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Hajong

A language of India

ISO 639-3: haj

Population	60,000 (Karotemprel 1998). Population total all countries: 68,000.
Region	Meghalaya, West Garo Hills District, western side, West and East Khasi Hills; Assam, Goalpara, Nagaon districts; Arunachal Pradesh; West Bengal. Also in Bangladesh.
Alternate names	Haijong, Hazong
Dialects	Banai, Dalu. No prestige or standard dialect recognized. Bhunjia [bhu] and Kawari considered more divergent dialects. Reportedly a creole language. Grierson (1903–1928) called it a dialect of Marathi [mar] for convenience, but noted similarities to Bhatri [bgw], a dialect of Oriya [ori]. Halbi [hlb] intelligible only with difficulty. 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.
Classification	Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern zone, Bengali-Assamese
Language use	Vigorous. All domains. Positive attitude. Also use Garo [grt], Assamese [asm], or Bengali [ben].
Language development	Literacy rate in L2: 20–25%; 48% for Meghalaya. Radio programs. TV.
Writing system	Bengali script. Latin script, used in India.
Comments	A Scheduled Tribe. Jharua may be an alternate name. Though linguistically different, the Banai affiliate themselves with the Koch. Agriculturalists. Traditional religion, Hindu.

Also spoken in:

Bangladesh

Language name	Hajong
Population	8,000 in Bangladesh (2005).
Region	Dhaka Division, Rangpur District east to Sunamganj District.
Language map	Bangladesh
Alternate names	Hajang
Language use	Home, village, religion. All ages. Positive attitude. In India, Hajong has more prestige than in Bangladesh due to more population and language development. Positive attitude between the two. Nearly all use some Bengali, young speak it better. Educated use standard Bengali. Nearly all can buy and sell in Bengali. An increasing number (young and educated) can use Bengali for abstract concepts. Some speak Garo [grt].
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: 20% can read Hajong in Bengali script. Literacy rate in L2: 20% in Bengali.
Comments	Peasants. Hindu.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

AHMAD, Sayed; KIM, Amy; KIM, Seung; SANGMA, Mridul, authors. 2011. "The Hajong of Bangladesh: A Sociolinguistic Survey."  

PHILLIPS, David S., author. 2007. "On cirâ and pirâ: Hajong proverbs in translation."

PHILLIPS, Virginia Crowell, author. 2011. "Case Marking in Hajong."  

Vernacular Publications

Hajong-Ingreji sobdojor bôy = Hajong-English phrase book . 2008.