III. LANGUAGE VARIATION

A. Dialectal:

1. Regional Variation:

 
There is a good deal of dialectal variation in Khasi. Grierson (1904) identified four major dialects of Khasi. These dialects are:

	1.  Khasi proper, which is considered to be the standard language is spoken in and 
                     around Sohra (Cherrapunji)
  
	2.  Synteng is spoken in the Jaintia region

	3.  Lyngngam is spoken in south-west region bordering Garo hills

	4.  War is spoken in the southern region bordering the Syllhet plains of 
                     Bangladesh.

In addition to the four dialects mentioned by Grierson, Acharya (1971) stated that Khasi has several other sub-dialects, such as Bhoi which is spoken in the northern lowlands of Meghalaya.

Bareh (1977) provides a different view on the issue of dialects of Khasi. According to him, there are many more dialects than just the dialects identified by Grierson and Acharya. Bareh lists the following as dialects of Khasi:

 
	i)   Amwi in the southern Jaintia hills
	ii)  Shella in the southern Khasi hills
	iii)  Warding in the south of Khasi hills
	iv)  Myriaw, Nongkhlaw, Nongspung, Maram, Mawiang spoken in the mid-western area of Khasi hills
             	v)  Cherra in mid-southern hills
	vi)  Nongkrem, Mylliem, Laitlyngkot, Lyniong-Khasi spoken in central parts
	vii)  Jowai spoken in central Jaintia hills
	viii) Bhoi in north-east Khasi hills
	ix)  Manar, Nongwah, Jirang-north Khasi hills
	x)   Khatarblang (Mawpran) spoken in mid-southern and 
	xi)  Nongstoin and Langrin in west Khasi 
	
Besides the above dialects, Bareh also adds that within each group there are again a number of sub-dialects which shows variants particularly in phonology.

Major Regional Varieties of the Language Family:

Khasi comprises many dialects, the main groups of dialects are those spoken in the central plateau of Khasi Hills, the Pnar in Jaintia Hills, the WarMihngi in the South-Eastern slope of Khasi Hills, the Bhoi in the northern Valley of Ri-Bhoi district, Lyngngam and other dialects of West Khasi Hills District.

2. Social Variation:

a. Caste

Social caste distinction is absent in the Khasi society. Therefore, there is no social variation in the Khasi language based on caste or sub caste variation.

b. Sex

There is no significance language variation with regards to male and female.

c. Education

There is a slight variation in the speech of the educated and the uneducated speakers. There is always an interference of English in the speech of an educated speaker.

d. Generation

There is not much distinction in the speech of younger and older generations. Some minor variations at the level of phonology and the choice of lexical items can be identified. For example, /f/ as a phoneme is never there in the Khasi language. But nowadays, it is commonly used by the younger generation in free variation with [pʰ] i.e. [pʰ] ~ [f]. Lexical items such as

It is to be mentioned here that no sociolinguistic studies with reference to social variables such as age, gender, education, generation etc which influence language variation have been conducted in the khasi speech community.

B. Diaglossic

Diaglossic situation is not found in the Khasi speech community.

C. Argots