Pnar language
Austroasiatic language spoken in India and Bangladesh
title: "Pnar language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["khasian-languages", "languages-of-meghalaya", "languages-of-bangladesh", "vulnerable-languages"] description: "Austroasiatic language spoken in India and Bangladesh" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pnar_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Austroasiatic language spoken in India and Bangladesh ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Pnar |
| altname | Jaiñtia |
| nativename | Ka Ktien Pnar |
| pronunciation | |
| states | India, Bangladesh |
| ethnicity | Pnar people |
| speakers | 395,124 |
| date | 2011 census |
| ref | |
| map | File:Pnar.language.map.png |
| familycolor | Austroasiatic |
| fam2 | Khasi-Palaungic |
| fam3 | Khasic |
| fam4 | Khasi-Pnar-Lyngngam |
| iso3 | pbv |
| glotto | pnar1238 |
| glottorefname | Pnar |
| mapcaption | Map of the Pnar Language |
| map2 | Lang Status 80-VU.svg |
| mapcaption2 | |
| notice | IPA |
| :: |
| name = Pnar | altname = Jaiñtia | nativename = Ka Ktien Pnar | pronunciation = | states = India, Bangladesh | nation = | ethnicity = Pnar people | speakers = 395,124 | date = 2011 census | ref = | map = File:Pnar.language.map.png | familycolor = Austroasiatic | fam2 = Khasi-Palaungic | fam3 = Khasic | fam4 = Khasi-Pnar-Lyngngam | dia1 = | iso3 = pbv | glotto = pnar1238 | glottorefname = Pnar | mapcaption = Map of the Pnar Language | map2 = Lang Status 80-VU.svg | mapcaption2 = | notice = IPA
Pnar (Ka Ktien Pnar), also known as Jaiñtia is an Austroasiatic language spoken in India and Bangladesh.
Geographic distribution
As a Khasic language, Pnar belongs to a complex dialect continuum which includes mixed varieties whose exact relations remain a matter of debate among linguists. A language map of Meghalaya designed by Anna Daladier shows two major Pnar-speaking areas separated by a thin strip of Khasi and War-speaking areas. Together, the two Pnar areas encompass most of the East Jaintia Hills, West Jaintia Hills and West Khasi Hills districts.
A more recent map designed by Hiram Ring for a Khasic languages handbook by Paul Sidwell relies on a different classification. There, only the former two districts are labeled as Pnar, whereas the varieties spoken in the West Khasi Hills belong to Maharam, a related but distinct language. Both maps also show small pockets of Pnar speakers in the neighboring state of Assam, In the former map, they are limited to the area directly adjacent to Meghalaya, whereas the latter map also shows a group of Pnar-speaking villages around Haflong.
Phonology
Pnar has 30 phonemes: 7 vowels and 23 consonants. Other sounds listed below are phonetic realizations. The sounds in brackets are phonetic realizations and the sounds in slashes are phonemes.
Vowels
::data[format=table]
| Front | Central | Back | Close | Near-close | Close-mid | Mid | Open-mid | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| // | [] | // | ||||||
| [] | [] | |||||||
| // | // | |||||||
| [] | ||||||||
| // | [] | // | ||||||
| // | ||||||||
| :: |
There is also one diphthong: .
Consonants
::data[format=table]
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | Nasal | Plosive | voiceless | voiced | voiceless aspirated | voiced aspirated | Fricative | Trill | Approximant | median | Lateral |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| // | // | // | // | |||||||||||||
| // | // | // | // | // | // | |||||||||||
| // | // | // | // | |||||||||||||
| // | // | [] | // | |||||||||||||
| [] | [] | [] | ||||||||||||||
| // | // | |||||||||||||||
| // | ||||||||||||||||
| // | // | |||||||||||||||
| // | ||||||||||||||||
| :: |
Syllable structure
Syllables in Pnar can consist of a single nucleic vowel. Maximally, they can include a complex onset of two consonants, a diphthong nucleus, and a coda consonant. A second type of syllable contains a syllabic nasal/trill/lateral immediately following the onset consonant. This syllabic consonant behaves as the rhyme. (Ring, 2012: 141–2)
Grammar
Pnar has a grammatical gender system, and its default word order is verb initial, unusual both for its family, and the area in which it's spoken.
References
References
- "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.
- "World Atlas of Languages: Pnar".
- Sidwell, Paul. (2005). "The Katuic languages: classification, reconstruction and comparative lexicon". Lincom Europa.
- (2013). "A lexicostatistical study of the Khasian languages: Khasi, Pnar, Lyngngam, and Wae". Mon-Khmer Studies.
- Sidwell, Paul. "Khasian Languages Project".
- Ring, Hiram. (2012). "A phonetic description and phonemic analysis of Jowai-Pnar". [[Mon-Khmer Studies]].
- Ring, Hiram. (2015). "A Grammar of Pnar". Nanyang Technological University.
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