, M.A.
Junior Research Fellow
Department of Linguistics & Phonetics, SLS
The English & Foreign Languages University
Hyderabad – 500007
aienla39@gmail.com

Anish Koshy, Ph.D.
Coordinator, ITP
Additional Director, DDE
Associate Professor & Head
Department of Linguistics & Phonetics, SLS
The English & Foreign Languages University
Hyderabad - 500007
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