Skip to content
Language Lineage

Khasian

Khasi, Pnar and War, an Austroasiatic outpost in northeast India among Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan neighbours, probably closest to the Palaungic languages of Myanmar.

c. 1st millennium BCE – presentThe Khasi and Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya in northeast India, and adjacent Bangladesh
On this page
  1. Origins
  2. Writing and Recognition
  3. Where it's spoken
  4. Turning points

01

Origins

The Khasian languages are spoken in the hills of Meghalaya, cut off from other Austroasiatic languages by Tibeto-Burman, Tai and Indo-Aryan speakers. Sidwell and others have proposed that they are closest to the Palaungic languages of northern Myanmar, forming a 'Khasi-Palaungic' group. Khasi has about a million and a half speakers, and it keeps the typical mainland Austroasiatic word order and word structure, unlike Munda.

02

Writing and Recognition

Khasi was first written systematically by the Welsh Calvinist missionary Thomas Jones, who arrived in 1841 and adapted the Latin alphabet to it, using Welsh spelling conventions in places. Mission schools and a Khasi Bible followed, and Khasi developed a lively literature and press. It is an associate official language of Meghalaya. Its speakers have long campaigned for its inclusion in India's Eighth Schedule.

On the map

Where it’s spoken

Spoken todayShading marks whole countries, not the regions within them.
  1. Indiac. 1.4 million
  2. Bangladesh

Figures are rough first-language estimates, rounded, from censuses and Ethnologue. Counts for small or scattered communities are especially uncertain.

Rings along the limb

Turning points

Oldest first.

  1. Splitc. 1st millennium BCEContested

    An outpost in Meghalaya

    The ancestors of the Khasi settle the hills of Meghalaya and separate from their Palaungic relatives to the east. Whether Khasian and Palaungic really form a subgroup is still being tested.

    Sources (1)
    • Jenny, Mathias & Paul Sidwell, eds. 2015. The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
  2. Contact2nd millennium CE

    Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan neighbours

    Khasi borrows from Tibeto-Burman neighbours in the northeast and from Bengali and Assamese in the plains below, while keeping its Austroasiatic grammar.

    Sources (1)
    • Jenny, Mathias & Paul Sidwell, eds. 2015. The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
  3. Writing1841 onward

    Khasi in Latin letters

    Thomas Jones and the Welsh mission create a Latin orthography for Khasi, and schools, scripture and newspapers in Khasi follow. His role is commemorated in Meghalaya today.

    Figures · Thomas Jones (1810–1849)

    Sources (1)
    • Jenny, Mathias & Paul Sidwell, eds. 2015. The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.