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Language is not a monolithic object. It is human phenomenon, which is as complex as human relationship in a society (Varma and Krishnaswami, 1989). It is also said that no two persons speak alike. Which means variation is a universal phenomenon. Kom language is no exception. Variation is seen at all levels-phonology, morphology, semantics and syntax. However, variations at syntactic and semantic levels seem to be lesser than that at the levels of phonology and morphology. We find slight variation in speech from village to village. Apart from the idiolects and sociolects there exist some regional variations. The Koms use a common language called Kom-tong, which means Kom language. It is considered to be the standard variety since it is used in literature, mass media, etc. Although the standard Kom appears to be the Mongtung variety, it is difficult to pin point the variety from where the selection is made. Mongtung variety is undoubtedly most close to the standard Kom, but there are other varieties, which seem to be quite close to the standard variety. It is so because the standardization of Kom was not properly done. The language of the majority or the dominant group seems to be the standard variety. A large majority of the Koms seems to speak the varieties closer to the standard one. Another interesting aspect of the Kom-tong is that it was and is upto some extent the lingua franca of the Kom-Rem people. Kom-Rem people, as mentioned earlier, are the group of people from five different tribes. Since all their languages are more or less similar it was chosen as a means of communication among the constituent groups. Kom is not a developed language. Religious books and hymns constitute the main component of the Kom literature. The religious books and hymns are contributed by the Komrem people, which include members or speakers from Koireng, Aimol, Purum and Chiru communities. So, the Kom-tong became the blended variety from all sources closer to it.
The Koms use the Kom-tong for communicative purposes and there appears to exist some forms of variation among its users. This variation seems to be mainly a regional one. The speakers of Mongtung variety are the group of people who have inhabited the northwestern part of Manipur, somewhere in the hilly areas of Tamenglong district of Manipur. They speak almost the same variety as that of the people settled in the districts of Senapati and Imphal west. Saikul, Makokching, Ichum are some of the villages speaking Mongtung variety of today. Another variety is the Kharam variety, which is also found in an Imphal west district of Manipur, few kilometers away from Ichum, one of the villages of Mongtung speakers. Kharam variety is quite different from the Mongtung variety. However, the varieties to be intelligible to each other since the speakers (only a few hundred) of Kharam variety tend to switch to the Kom-tong in formal settings, which is quite closer to Mongtung variety. Moreover, the speakers of the two varieties are almost in a contact situation resulting in the minimization of the question of intelligibility.
The variety spoken in the Bishenpur district of Manipur is also known as Moirang area variety, from the historic small town of Moirang. The Kom-Keirap (also known as project from the Loktak hydro electric project), the historic Khoirentak, Sengpangjar, Kangathei villages are some of the villages worth mentioning. It is also true that there is a little variation within this group itself. However the variation is relatively less compared to other varieties. Moirang variety is closer to the Mongtung variety. Hence, it also enjoys some prestige like Mongtung variety by virtue of being closer to the standard Kom-tong. The speakers of Moirang and Mongtung varieties constitute the major chunk of the Kom speakers.
The Mantak variety is one of the marked varieties, which resembles the Aimol and Koireng languages. It is spoken in the village of Mantak in Thoubal district of Manipur.
Mantak is one of the oldest Kom villages having around one thousand speakers. The accent and vocabulary show high resemblance of the Aimol and Koireng, which are found in the adjacent areas. The Mantaks use their variety in informal settings and for the in-group activities. They switch over to the standard Kom in the formal setting. The Mantak variety is quite unique because it resembles none of the varieties of Kom.
The Sagang variety is another unique variety of Kom-tong. It is spoken in the Sagang area of Churachandpur district of Manipur. Sagang is considered to be one of the biggest Kom populated areas of Manipur. Sagang Khupui is the oldest village in the surrounding area of Sagang. Speakers of other languages surround most of the Kom villages. Also, most of the Kom settlements are in the plain areas. So, the Meiteis are usually their immediate neighbors. But in other places, like in Senapati district, the Kukis and Nagas are their immediate neighbors. The speakers of Sagang variety use /l/ and /r/ interchangeably. In other words, they cannot differentiate the two phonemes. /l/ occurs in the place of /r/ and vice versa. But a closer look at the phenomenon reveals that /l/ usually occurs in the place of /r/ so that rongpu → longpu, rengpa → lengpa, etc.
The Tonsen and Mahou-tera villages of the southern part of Manipur show some unique features, which may be considered as another variety of Kom. There is a slight variation within these two villages. Speakers numbering less than one thousand speak this variety. This variety is closer to Sagang variety. A good number of Tonsen speakers has settled in Sagan village and has got assimilated. Tonsen and Mahou area is surrounded on three sides by the dominant Meitei speakers and on the one side, by the Kuki and Naga speakers. There are a lot of Meitei elements in the Tonsen-Mahou variety of Kom. They are also isolated from other Kom speakers due to their geographical location. Consider some examples to illustrate.
