Achik: A Language Beyond Borders
by Jafina Jabin Khan (Bangladesh)
Every country has a language of its own. But do we really know how to distinguish between a “mother tongue” and a “state language”?
A mother tongue is a language rooted in one’s history, culture, and traditions, while a state language is a language given official status by the state and used in government and public life. Within every country, however, countless diverse communities reside together. They may speak and understand the state language, but their hearts may always remain with the words their mothers first spoke to them.
Our world is home to countless Indigenous communities, each carrying languages, traditions, and histories of their own.
One such language is Achik, also known as Garo or A·chik ku·sik, the native language of the Garo people, a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group. It is spoken primarily in the northeastern Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam, and Tripura, as well as in parts of neighbouring Bangladesh.
Achik has long held an important place within Meghalaya's Garo-speaking communities. Under the Meghalaya Language Act of 2005, Garo was recognised as an associate official language alongside Khasi, while English remained the state's official language.
In April 2026, Meghalaya took another significant step. The Meghalaya Official Languages Ordinance, 2026 recognised English, Khasi, and Garo as the official languages of the state. The ordinance also provides for English and Garo to be used at district, sub-divisional, and block-level offices in the Garo Hills region, according to government notification. As per the 2001 Indian census, the number of speakers of this language is about 889,000 in India and approximately 130,000 people speak this language in Bangladesh. Across borders, the language becomes a bridge, carrying the community’s identity from one place to another.
For generations, Achik was primarily passed from one generation to another through speech. Over time, however, different writing systems came to be used to represent the language.
The A-chik Tokbirim script was invented in 1979 by Arun Ritchil Marak as a way to write Garo. The names of the letters were taken from natural phenomena. The script is used to some extent in the village of Bhabanipur in northwestern Bangladesh, and is also known as A-chik Garo Tokbirim.
The A·chik Tok·birim is not the only writing system associated with Achik. Latin script has also been used extensively to write the language, while Bengali script has been used in Bangladesh.
According to author Samson K. Sangma’s book “A•chik Grammar”, “Achik ku'sikchi sena da ode Roman oikorrangko jakkala, Roman oikorrang ming 26 donga. Uaranga larang onga.
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z aro iarang baksa ia chin () ko on-dapa, ukon raka minga.”
[Translation. A·chik ku·sik (the Garo language) is written using the Roman script. There are 26 Roman letters. They are:a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z. Along with these letters, this special sign ( · ) is added to them, which is called the raka (glottal stop).]
Languages do not exist only in dictionaries or official documents. They live in the words passed between generations, in stories told within families, and in the traditions carried by communities across borders. A language once carried primarily through speech is now represented through multiple writing systems, allowing its words, traditions, and cultural knowledge to be recorded and passed on.
Achik's continued use, recognition, and development of written forms show how a language can preserve more than communication. It can carry people's history, culture, and identity from one generation to the next. And perhaps that is what makes a mother tongue so much more than a language: even when the world speaks in many voices, it can still remind us where some of our first words came from.
