Dimasa language

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Sino-Tibetan language of Northeast India

title: "Dimasa language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["sal-languages", "languages-of-assam", "languages-of-nagaland", "endangered-languages-of-india"] description: "Sino-Tibetan language of Northeast India" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimasa_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Sino-Tibetan language of Northeast India ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Dimasa
nativename	Grao-Dima
states	India
region	Assam, Nagaland
ethnicity	Dimasa
speakers	137,184
date	2011 census (Dima Hasao)
ref
familycolor	Sino-Tibetan
fam2	Tibeto-Burman
fam3	Central Tibeto-Burman (?)
fam4	Brahmaputran
fam5	Boro–Garo
script	Latin script, Eastern Nagari
iso3	dis
glotto	dima1251
glottorefname	Dimasa
::

The Dimasa language is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Dimasa people of the Northeastern Indian states of Assam and Nagaland. The Dimasa language is known to Dimasas as "Grao-Dima" and it is similar to Boro, Kokborok and Garo languages. The Dimasa language is one of the oldest languages spoken in North East India, particularly in Assam, Nagaland.

Etymology

The word Dimasa etymologically translates to Children [sa] of the big river [dima]", i.e. the mighty Tsang, which is known as Brahmaputra by the Assamese. The Dimasa word dzi/Dí, meaning water, forms the root of the names of many of the major rivers of Assam and of North East India in general, such as Dibang (plenty of water), Diyung (huge river), Dikrang (green river), Dikhow (fetched water), and many others. The Brahmaputra is known as Tsangi (the purifier) and Lohit is known as Di Lao (long river) among the Dimasas even now.

Many of the important towns and cities in Assam and Nagaland received their names from Dimasa words such as Diphu, Maibang, Dimabang (a capital of the Dimasa Kingdom) etc. In fact, the Dimasa language is one of the last languages of North East India to retain its original vocabulary without being compromised by foreign languages.

Geographical distribution

Dimasa is spoken in:

Assam: Dima Hasao district (formerly North Cachar Hills district), Cachar district, Karbi Anglong district, West Karbi Anglong district, Nagaon district, Hojai district (formerly a part of Nagaon district)
Nagaland
Meghalaya
Mizoram

Phonology

Vowels

There are six vowels in Dimasa language. ::data[format=table title="Vowels"]

Front	Central	Back	Script
	i		u
	e		o
		ə
		a
::

All vowels can occurs in all three positions, except // which occurs only medially.

Diphthongs

::data[format=table title="Diphthongs"]


::

Consonants

There are sixteen consonants in the Dimasa language. ::data[format=table title="Consonants"]

Labial	Alveolar	Dorsal	IPA	ROM	Script	IPA
	m		n			ng
	ph		th			kh
	b		d			g
		s
		z			h
	~	r
	w			y
		l
::

The three voiceless aspirated stops, //, are unreleased in syllable final position. Their unaspirated voiced counterparts are released and cannot occur word final position.
Sometimes // are pronounced as // respectively.
The consonants // can occur in all position.
The consonants // cannot occur in Dimasa indigenous words, but can occur in loan words.
The consonants // cannot appear in word final positions in Dimasa.
The consonants // cannot appear in word initial positions.

Grammar

Dimasa is an inflectional language. The verbs are inflected for number, tense, case, voice, aspect, mood but not for gender and person.

Pronouns

::data[format=table]

	Singular	Plural	First person	Second person	Third person
ang	jing
ning	nishi
bo	bunshi
::

Sentence syntax

The verb is rarely inflected for person and gender.

Subject–object–verb word order is usual; Object–verb–subject word order also occurs.

Writing system

Dimasa is written using Latin script, which has been introduced in the lower primary education system in Dima Hasao District. The main guiding force behind it is the Dimasa Lairidim Hosom, a literary apex body of the Dimasa community.

The Bengali script is used in Cachar, where the Bengali people live alongside Dimasas.

Notes

References

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::