Hajong

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A language of India

ISO 639-3
haj
Alternate Names
Haijong, Hazong
Population

63,000 in India (2001 census). Population total all countries: 71,000.

Location

Meghalaya, West Garo Hills district, western side, West and East Khasi hills; Assam, Goalpara, and Nagaon districts; Arunachal Pradesh; West Bengal. Also in Bangladesh.

Language Maps
Language Status

5 (Developing).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern zone, Bengali-Assamese
Dialects

Banai, Dalu. No prestige or standard dialect recognized. Intelligible with Hajong of Bangladesh. Lexical similarity: 82%–91% between Banai dialect of Koch [kdq] and mainstream Hajong varieties, 74%–77% between Dalu dialect and mainstream Hajong varieties, 79% between Banai dialect of Koch [kdq] and Dalu, 54%–64% with Assamese [asm], 63%–67% with Bengali [ben], 74%–85% with Hajong of Bangladesh.

Language Use

Vigorous. All domains. Positive attitudes. Also use Garo [grt], Assamese [asm], or Bengali [ben]; educated have high fluency in Assamese.

Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: 20%–25%; 48% for Meghalaya (2001 census). Radio programs. TV. Bible portions.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Hajong
Writing
Bengali script, used in Bangladesh and India. Latin script, used in India.
Other Comments

A Scheduled Tribe. Jharua may be an alternate name. Though linguistically different, the Banai affiliate themselves with the Koch. Traditional religion, Hindu.

Also spoken in:

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