The Khasi speak a Mon-Khmer Language. Khasi is believed to form a link between related languages in central India and the Mon-Khmer languages of Southeast Asia. While dialectal variation may be noted within different Villages, the major Khasi dialects are Khasi, Jaintia, Lyngngam, and War.
There is a distinct similarity between the Khasi language and the Mon Khmer-Palaung dialects prevailing in Burma and Indo-China. The earliest written literary reference to the Khasis is to be found in Sankardeva`s Assamese paraphrase of Bhagavata Purana composed around A.D. 1500. However, in various Sanskrit sources notably the chronicle of Kashmir i.e. Rajatarangini, reference is made to a hill people called .he Khasis. Those people dwelt chiefly in the mountains of Southern Kashmir where the descendants are to be found to this day.
