Völkern Zentralasiens und Austronesiens_ (Braunschweig, 1906),
has established the relationship of Khasi not only to the Mon-Khmer
languages, but also to Nicobarese and several dialects spoken by wild
tribes in the Malay Peninsula.

There still remains much to be done before the speech of the Khasi
nation can be considered to have been thoroughly investigated. In
the _Linguistic Survey_ four dialects are dealt with, the standard
literary form, founded on the language of Cherrapunji, the _Pnar_ or
_Synteng_, of Jowai, the _War_, spoken in the valleys on the southern
face of the hills, and the _Lyngngam_, spoken in the tract adjacent to
the Garos on the west. Major Gurdon (p. 203) mentions a fifth, that
of Jirang or Mynnar, spoken in the extreme north, and there may be
others. A great desideratum for linguistic purposes is a more adequate
method of recording sounds, and especially differences of tone, than
that adopted for the standard speech, which though sufficient for
practical purposes, does not accurately represent either the quantity
or the quality of the vowels, and leaves something to be desired
as regards the consonants (especially those only faintly sounded or
suppressed). These things, no doubt, will come in time. The immense
advance which has been made in education by the Khasis during the last
half-century has enabled some among them to appreciate the interesting
field for exploration and study which their own country and people
afford; and there is reason to hope that with European guidance the
work of record will progress by the agency of indigenous students.

It remains to summarize briefly the principal distinctive features of
this vigorous and sturdy race, who have preserved their independence
and their ancestral institutions through many centuries in the face
of the attractions offered by the alien forms of culture around them.