Language Attitude towards Preservation and Development of Khamti Language of Assam

Abstract

Language attitude is the attitude of the people for a particular language. Assam is a place where many ethnic and indigenous groups are living harmoniously. The Khamti is an indigenous group and a branch of Tai tribe origin at Burma(today Myanmar) having cultural and linguistic identity. They have their own script. The Khamti is a small ethnic group of Assam and their population is very few. Although they have their own language maximum of them use Assamese language for communication. Due the domination of Assamese language Khamti’s are become bilingual. As a result a threatening arises for their language. In such a situation the Khamti’s language attitude to their language is becoming an important issue for preservation and development of Khamti language. This paper primarily tries to analyze the language attitude of Khamti people to their language. Secondly, it tries to discuss the significance of Khamti’s language attitude for preservation and development of their language based on empirical study.