Moran (''Morān'') is an extinct Boro-Garo language which was spoken in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

(mostly

Tinsukia district Tinsukia district () is one of the 34 administrative districts in the state of Assam, India. The district headquarters is located at Tinsukia city. The district occupies an area of 3790 km2. Towns *Digboi *Doom Dooma, Doomdooma *Jagun *Kako ...

) and related to Dimasa language. The census returned 78 speakers in 1901, 24 in 1911 and none in 1931, and the only source of this language exists in a 1904 article by P R Gurdon. The speakers of this language have shifted to the

Assamese language Assamese (), also Asamiya ( ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-east Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language, and it serves as a ''lingua franca'' of the wider region. The easternmost Indo-Iranian language, ...

. The name "Moran" reportedly means 'forest dweller'.

Family

mother - aai father - aabai man - sadai woman - saisi boy - sadaira girl - saisira father's father - deuta father's mother - aaboi respected/friend - oi u person - sadai elder person - sadaira

Numerals

1 - Sē 2 - Ne 3 - Sām 4 - Biri 5 - Bāha 6 - Do 7 - Sini 8 - Sak 9 - Saku (zi-kho) 10 - Ti

History

According to the research W.B. Brown, the original language of the Morans was a

Kachari language Kachari is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Boro-Garo subgroup, spoken in Assam, India. With fewer than 60,000 speakers recorded in 1997, and the Asam 2001 Census reporting a literacy rate of 81% the Kachari language is currently ranked as threat ...

. During the medieval period (13th-16th century), the Morans as well as Chutias after coming in contact and becoming partially assimilated by the invading Shans, resorted to speaking the ''lingua franca'', which was a mixture of their native tongue and Prakrit. This process of transition gave rise to the Moran language, which over time was again replaced by a modern form of Assamese which had a greater influence of

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

. Some elders of the community stated that the ancient Moran language was also known as ''Bodo ruchi''. The Morans now are found mostly in the

Tinsukia Tinsukia (Pron: ˌtɪnˈsʊkiə) is an industrial town. It is situated north-east of Guwahati and away from the border with Arunachal Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Tinsukia District of Assam, India. History During th ...

district. They were greatly migratory due to

jhum The traditional shifting cultivation farming technique of indigenous communities and Bengalis in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh and nearby regions in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland in India is known as jhum cultivation. Tec ...

ming or shifting cultivation even during the colonial era. They gradually migrated north from their original location to Tipam and

Charaideo Charaideo or Che-Rai-Doi (Literally: ''the shining city on the hills'' in Ahom language) is a town in Charaideo district, Assam, India and was also the first capital of the Ahom kingdom established by the first Ahom king Chao Lung Siu-Ka-Pha ...

, where the first Tai immigrants met them; this move was probably due to spread of wet-rice cultivation. When the British arrived in the 19th century, the area between Dibrugarh and Sadiya was mostly virgin forestsSaikia, Yasmin,''Fragmented Memories: Struggling to be Tai-Ahom in India'', p. 105 and the chief habitat of the Morans. In the early part of Ahom rule, they were employed in menial capacities as hewers of wood and drawers of water. During the later part of Ahom rule, they were found in areas like Kakotal, Mariani, Holongapar, and Jhansi, where they chiefly worked as ''Kapahiya'' (cotton-growers), which demonstrates their scattering around the south bank of the Brahmaputra with the expansion of the Ahom kingdom. The Moran as well other Kacharis word for water is "Di", which apparently forms the first syllable of all major rivers of Upper Assam including Dibang, Disang, Dikhou, Dikrong, Dikarai, Dihing, Digaru, Difolu, Dimow, Disoi, and so on; this shows that the group were the dominant tribe in the entire region with their seat in Sadiya, the earliest known power and civilisation of Chutias. They were probably the eastern Kachari branch which became isolated during the ahom rule.

Notes

References

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External links

Moran
at Brahmaputra Studies Database {{Languages of Northeast India Sal languages Languages of Assam Extinct languages of Asia Languages extinct in the 1900s