Meithei (also Meitei, Manipuri, Meiteilon) is the predominant language and lingua-franca in the state of Manipur, in northeastern India. It is the official language in government offices. Meithei has proven to be a big integrating factor among all ethnic groups in Manipur who use it to communicate among themselves. Manipur (মনিপুর) is a state in northeastern India making its capital in the city of Imphal. ...
Meithei has been recognized as the Manipuri language by the Indian Union and has been included in the list of scheduled languages (included in the 8th schedule by the 71st amendment of the constitution in 1992). Meithei is taught as a subject upto the Post-graduate level (Ph.D.) in Universities of India, apart from being a medium of instruction upto the undergraduate level in Manipur. They is another language named Bishnupriya or Bishnupriya Manipuri, which wasalso spoken in Manipur before 15th century The records maintained by the British India Government as well as the Government of India in independent India attest to this practice and in Govt. records Manipuris are classified into two sub-heads: Meitei and the Bishnupriyas. During the British regime, in the school statistics maintained by the Cachar School Board, Cachar, the main heading "Manipuri" was sub-divided into "Meitei" and "Bishnupriya". The Census of India, 1961, also subdivided the main heading "Manipuri" into "Meitei" and "Bishnupriya". Commission for Linguistic minorities in India states - "The manipuris residing in Cachar district are divided into two distinct Sub-groups, viz, Meithei and Bishnupriya"
The Meithei had its own script named Meetei-Mayek, which was in use till the 18th century. Subsequently, the Bengali script was adopted to write the language and is being used till date. However, efforts are being made to revive the Meetei-Mayek script.
Meithei (also Meitei, Manipuri, Meiteilon) is the predominant language and lingua-franca in the state of Manipur, in northeastern India.
Meithei has been recognized as the Manipuri language by the Indian Union and has been included in the list of scheduled languages (included in the 8th schedule by the 71st amendment of the constitution in 1992).
Meithei is taught as a subject upto the Post-graduate level (Ph.D.) in Universities of India, apart from being a medium of instruction upto the undergraduate level in Manipur.
Meithei has barely been studied by Western scholars, and part of what drives Chelliah as a linguist is the desire to bring the world a better understanding of the language and culture.
Chelliah is working on a dictionary of Meithei and is also comparing the present meanings of words to their meanings 200 years ago.
After her Meithei research is completed, she plans to work on the acquisition of English in India.
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