Burma: Census of India 1901 Vol. I - Khamkoo

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'REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF BURMA. 79
Irrawaddy started for Assam to join some Naras who had preceded them thither. Unfortunately
for them they had to pass through the Singpho country. As they passed through the
country tfiey were taken captives by the Singphos. They remained as captives for five
years according to their own account, but probably for longer, as they quite forgot their own
language and adopted the language of their captors. It is strange that even to this day
Tairongs talk nothing but Singpho."
There were 465 Maingtha-speaking folk in Burma on the 1st March 1901.
116. To return now to the remoter tribes referred to in the paragraph dealing
,
t, The Lisaw sub-group. ..,.'.,., .
, with the Szi. Lashi and Maru dialects. Dr. Grierson,
. .
in dealing with the languages ol the province, has
found it necessary to create a special sub-group of certain languages spoken for the
most part on the eastern borders of the Shan States. He has named it the Lisaw
sub-group and, as he states its members appear to be connected with Burmese.it
may be assumed that he intends it to be a sub-group of the Burmese language
group. Lisaw is spoken in the east of the Myitkyina district, in Mong Mit,
and throughout the Northern and Southern Shan States by a tribe known to the
Chinese as Lisaw, whom the Shans call Yawyin. The sub-group consists of the
following forms :
Lisaw or Yawyin.
Ako.
La'hu, Mu-hso, Kwi or Myen.
Lisu or Lissu.
Akha or Kaw.
Mosso.
The La'hu variety is spoken in Kengtung and in the east of the Northern
Shan States by 16,732 people. It is practically the same as Lisaw which claims
1,605 speakers. Akha and Ako are the vernaculars of closely allied tribes in the
hills to the east of Kengtung. The recent operations dealt with 21,175 persons who
spoke the former and 1,162 who spoke the latter tongue. Lissu is clearly related
to Lisaw. The Lissus have been studied by Prince Henri d'Orleans and other
French observers. It seems possible that they are identical with the Lisaws.
It is also possible that the Mossos, who are spoken of by the French in connection
with the Lissus, are the Mu-hso of Kengtung. There is nothing in the vocabularies
published to militate against such a theory. Neither Lissu nor Mos-
spoken in Burma, but the tongues are referred to on account of their similarity
so is
with Lisaw and Mu-hso. The Burmese substratum in all these languages (even in
the Akha and Ako, where it is least marked) is remarkable and, to my mind, can only
be accounted for by some such explanation as has been hazarded in connection with
the Szi, Lashi and Maru vernaculars. There can be no question, I think, that
it is the same Burmese strain that is visible through all these forms. Sir George
Scott in his Upper Burma Gazetteer points out that Sir Henry Yule agreed with
Dr. Anderson in thinking that " the similarity of the Lissu and Burmese languages
was such that it was hardly possible to avoid the conclusion that the two peoples
had sprung from one and the same stock. " It is easier, however, in this case,
to detect the strain than to account for it. Lo-lo, another of the trans-frontier
languages spoken by a number of tribes who have affinities with the La'hu, has
indications of a relationship with Burmese. It would, no doubt, be possible to add
still further to the list.
117. Of the Kachin languages or dialects our knowledge is at present
„.,_,. limited. The form which is most commonly spoken
The Ch.ngpaw language group.
thrQUgh what ; s knQWn ^ ^ ^^ ^^ F
Chingpaw, hand-books of which have been written by Messrs. Symington and H. F.
Hertz. In the preface to his vocabulary Mr. Symington talks of three varieties of
Kachin—the Chingpaw, the Kauri, spoken by a tribe east of Bhamo, and the Hukong
valley speech. This last is presumably the dialect dealt with in the Outline
Grammar of the Singpho language published by Mr. Needhamin 1889. A comparison
of this form with the Chingpaw form proper exhibits a number of minor
modifications in a tongue the basis of which is clearly identical. The Hukong
valley variety is probably the form on which is based the dialect of the Sassans,
referred to in the Kachin Hills chapter of the Upper Burma Gazetteer. Sir George
Scott speaks of the Kaori Lepais, who occupy the hills to the east and south-east
of Bhamo, and who it may be assumed are the speakers of Mr. Symington's Kauri
dialect, though no mention is made in the Gazetteer of any special Kaori patois.
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