1. /sak / ‘to eat’ in Kom tong is /ba? / In Tonsen-Mahou variety.
2. /sak/ ‘to eat’ in Mongtung and Moirang varieties is /nak/ in Kharam variety.
3. Bu mo ni cha jei? (Mantak variety)
‘Have you taken food?’
vs.
Bu mo nin cha joi? (Kharam variety)
‘Have you taken food?’
vs.
Bu naba jo mo? (Tonsen-mahou variety)
‘Have you taken food?’
vs.
Bu bu nin sak jo? (Sagang variety)
‘Have you taken food?’
In spite of the variations among the Kom speakers, they could easily understand each other while speaking Kom-tong in its form or in a slightly variant form.
Mongtung Moirang Area Mantak Kharam Sagang
The dialect continuum diagram (given above) indicates that there are dialects prevalent in the Kom speech community where intelligibility is not always bidirectional. Mongtung and Moirang speakers could understand each other. The same is true of Mantak and Kharam, Tonsen-Mahou and Sagang varieties. Moirang and Sagang varieties are intelligible to each other, whereas Sagang and Tonsen are not. However, it seems that Moirang variety speakers cannot maintain the intelligibility with that of the Tonsen-mahou variety speakers. Though there is mutual intelligibility between the Tonsen-mahou variety and Mantak variety, there is no indication of intelligibility between Kharam and Sagang, neither with Tonsen-Mahou variety and Kharam variety nor between Mantak and Sagang varieties.
From this diagram it appears that of the recorded six varieties of Kom, there is mutual intelligibility between at least two varieties. There is also some intelligibility between the two varieties due to geographical location like in the case of Sagang and Moirang. Moreover, the most interesting phenomena that are visible in the dialect continuum is that four of the six varieties are intelligible to the other two varieties but not vise versa. It seems that the four varieties could maintain the intelligibility with the remaining two because of their closeness with the standard Kom.
The variation is also seen between the two sexes. The women seem to retain the indigenous vocabularies and at the same time could handle the standard Kom-tong much better than the men. The reason could be attributed to their interest and their remaining constantly in touch with the religious scriptures and hymns, which are written, in standard Kom-tong. They seem to be more conscious in there speech than their counterparts because society expects them to behave that way. Moreover, language is also considered as an identity marker hence the women try to put as much cosmetic elements in the language as possible to make it more sweet and trendy.
Education is also contributing to the language variation. The educated persons seem to use more words from Meitei and English than the uneducated ones.
Age:
Variation is also seen among the people of different generations. The people of older generation seem to retain the indigenous vocabularies more than the people of younger generations. The younger generation, due to their exposure to other languages, tends to be more variant in their speech than the people of older generation. Code mixing and code switching is widespread these days. It is considered as a fashion to be bilingual and switching and mixing of codes while speaking. So, these have resulted in variations in the language.
Kom has more than two varieties that co-exist in the speech community. But whether there is a diglossic situation or not is a matter of debate, because there is no clear-cut variety to be called as a high (H) or low (L) variety in Kom. Mongtung and Moirang varieties though considered as the standard or (H) variety but are also used as spoken variety in informal situation. So the diglossic situation seems to occur partially among the Mongtung and Moirang variety speakers in its strictest sense. However, in the case of the speakers of other varieties like Tonsen-Mahou, Sagang, Kharam and Mantak, diglossic situation exists in some form or other. Standard Kom is used in formal settings or in the domains such as public speaking, religious texts and practice, educational texts, and other prestigious usages; their own varieties, which may be considered L varieties, are used in informal settings and for the intra-lingual activities.
Standard Kom by itself is not the pure form of any one of the language varieties though derived mainly from Mongtung and Moirang varieties.
We do find the use of slang among the speakers of Kom.
‘Anbem ma? Ro? Napang.’ in Tonsen-Mahou variety means ‘don’t loaf around, boy!’ and is one of the slangs, which occur, in informal settings.
There are also codes, which are used to exclude the hearers from the conversation or to keep them away from knowing the words that is said or done. Consider the following examples.
Lukom kasan kakhit nei (men with red turban) is the name for Police.
Pon kasan kasi hei (red shawl wearers) for the Nagas, from the colour of the shawl of the Tangkhul Nagas of Manipur. Similarly, Pon kadum kasi hei (Black shawl wearers) for the Kukis, even though the colour of the shawl used by the Koms itself is black like that of the shawl of the Kukis. This code came into existence to refer to the Naga and Kuki rebels.
Ruphai, the old name of money, is sometimes used to refer to money. Kasanpa (the red one) is another name for money. Teng-teng, the echo word for the sound of coins, is also used to denote money in buying and selling activities.
Copyright CIIL-India Mysore