Kokborok Language Movement: A Resistance to Linguistic Imperialism and Cultural Hegemony in Tripura

Sudeshna Debbarma, Mousami Debbarma — Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Kokborok language movement in Tripura is marked by an effort to protect, promote, and preserve the identity of the language and the Boroks. The Kokborok language movement was largely a response to the marginalisation and stigmatisation of the language in the field of administration, education, political, social spheres etc. The main objectives of the Kokborok language movement were to gain recognition, official status and to introduce in the educational institutions. The marginalisation and stigmatisation of the language and its speakers began with the demographic, political and linguistic shifts from the Kokborok majority speakers in the pre integration period to the Bengali majority speakers following Tripura’s integration to the Indian Union in 1949. The marginalisation and exclusion of the Kokborok language coupled with stigmatisation as a minority language, limited to household spheres resulted into Kokborok language movements. At present Kokborok is one of the official languages along with Bengali but is developing at snail's pace. The movement for Kokborok has been continuous but with the momentum gaining and losing at different points of time. Language development has been hindered by various factors including linguistic imperialism, stigmatisation of Kokborok and other minority languages, politicisation over script etc.

Indian Journal of Language and Linguistics

Kokborok Language Movement: A Resistance to Linguistic Imperialism and Cultural Hegemony in Tripura