Alternate Names: “Sulung” (pej.)
Dialects: None known. A divergent language which may not be Sino-Tibetan but possibly Austro-Asiatic. Intelligible of Bugun , (Chowdhury 1996). Burling (2003) groups it with Sherdukpen , and Bugun; possibly also with Lish , and Sartang ,. Lexical similarity: 54%–67% between varieties; 57%–68% with Chug ,; less than 15% with Bugun , and Nyishi ,.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 20,000 (2011 SIL).
Language Use: Home, village. Positive attitudes. Everyone uses at least some Nyishi [njz]. Also use Assamese [asm], Hindi [hin].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: 2%. Dictionary.
Writing System: Bengali, Devanagari, Latin
Nation of Origin: India
Other Comments: A satellite relationship to Nyishi and Bangni peoples, bonded economically. A Scheduled Tribe in India. Claim kinship with the Khoa or Bugun. Traditional religion, Christian, Hindu.