Note 4 — INDEX

In prescribing rewards for the learning of languages the Local Government has assumed a similarity of language between the tribes classed as “Naga” by giving a reduced reward for passing a test in a second Naga language after one has already been learnt, but in point of fact the linguistic test breaks down as badly as the migration test, for Sir George Grierson, in classifying the languages of the area, groups some Nagas with Kacharis, Mikirs and others in the Naga-Bodo group, some with Thado and other Kuki languages in the Naga-Kuki group, and others in different groups, and it would really be far more logical to base the examinations on these groups than on the false supposition based on the present use of the term “Naga,” which is really as inaccurate as the reputed divisions of the Hill tribes of Burma into “Tame Chins, Wild Chins and Ka-chins.” ↑