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Ranglong Documentation
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The Language and the People
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Ranglong is a Kukichin Language. It is one of the sub-tribes of Halam community
of Tripura. The Ranglong language has close affinities with many other Tibeto-Burman
languages like Aimol, Chiru, Kharam, Darlong, Molsom, Hrangkhol, Bongcher, Kuki,
Mizo etc. Ethnically, they are mongoloid and their language belongs to Kuki-Chin
sub-group of Tibeto-Burman language family. The speakers of Ranglong are mainly
found in Dharmanagar, Khuwai, and Dholai Districts of Tripura. They are also found
in small scattered groups in Manipur, Mizoram and Karimganj and Dima Hasao Hill
Districts of Assam. Besides this, a handful of Ranglong speakers are also found
in Chittagong hill tracts of the present Bangladesh. The population of the Ranglong
tribe cannot be ascertained from the Census report of India as they are not reflected
in the same because of its negligible numerical strength. However, the total number
of Ranglong speakers in Tripura is estimated around 7000. Bradely (1993) classified
Ranglong (Langrong) under the Old-Kuki groups of Tibeto-Burman branch of Sino-Tibetan
speech family.
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Ethno-linguistic features of Ranglong
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Ranglong families are patrilineal. The Ranglongs are unlike other hill tribes of
Tripura found in both urban and rural areas. Since they have been living in the
midst of urban population for many years as a result of this they gave up many traditional
practices. But in rural areas the traditional houses, art and craft, agricultural
activities, hunting, fishing, weaving etc are still found among the Ranglong People.
Traditionally they are animist. They are the nature worshiper. They believed in
the religion of their ancestors that means the religion of grandfather and grandmother.
They are very rich in worshiping of god and goddess. Their religion is based on
the belief of supernaturalism, out of fear of their sufferings and death they offer
all kinds of foods, and scarified animals to the sprits. They believe that these
sprits cause them their sickness and death and all sorts of misfortune behind them.
As a result of it they worship Apuiasang, Debac, Tasarai etc are their
family deities. They worship Alamangai, female god is worshipped during
pregnancy. Besides they celebrate Durga Puja, Kali puja, which are considered
as a supreme god of heaven. The unique ethno-linguistic feature of this tribe is
that they believe that the influence of their song will impress the God of Rain
every year to give sufficient rain to them as well as to the world.
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Earlier works
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The Ranglong tribe is still in infant stage in terms of its available written literature.
No scientific or systematic study has been done on Ranglong language by any linguist
or scholar. The following are the major works found in the language that includes:
Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India Vol. III part II, (1903). In the
Linguistic Survey of India (LSI), Grierson offers a brief introduction of Ranglong
(Langrong) people and very few grammatical sketch of Ranglong along with some text
data. The other book is of D.N. Goswami, the Ranglongs of Tripura (2004) which provides
a brief socio-cultural sketch with few vocabulary of Ranglong language.
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The present work
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Presently, we are working on the Ranglong Language for preparing Ranglong Sketch
Grammar which includes phonology, morphology and syntax. The work will also emphasized
on Ranglong-English-Hindi dictionary along with the ethno linguistic information.
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