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Khamba Documentation
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The people
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Khamba, also Khampa (name place plus people), is one of the many languages that
are spoken in Arunachal Pradesh. The Khamba population which is about 1330 (1991
census) is found in Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, India. The population
is largely concentrated in villages namely, Mankota, Yortong and Tasigong of Singa
Circle under Tuting sub division of Upper Siang district.
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The Language
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Spoken by less than 2000 speakers, Khamba, a member of Tibeto-Burman language family
is one of the languages being invested in the scheme of the SPPEL. Some of the languages
which border Khamba or exist as contact languages are Memba, Mismi and Adi. In fact
Memba seems to be a very cognate of Khamba language. Like many places in Arunachal
Pradesh, the use of Hindi which is quite a local variation is ubiquitous among Khamba
speakers. Khamba is not used in official work. It is used in school as a medium
by local teachers in remote local school.
Preliminary analysis of Khamba data (phonology and clause), as expected, shows that
Khamba is attributed with typological features of Tibeto-Burman language spoken
in Northeast India, for example, the clausal structure of Khamba has a SVO pattern
and tonal features are noticed.
A Tibetan script is used for literary work. Kagiu Boom, Yokar and Tengur are some
of the books written in Khamba using a Tibetan Script. No linguistic research or
documentation has done yet on this language.
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Religion and Occupation
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Buddhism is a common belief practice of the community. Cultivation is the main occupation
of Khamba people in which maize is a major cropping. Losar, a new year which occurs
in mid February, is the main festival of the Khambas.
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At present
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Under SPPEL, preparation of a description of Khamba grammar and production of Khamba Bilingual Dictionary are undergoing.
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