The Central Institute of Indian Languages is engaged in the description and teaching of, material production in and inter-disciplinary research on Indian languages. The ultimate aim in all these activities is to help the development of Indian languages. The research results and the expertise developed at the Institute are disseminated through conferences and workshops and also through its publications. The publications are brought out in various series and the Grammar Series contains descriptions of grammar of the Indian languages.
There is a great need for writing grammars of tribal languages which have been little described. The grammar is the most important component of the linguistic description. It is an aid in language teaching and it is a step towards language development. The Institute aims at achieving all these in its grammars of tribal languages. It tries to reach the language teachers by straightforward descriptions without going into discussion of alternative analyses and the choice among them; It does not discuss theoretical issues explicitly. It tries at the same time to satisfy the linguists by the range of data and systematic analysis. It does not follow any particular theoretical model and puts emphasis on simplicity and clarity of exposition.
The grammar forms part of the package of materials consisting of a Phonetic Reader, a multilingual dictionary, a collection of folk literature and primers in the tribal languages.
The organisation of the grammar is based on grammatical functions rather than on grammatical forms. This will help the new learner to find easily how the different functions, which he already knows and wants to express, are formalised in this language. The Grammar is divided generally into two broad categories of noun morphology and verb morphology. description of adjective follows noun A morphology and a description of adverbs follows verb morphology. The chapter on syntax describes the order of the constituents at the surface level. There is also a chapter on word formation, which describes the ways in which words are formed and new concepts are expressed.
Though the Grammar is primarily aimed at the language learner and the teacher, it is hoped that it will also be useful to Linguists interested in typology and universals.
Data for the Grammar were collected in the field primarily from one informant by elicitation through word and sentence lists. They were then cross-checked with some other informants. The description may not be exhaustive and there might be gaps. There might be possibilities for better alternative analysis. Comments and suggestions passed on to us will be useful to improve our future publications in this series.
Lotha Naga Language belongs to the Central group of Naga languages of the Tibeto-Burman Language Family. It is spoken by the Lotha people who live mainly in the Wokha district of Nagaland.
Nagaland became a fullfledged state of India on December 1, 1963. The state covers an area of 16,488 square kilometers and is situated on the North-East frontiers of the country. It is bounded by Assam in the west and north and flanked by the Tirap district of Arunachala Pradesh in the North-East. The southern boundary as marked by the state of Manipur, while the Eastern limits of the state are coterminations with the International boundry between India and Burma¹.
Until 1957, Nagahills was one of the districts in Assam and Tuensang was a division in the North-East Frontier Agency i.e. NEFA now called Arunachal Pradesh, since, First December 1957, these two were constituted as a separate administrative unit known as Naga Hills-Tuensang Area (i.e. NHTA) and put under one commissioner appointed dy the Govt. of India. This area was divided into three districts viz., Kohima, Mokokchung and Tuensang for the convenience of the administration. Lotha language area i.e. Wokha which was a sub-division of Mokokchung district has now attained a status of a district in Nagaland. Now, Nagaland has seven districts viz., Kohima, Mokokchung, Tuensang, Wokha, Mon, Phek and Zunheboto. Total population of Nagaland (1971 census) was 5, 15, 561. According to the 1971 census the total number of Lotha speakers in Nagaland was 36, 728.
Lothas do not call themselves by the name of 'Lotha'. They refer to themselves as 'Kyon' which literally means 'people'. According to a Local tradition, the word 'Lotha' was not used originally in its present form. The term was originally introduced by the Assamese as 'Lota' which means a creeper in Assamese. Then the Britishers during their rule in this region pronounced it as 'Lhota' by aspirating the initial consonant. After independence of the country 'Lhota' was changed to 'Lotha' which is the present form.
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist