0.1.    Konyak Nagas are one of the sixteen major tribes who live in the State of Nagaland, which was part of Assam State prior to December 1963.  `Konyak', (Phonemically kòñák), is the name of the language as well as the community that speaks it.  Among the 16 communities Konyak is the single larges tribe.  Earlier Konyaks were known by various names – Angwanku, Tableng, Angphand and others.  Infact there was no common name for these people.  At this stage it is not possible to state how and by whom this name was introduced.

0.2.    Konyaks inhabit the easter district of Nagaland state, namely Man district (formed in December 1973).  The area occupied by the Konyaks is primarily divided into two, viz., Lower Konyak and Upper Konyak. The lower Konyak consists mostly of low lying areas with the hills having a height of just about 3000 ft. The upper Konyak consists of high hills and thick forests spreading in the south upto the Patkoi hill ranges.  The Konyaks have on the east a long international border with Burma.  The Upper Konyaks are bounded on the south by Khiamngans, on the west by the Changs and the Phoms; and on the north they are contiguous with the lower Konyaks.  The lower Konyaks are bounded on the south-west by the Phoms, and on the west by the Aos.  They have a long border on the north and north-east with Assam and Aruachal Pradesh, respectively.

0.3.    Konyaks, according to 1971 Census reports, numbered 72, 338, speakers.  They constitute the single largest tribe in Nagaland.

0.4.    Konyak language has many dialects.  According to Marrison (1967) there are 24 dialects (all named after the village names where they are spoken).  They are following – Angphang, Wakching or Angwanku of Tableng, Aopao, Changaya, Chen, Chingkso, Chinglang, Longkhai, Choka, Elokidoria, Takphang, Kongson, Longching, Longmein, Longwa, Mohung, Mon, Mulung, Ngangching, Sang, Shalang, Shayno, Tolamleinyno and Totak.  The dialect spoken in the Wakching area (Tableng) is considered  to be the standard dialect of Konyak and textbooks and other literature are written in this dialect.

          Mon town is the district head-quarters of Mon district.  (20 km. From Wakching), The important villages in this district (20 km. from Wakching).  The important villages in this district are the following – Wakching, Wanching, Oting, Lapa, Jakpang, Chingka, Phomching, Jabaka, Shangnyu, Chen and Champang.

          The Tibeto-Chinese language family has two sub-families¹- Siamese-Chinese, and Tibeto-Burman.

         

1.    Nigam R.C. 1972

          The Tibeto-Burman sub-family has two branches –

          The Tibeto-Himalayan branch and Assam-Burmese branch, The latter branch has four groups – a) Bodo, b) Naga, c) Kuki-Chin, and d) Burmese.

          The Naga group of languages are classified into three groups by Grierson².

(i). Western group, which includes Angami, Sema, Rengma and Kezhama;

(ii). Central group which includes Ao, Lotha, Thukumi, Yimchunger, and a few other languages; and

(iii). Eastern group, which includes Angwanku or Tableng (Konyak), Chingmegnu or Tamlu (Phom), Chang or Manjung, and a few others spoken outside Naga Hills, Viz., Banpana (Wanchoo), Mohangia (Nocte), Mutonia, Assiringia, Moshang (Mohangia) and Tangsa (Shangge)-all in the present Arunachal Pradesh.

          Konyak belongs to Eastern branch of Naga group of languages.

          Later in 1967 Marrison³ classified Naga languages into five types based on typological comparisons at the phonological, morphological and syntactical levels.  The five types are the following :

Type A1.     Consists ofTangsen (Yogli), Tangsa (Moshang), Nocte and Wanchoo spoken in Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh.

Type A2.     Consists of Konyak, Phom and Chang, spoken in the northern parts of Nagaland.

Type B1.     Consists of Yacham – Tengsa, Ao (Chungli), Ao (Mongsen), and Sangtam spoken in the Northern part of Mokokchung district and in the central and southern parts of Tuensang district of Nagaland.

Type B2.     Consists of Lotha, Yimchunger, Ntenyi and Meluvi spoken in the southern parts of Mokokchung and Tuensang districts and in the South-east part of Kohima district of Nagaland.

Type B3.     Consists of Thangkul and Marring, spoken in North and East Manipur and in the Somra tract of Burma.

Type C1.     Consists of Sema, Angami, Chokri, Hezhama, and Mao, spoken in the Zunheboto district, Kohima district and in the extreme north of Manipur.

