Rongmeis are one of the linguistic groups of Northeast India which constitute an important ethnic group in the region. They were considered as the aborigines of Barak Valley (this valley includes three districts of Assam, namely, Cachar, Karimgang and Hailakandi) and even today they are an integral part of the Barak Valley diaspora. Rongmei is one of the tribes of Zeliangrong Naga. Zeliangrong is a name given to the amalgamation of three tribes, namely, Zeme, Liangmai and Rongmei. The Rongmei population has been divided into a number of exogamous clans: Kamei, Gonmei, Gangmei, Ruammei, Dahengmei, Golmei, Panmei and Reammei. Rongmei Nagas have their own language, and they also speak Sylheti Bengali. As the area has large Sylheti Bengali population, the lingua franca is Sylheti Bengali, and almost all the Rongmeis are bilinguals. It is also to be noted that those who are educated and who went out in search of jobs can also speak English and Hindi. It should be mentioned here that Bengali is the dominant language in BarakValley and Rongmei is highly influenced by Bengalis. For the fact, Rongmei people used to borrow some lexical items to fulfill the needs of their day to day communication. The present paper attempts to discuss the issues of language maintenance by the bilingual Rongmeis of Barak Valley, Assam.
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