Dialects: War-Jaintia, War-Khasi. Lexical similarity: 86%–92% with dialects in Bangladesh; 83%–89% with War-Jaintia in India and Bangladesh; India variety 41%–45% with Pnar , (from scant data); 27%–35% with standard Khasi ,; 24%–28% with War dialect of Khasi.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 16,000 in Bangladesh (2003 SIL). Population total all countries: 41,900. 4,000 monolinguals.
Language Use: Vigorous. Home, village. All ages. Also use Bengali [ben], English [eng], Khasi [kha], Sylheti [syl]. Used as L2 by Bengali [ben], Pnar [pbv].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: 40% Bengali; many are literate in standard Khasi [kha]. Using Latin script for War-Jaintia produces some pronunciation problems but eases transition into Khasi. Taught in primary schools. Grammar.
Typology: SVO; prepositions; articles before noun heads; CV, CVC, CVV, V, VCV, CCV, CCVC; nontonal.
Writing System: Unwritten
Nation of Origin: Bangladesh
Other Comments: Learning standard Khasi , is important due to affinity with the larger Khasi ethnic group. Standard Khasi has high prestige. Christian, traditional religion.