Type C2.     Consists of Rengma, Maram, Khoirao, Mzieme, Zeme, Liangmei, Piron, Nruanghemei; while Rengma is spoken in the northern part of Kohima district, the remaining languages are spoken in one continuous tract in the upper barak valley and in the Barail range in the Eastern part of Cachar, South – West Kohima district and North-West Manipur.

2.    Grierson, 1903, Vol.3

3.    Marrison, 1967.

                             According to Marrison , Konyak comes under Type A2.  Still later in 1974, Sreedhar* grouped these language into three branches on the basis of phonological variations.  This comes very much parallel to Grierson's Classification.

0.5.    Background of the People: Nagaland is inhabited by sixteen major tribes.  They all belong to Mongoloid race.  Among them Konyak has the maximum number of speakers but it is the most backward tribe among all the Naga tribes.

          Historically, they were very ferocious.  To tame them the Britishers introduced opium to that land.  It is quite popular and liked particularly by the older generation, even now.  But the younger generation detests it.  Till very recently they were almost completely secluded.  Their only contact to the outer world was with the Assamese for the purpose of purchasing salt and etc.  Even now Konyaks are the most backward among all the people in the State.  Still thee are only 2 higher secondary schools in the entire Mon district.

          Konyaks are simple and friendly and hospitable.  Their Social setup is patriarchial and patrilocal as other Naga societies.  Monarchy is still prevalent in some parts.  Institution of `Morungs' is still found, though its importance diminished.  Jhum cultivation is the still important type of cultuvation.  Social structure of Konyak is explained in detail by Fürer Haimendorf in his book, The Konyak Nagas. Recently the younger generation follows Christian faith; while the older generation stick to their native cult.  The modern schooling and Christianity have weakened the tribal culture and social setup.  They are in transitional state.

0.6.Till very recently this language was not put into writing.  As this language did not have its own script, the Missionaries used the Roman script for the first time to write this language at the beginning of 19^th century.  Though not much literature was produced by the Missionaries in this language till very recently, due to the uniform practice of using Roman script formost of the Naga languages, the Konyaks accepted the same script for their language also.

Only after Nagaland attained statehood, any serious attempt was taken in the direction of producing written material in this language.  Before that, only one book was written in this language.  Fromt hen onwards, as this language is taught in schools of Konyak region, the State Education Department started producing basic books in this language.  Even now, there are only a few school books available in this language.  The first work to provide systematically some light on the social and cultural aspects of these people was by Fürer Haimendorf: Naked Nagas 1239, London; and The konyak Nagas 1970, London.  These two books particularly the second one provide basic introduction into these people.  The first book in Konyak was published by Missionaries – Longri, Ao Vwanppa Konyak Kak Lori – a first reader in Konyak Naga, Wakching 1951.  The next book written in Konyak came out only in 1963.  The Jongne Jame: Primer for adults in Konyak language.  Also Nagaland Bhasha Parishad, a private organization has brought out Hindi-Konyak Dictionary, from Kohima.

          This work is based on the data collected on the Wakching dialect of the language.  The data was collected during the two field trips conducted in 1975 and 1977.  The data was collected from the following speakers: 1.  Shri Heong Konyak, 28 (LDA DIS office, Mon; in 1980 Uda, RCO, Mon); 2. Shri Angmung Konyak 30, Teacher, Govt. High School, Mon and 3. Shri Mungling Konyak, Teacher – later Forester.  All the three are educated upto S.S.L.C. and further trained in their respective fields.  They are multilinguals.  They speak besides their mother tongue, Nagamese, English and Hindi.  The competence in the 2^nd and 3^rd is largely restricted.  They hail from Wakching.  The variety of the language spoken there is used in writing books; so that variety was preferred for this purpose.

          This work contains 3 chapters.

          The first chapter on Phonology provides inventory of Konyak phonemes, Phonemic contrasts, allophonic distribution, description and distribution of phonemes of this language.  The rest if divided into Morphology and Syntax.  The section on Morphology discusses Konyak word formation and structure of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and particles.  Syntax discusses the structure of combination of words into phrases, clauses and sentences.  Under sentences certain transformations are discussed followed by an analysis of a sample text.

Scope of the present work : This work attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis of the language basically through structural model.  However, in this study discussion of supra-segmental features except for Tones is not undertaken.

A word of caution : The numbers which occur below Konyak phrases and in English clauses and sentences (glosses) are merely suggestive and are meant only for better comprehension.