Manipur Language Resource

Part of CoRSAL

About the Language

This is a collection of material on the Manipuri language (ISO 639-3 mni), also known as Meithei, Meitei, Meitheiron, Meiteilon, or Meetei. Manipuri is used as a lingua franca in the state of Manipuri, India, and spoken by over 1.2 million people in Manipur and an estimated 3 million including second language speakers.

About the Collection

This collection includes photographs of cultural items and language consultants, audio with accompanying transcriptions, translations, and interlinear-glossed text of traditional stories, conversations, radio plays, retellings of comics, personal histories, and a large compilation of retellings of the Pear Story by multiple speakers. The collection also includes analysis and additions to existing dictionaries of an earlier form of the language called ‘ariba lon’, as well as additions to modern Manipuri dictionaries. Grammar analysis files include a set of sound files and transcriptions on tone and thematic role.

The majority of materials were collected by Dr. Shobhana Chelliah starting from 1985 while working on her dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin. Early work was funded by a doctoral dissertation junior fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies. Later work was funded by intramural grants from the University of North Texas.