ABSTRACT
Although an ancient language family, Tai Kadai is the youngest language family of India with a history of 700–800 years. The present study discusses some of the defining linguistic characteristic features of this 5th language family, Tai Kadai that includes Khamti, Phake, Aiton, Khamyang (severely threatened), Nora (extinct), Ahom (extinct), and Turung (extinct) languages. Tai Kadai is distinct from the rest of the five language families of India linguistically. Tai Kadai languages are mono-morphemic in nature and have five distinct tones. In some sense, every morpheme is a content word, as a strict dichotomy between the content words and function words is not maintained. Each noun has a binary function of referential and classificatory. The present entry draws attention to the rare phenomenon of Ahom, the prestigious language of the ruling priestly class giving way to Assamese the language of the dominated class during the seventeenth century. Although Tai Khamti shows a heavy influence of the Indo-Aryan languages on its syntax it is a vibrant and stable language unlike other languages of the family that witness voluntary language shift to Assamese indicating impending language endangerment.
