Introduction

Kudeng War is a dialect of Nongtalang-Nongbareh War, one of the three sub-groups of War, itself a nearly unknown, unwritten conservative Mon- Khmer (MK) language. War is spoken by approximately 65,000 speakers mostly in Meghalaya, North-eastern India. Wars are mostly betel nuts planters on slopes and small isolated groups remain in Bangladesh, in Assam and between Mizoram and Tripura states on the former space of an important pre-colonial Pnar kingdom. War belongs to a group comprising Pnar, Khasi, Lyngngam (PWKL) and many “composite varieties”. An overview with two linguistic maps of PWKL and War and also a glossed sample text in War can be found in Daladier (this volume).

War serial verb constructions (SVCs) share common features with SE Asian SVCs, like adversative constructions and serial lexicalization as a complementation strategy. They also exhibit features not yet described which might be shared by other Austroasiatic languages. War SVCs include values expressed differently in a language like English, in active and in passive verbal auxiliations and also in “light verb” constructions; they also include values expressed in English clausal dependencies without realis/ irrealis, finite/non finite or past participial/gerund morphology.

In addition to these values, grammaticalized in their own way, grammaticalized SVCs in War express productively values not grammaticalized in English. They express especially a gradience of active and passive values associated with subjectivity values referring to the speaker (or his subject).

Introduction

Copular constructions generally refer to clause structures where the subject is linked with nonverbal predicates like nominal, adjectival and locative. The purpose of such construction is to express notions like equation, attribution, location, existence and possession (Dryer 1985, Payne 1997). Traditional grammar defines the element that links the subject and the predicate in copular constructions as copula. Following Payne (1997: 111–121), the function of copula can be mainly divided into three: equative, attributive and locative.

Copula can be defined as a term used in grammatical description to refer to a linking verb ….whose main function is to relate other elements of the clause structure especially subject and complement. (Crystal 1980:93)

Masica (1991: 337) states: in Indo Aryan languages, “the function of copula is to identify, define and locate” the Subject NP. Copula in Indo Aryan languages can be overt and covert. It occurs in the final position in the clause structure like other lexical verbs. According to Masica (1991), verbs of this type perform two functions that of copular and existential. Normally copulas can be deleted whereas existential verbs cannot be deleted. Masica (1991: 337-338) further observes that existential verb can be covert in Assamese and Bangla.

Sadri, which is claimed to be an Indo Aryan language (Grierson 1903), also has different copular elements with similar functions, that of equative, attributive and locative. The copula in the present tense can be either obvert or covert. The construction where the copular element remains covert is considered as no copular construction.

Introduction

Usoi is a southern variety of Tripura/Kokborok, a member of the Boro-Garo branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family. It is spoken in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (henceforth CHT), Bangladesh, and in the neighboring Indian states of Tripura and Mizoram as well as in the Rakhine state of Burma. The population of Usoi speaking people in CHT is estimated to be ca. 20,000 (Kim et al. 2007: 9). In India, Usoi is a scheduled tribe and the corresponding population is 1,295 (1981 Census). The population figure is not available for Burma.

Usoi is divided into two major dialects that correspond to two major rivers in CHT: Karnaphuli and Sangu. Although there do exist differences between these two dialects, they are not so divergent that they are mutually unintelligible. My consultant of the present study is originally from Roanchari region in the Karnaphuli basin and now lives in Bandarban, the district headquarters in the Sangu basin. Usoi is highly influenced by Marma, a dialect of Arakanese/Burmese and a lingua franca in the Bandarban district of CHT. As a result, there are many Marma loanwords in Usoi.

Usoi is most similar to Reang/Riang, another southern variety of Tripura/Kokborok; however, there is virtually no linguistic data on Reang/Riang except for Riyang (2007), and the exact linguistic relationship between Usoi and Reang/Riang is unclear. While there are several linguistic descriptions of Kokborok (Karapurkar 1972; Pai 1976; Jacquesson 2003; Jacquesson 2008, etc.) including reliable dictionaries (Debbarma 2001; Debbarma 2002), there are hardly any linguistic reports on Usoi, except for Walsh (n.d.; the 1960s), Kim et al. (2007) and Huziwara (2008).

In the twenty-first century, Kerala now has a very prominent and progressive Muslim community which has moved forward in leaps and bounds. It has shown tremendous progress in the spheres of education, women empowerment, religion, politics, literature and other spheres of development.

Educational Progress

For the educational benefits of the Mappilla society, the Muslim Educational Society (MES) was founded in 1967 by an eminent neurologist from Kodungallur, Dr. Abdul Ghafoor. He studied Medicine in England and was a dedicated teacher at Kozhikode Medical College. In 1974, he renounced his profession for the cause of the social upliftment of the Mappilla community. His son, Dr. P.A. Fazal Ghafoor, also a neurologist, is the present State President of MES.

MES schools were opened all over Malabar, Cochin and Travancore. Colleges have also been founded. The present strength of MES institutions amount to more than one hundred and fifty. The funds for the institutions are derived from the donations made by the different members of the MES Trust and Board of Management. Yusuf Ali, an international industrialist, is a major trustee of the MES group of institutions. The medium of instruction in all the MES institutions is English and their schools are affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education.

Arabic is offered as an optional language and Islamic Studies is offered as one of the compulsory subjects for Muslim students. The Hindu students are given the choice of moral science in lieu of Islamic Studies.