ABSTRACT
The language that is known to everyone except its own speakers as ‘Garo’ is spoken by about 700,000 people in Northeastern India and in Bangladesh. Most of these Garos live in a hilly district in the western part of the Indian state of Meghalaya, but about 100,000 live across the border in Bangladesh, most of them just south of the Garo Hills. Smaller settlements are found in several locations in Assam, in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, in Tripura state, and near Modhupur in Bangladesh. Most of these people prefer to call themselves ‘A’chik’ or ‘Mande’ but neither of these terms has gained general acceptance, and until one does, I have little choice but to call them ‘Garo’. Two small enclaves, one with people known as ‘A’tong’, the other with ‘Ruga’, are found within the Garo Hills. Each of these groups has its own language but they consider themselves to be Garos and are accepted as such by all other Garos. (See Chapter 11 on Northeast Indian Languages, this volume.) Except for A’tong and Ruga all dialects spoken by Garos are mutually intelligible, although speakers who are unfamiliar with a dialect that is spoken far from their own home may need some patience and an occasional explanation in order to understand.
