Meaning in Rongmei

Abstract

Meaning plays a very significant role in human languages. Meaning is the soul of a language. The importance of meaning has been recognized since the time immemorial. In the Vedas, the meaning is treated as the essence of language, the speech without meaning called ‘the tree without fruits and flowers’1 Ancient Indian pedantic such as Patanjali, Vyadi, Katyayana, Vyas etc observed the association of word and meaning as eternal. Recently Rongmei has been renamed as Ruangmei by the Rongmei Literature Society. However I shall be using Rongmei only, since they are still known as Rongmei in the Government records. The present study is a humble attempt to explore the meaning of Rongmei Naga of Barak Valley2, Assam. The study also reveals the various kinds of meaning in light of synchronic approaches.