Preliminary Impressions on Champang Language: A Field Report with a few Grammar Notes
Abstract
This paper intends to introduce a Tangsa Naga language variety, Champang, in a very detailed and descriptive manner. Champang is an undocumented, undescribed and unwritten language that belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family. This language, therefore, doesn’t have any significant written literature. There is no work found directly relating to any of its various aspects, such as, its culture, history, religion, and the like areas. Nevertheless, many linguists have mentioned about Champang while giving a detailed description of the various Tangsa Naga varieties that are spoken along the South-East Asian belt, including Myanmar, Arunachal Pradesh, and some parts of Upper Assam.
This paper is the outcome of my first field visit to Yopakan, a remote village at the top of the Patkai mountains, in the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh in India. In India, besides Yopakan, there are around twelve more villages where the Champang people are found living peacefully with other tribes. However, the highest concentration of Champang population is found in Yopakan itself.
The paper begins with some background information about the language and the community. Then it goes on to illustrate the methodology adopted, and the equipment and the metadata used while undertaking this research activity. Further, the paper demonstrates the initial findings of the research by providing a detailed overview of the consonant and vowel inventory of the language, as well as its morphological and syntactic features.