Over 100,000 people in Rangpur and Sylhet speak Oraon. The highest number of Oraon speaking people live in Rangpur and the lowest number in Sylhet. The Khasias, who live in the hilly and forest areas of Sylhet division, speak Oyar. A small number of Sinteng and Lalang tribes also live in these areas and they speak their own languages.
The garos, living in greater Mymensingh and in the hilly Garo region of Meghalaya in India, speak hilly Garo or Achik Kata. Some Garo-speaking people also live in Rangpur, Sunamganj and in Sripur of Dhaka district. Over 300,000 people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts speak Chakma. The Magh language, which originated in Arakan, is spoken by over 200,000 people in Bangladesh. The Manipuri language was first spoken in Srimangal about 250 years ago. At one time, it was also spoken at Tejgaon in Dhaka, Durgapur, and Kasba in Comilla. Currently, about 50,000 people in the districts of Habiganj, Maulvi Bazar, Sylhet and Sunamganj speak Manipuri.
About 15,000 to 20,000 people in Bangladesh speak Munda. The highest number of Santali speaking people live in the northern region. More than 50,000 people in north Mymensingh and Tangail speak Hajang and some Kachharis speak their own language. In Chittagong and the Hill Tracts the oldest tribes are those who speak Kuki, Tipra and Magh. In the Hill Tracts about 2,000 Murong and Riyang speak tribal Tipra. At one time a large number of Tipra-speaking people used to live in the Lalmai hills of Comilla. About 9,000 people in Bangladesh speak Malpahadi. Some people in Sylhet speak Mikir. Nearly 50,000 people of the tribes of Malo, Mahato, Ganju, Kolkamar and some oraon speak Sadri.
Despite the existence of these tribal languages, quite a few tribes have forgotten their own languages and now speak only Bangla. Many Tipras in the Hill Tracts and Chittagong speak Bangla. Some tribal people from other areas like Hadi, Pator, Koch, rajbangshi and bedey also speak Bangla. In all, more than 300,000 indigenous people speak Bangla fluently. Some tribal groups like bagdis and Bindis speak their own languages but these are very close to Bangla.
In terms of philology, prosody, folklore, idioms and phonology, the Chakma language is very close to Bangla. All the phonemes of Bangla are available in the Chakma language. This is also generally true of other tribal languages. But due to lack of written structure and dearth of students, no tribal language is part of the curriculum at schools. Educated tribal people use their own languages but write in the bangla script. It has not been possible to introduce Roman script in any tribal language. Except for Chakma and Magh, no other tribal language has a script.
Almost all tribal languages have rich folk literatures, consisting of poems and songs, fairy tales and legends of their past nomadic life. There are plenty of narrative plays, similar to maimensingha-gitika, in the Magh, Chakma, Khasia and Garo languages. The folk tales of the tribal languages have similarities with those in Bangla. For instance, some Garo folk tales are almost identical to the tales in Mymensinghgitika. The ballads in some of the languages of the Himalayan foothills are similar to those of Bangla folk literature. Their linguistic aspects are similar to those of early Bangla. The rhymes in Bangla and the tribal languages are similar in subject, rhythm and vocabulary. Puzzles in Oraon and Bangla are similar in character as well as in words and rhythms to Bangla ones. Lullabies in both languages are also very similar.
There are many tribes who are multilingual. Garos and Khasias are bilingual, that is to say, capable of speaking both in Bangla and in their own language. But santals and the Oraons cannot speak each other's languages. There are some other tribes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts similarly placed. In such cases they use Bangla as a lingua franca. Munda, Santali, Khasia, Garo, Oraon and Manipuri languages are very well organised and orderly, testifying to a developed past. Garo and Chakma languages have slight Chinese tone. There is a basic similarity between the Garo and Magh languages as both tribes have the same origins. Munda, Santali, Kol, Khasia, Garo and Kurukh are interrelated languages. Munda and Kurukh are regarded as the same language as the syntax and verbs of both are almost identical. Munda, Santali and Kol languages are even more ancient than the Aryan languages of India. Not all Bangla words have come from the Aryan languages. Most, in fact, have originated from Munda. Munda has also had considerable influence on Bangla's idioms, phonology, morphology, philology and syntax. The tribal languages belong to either Austro-Asian, Indo-Chinese, Chinese-Tibetan, Tibetan-Burman or Dravidian families. An admixture of these languages created a pidgin language in ancient Bango-Magadh which had Munda at its centre. This established the initial foundation of Bangla or the East-Indic family of languages. The tribal languages thus contributed immensely to the formation of Bangla. Some of the main tribal languages are described briefly in what follows:
Santali language is a member of the eastern group of the Austro-Asiatic languages. The Austro-Asians came to the South Asian subcontinent about 10,000 years ago from Australia by way of Indonesia, Myanmar and Assam. About 10 million Santali speaking people live in the Santal Pargana of Bihar. About 1,25,000 Santals live in the West Bengal districts bordering Bihar and in Bangladesh's north-western districts of Dinajpur, Rajshahi and Rangpur. They speak Bangla fluently and have adopted many Bangla words for their own language. The origin of both Santali and Munda languages is the same and both are interrelated. The Santali language has two dialects - Nahili and Korku. The Santali language has no script of its own. In India, Santali is now written in Devanagari script and has absorbed many elements from Hindi. During British rule Santali used to be written in the Roman script. No Santali books are available in Bangladesh. But some Christian missionaries have opened one or two schools to teach Santali in Roman script. Educated Santals write Santali in both Bangla and English scripts but prefer to write in Bangla because of phonetic similarities between it and Bangla.
All sounds of Santali are also found in Bangla. There are other grammatical similarities too. As in the Munda language, vowels in Santali can be nasal. Gender is conveyed by using other words. Gender is also conveyed in Santali by using feminine inflection but this is an Aryan trend. In original Santali there is no scope for adding inflection at the end of words. In Santali different pronouns are used for animate and inanimate objects. The Santali, Kol and Munda languages are older than the Aryan languages. Many non-Aryan words have entered the Aryan languages. In Bengali and many of its regional dialects, many Santali words are in use in one form or the other. The origin of the Santali, its vocabulary and grammar have been discussed in books by Christian missionaries such as An Introduction to the Santal Language (1852), A Grammar of the Santal Language (1873) and PO Boding's Materials of the Santal Grammar (two volumes). [Ali Nawaz]
Bibliography Ali Nawaz, 'The Garo Hill Tribes of Bangladesh', The Tribal World & its Transformation, Bhupender Singh ed, New Delhi 1980; Tribal Cultures in Bangladesh, IBS, Rajshahi University, 1981; Yamada Ryuji, Cultural Formation of the Mundas, Takai University Press, 1970.
Sources : http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/T_0222.htm
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