| Boro–Garo | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Northeast India,Bangladesh |
| Linguistic classification | Sino-Tibetan |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | bodo1279 |
 Map of the Bodo-Garo languages | |
TheBoro–Garo languages are a branch ofSino-Tibetan languages, spoken primarily inNortheast India and parts ofBangladesh.
The Boro–Garo languages form five groups: Boro, Rabha, Garo, Koch and Deori. Boro–Garo languages were historically very widespread throughout theBrahmaputra Valley and in what are now the northern parts ofBangladesh,[2][3] and it is speculated that the proto-Boro-Garo language was the lingua franca of the Brahmaputra valley before it was replaced byAssamese, to which it has made major contributions.
The Boro-Garo languages were identified in the Grierson's Language Survey of India, and the names of the languages and their modern equivalents are given below in the table.
| Name in LSI | Modern names |
|---|---|
| Bodo | Boro |
| Lalung | Tiwa |
| Dimasa | Dimasa |
| Garo | Garo |
| Koch | Koch |
| Rabha | Rabha |
| Tripuri | Kokborok |
| Chutiya | Deori |
| Moran | Moran (since extinct) |
The Boro-Garo languages have been further divided into four subgroups by Burling.
Old Hajong may have been a Bodo–Garo language.
Barman is a recently discovered Bodo–Garo language.[4]
Boro is an associate official language of the state ofAssam.Kokborok (Tripuri) is one of the official languages of the state ofTripura.Garo is an associate official language ofMeghalaya.Megam has been strongly influenced byKhasic languages, whileDeori-Chutia by theIdu Mishmi language.
Languages of the family featureverb-final word order. There is some flexibility in the order of the arguments, but anominative–accusative distinction is marked with post-nominalclitics. The languages also prefixclassifiers tonumerals modifying nouns.tense,aspect andmood are indicated using verbalsuffixes.[5]
The linkage of the Boro–Garo languages withKonyak andJingphaw languages suggest that proto-Boro-Garo entered Assam from somewhere to the northeast.[6] It has been proposed that theproto-Boro-Garo language was alingua franca of different linguistic communities, not all of who were native speakers,[7] and that it began as acreolized lingua franca.[8] This would account for the highly reduced morphology of Boro–Garo, with what morphology is present mostly being regular, looselybound, and with transparent etymology, typical signs of recent origin.[9]
Joseph & Burling (2006:1-2) classify the Boro–Garo languages into four major groups. Wood (2008:6) also follows this classification.
Jacquesson (2017:112)[2] classifies the Boro-Garo languages as follows, and recognizes three major branches (Western, Central, and Eastern). TheKoch languages andGaro are grouped together as Western Boro-Garo.
Jacquesson (2017)[2] believes that the Boro–Garo languages had arrived in their present location from the southeast, and notes similarities shared withZeme languages andKuki-Chin languages.
Proto-Boro–Garo has been reconstructed by Joseph and Burling (2006) and by Wood (2008).
Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WesternHimalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand,Nepal,Sikkim) |
|  | |||
| EasternHimalayas (Tibet,Bhutan,Arunachal) | |||||
| Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border |
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| East andSoutheast Asia |
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| Dubious (possible isolates,Arunachal) |
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| Proposed groupings | |||||
| Proto-languages | |||||
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches. | |||||
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