Kok Borok

Kok Borok (ISO 639-3: trp, Glottocode: kokb1239), also known as Kokborok or Tripuri, belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family. Within this family, it is classified under the Bodo-Garo branch of the Sal subfamily.

Speakers

According to the Census of India 2011, there are approximately 1,011,294 speakers of "Tripuri" (which includes Kok Borok as the dominant variety) in India.

Distribution in India

The principal region of Kok Borok speakers is the state of Tripura in Northeast India, where it holds official status. Smaller communities of speakers are located in the neighbouring states of Assam and Mizoram, as well as in adjacent border areas of Bangladesh.

Major Grammatical Features

• Phonology: Kok Borok features a distinction between high and low register tones. The vowel inventory includes the back unrounded vowel /ɯ/ (often written as y), typical of Bodo-Garo languages. It has a contrast between aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops, and syllable-final glottal stops /ʔ/ are common.
• Morphology: It is predominantly agglutinative. Nouns mark grammatical relations (such as ergative, dative, genitive, and locative) using postposed clitics or suffixes. Verbs undergo complex derivation and inflection for tense, aspect, mood, and polarity via prefixation and suffixation.
• Syntax: The basic, default word order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). The language exhibits an ergative-absolutive alignment system where the agent of a transitive verb is marked with an ergative suffix, while intransitive subjects and transitive objects remain unmarked or receive accusative marking depending on animacy and definiteness.

Further Reading

• Search for Kok Borok resources on Wikipedia.
• Detailed classification and structural metadata are available on Glottolog.
• Standard identification codes can be verified via ISO 639-3.