Tiwa is spoken in northwestern Karbi Anglong and further north in parts of Morigoan District in the plains of Assam. There is a clusterof Tiwa villages in northeastern Ri-Bhoi District of Meghalaya. For want of precise knowledge it is difficult to speak of strictly delimited Tiwa dialects. On the one hand, Tiwa, probably with the exception of the variety of Tiwa spoken near Sonapur in Assam, is a single language, any of its dialects being mutually intelligible with any other. On the other hand, some lexical items, like the few given below for five different varieties of Tiwa (Marjong, Amsai, Magro, Amkha and Rongkhoi, also referred to as Marj, Ams, Magr, Amkh and resoectively further below), show enough variety to arouse one’s curiosity. 7610 headwords, 8576 sub-entries, thousands of phrases, idioms and examples, all marked for their phonemic tones with indication of borrowings from Assamese/Bengali, Hindi, Khasi and Karbi and dialectal synonyms in the Amsai, Magro and Amkha dialects, besides the primary Marjong variety.
Dr. UV Jose who has a PhD in linguistics, has been associated with Umswai, the Tiwa tribe and the Tiwa language for the past 16 years. His analysis of Tiwa, spoken in the northwestern corner of Karbi Anglong (Assam), is aided by his knowledge of related languages like Garo, Rabha and Boro, and that of Khasi, Karbi, Assamese and Hindi, with which Tiwa has had, and continues to have much contact.
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